GAGGING DISSENT

"The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside."

This is what Allan Bloom said, in his book "The Closing of the American Mind". As an American, he was writing in a country that explicitly protects freedom of speech in its constitution.

Freedom of speech is not given the same priority in the Australian constitution but in 1992, the High Court found that the constitution 'implied freedom of political communication'.

This doesn't mean equal access to media, however. While the Greens are scoring 7.2% of the vote across the country, the ABC in its national programs gave much less of the broadcast time devoted to political coverage in last year's federal election campaign. On AM and PM, coverage averaged 2%. On the 7:30 Report it was 5.7%, but on Insiders it was a paltry 0.2%.

And the High Court's decision hasn't stopped Gunns bringing a case against conservationists, politicians and environment groups for $6 million in economic torts or wrongs. Most of these alleged wrongs did not arise from any illegal activity, but rather from what Gunns is calling a 'corporate vilification' campaign. The techniques used included direct lobbying and use of media. Sounds like political communication to me.

The Gunns case is an example of SLAPP = strategic litigation against political protest. The Greens MPs have introduced a bill in the Tasmanian parliament to outlaw these types of cases. Similar bills will be introduced into other parliaments.

Given the High Court's 1992 decision, this shouldn't be necessary. But unfortunately, it is. Someone has to keep the bastards honest and protect the rights of everyone to express their views. Even if you may not agree with them.

(Source: Greens Issue 16, autumn 2005)