Recently, MP Tony Burke stated that Candace Owens ‘has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction’. The right-wing American political commentator has recently faced a barrage of hateful comments from Australia’s political authorities who have banned her from entering Australia, as they tout ‘democracy’ amidst several state elections. Candace Owens was scheduled to speak in Sydney in an organised national speaking tour. Many Australian commentators observing the drama are indicating unjust play by the Australian government who is operating completely antithetically to both Australia and America’s Constitution.
One such commentator who is fighting Owens’ ban is Monica Smit, the founder of Reignite Democracy. Smit rose to prominence as a leading anti-lockdown activist during the pandemic years and is now facing an ongoing legal battle in the appellate court. If anyone understands Owens’ antidemocratic treatment, it is Smit, who was imprisoned for 22 days under the Dan Andrews government, for being ‘pro-freedom’ during the Covid lockdowns. Her account has been documented in her book Cell-22. Not many can say they have been a ‘political prisoner’ in their own supposedly democratic country, but Smit is determined to continue her fight for justice for Australians, and now Americans who have also been subject to politically motivated attacks.
Owens has been dragged through the media indicating she is ‘antisemitic’ however much of her rhetoric has been taken out of context and used in ways to incite opprobrium. A visa cancellation is likely a step too far, and mirrors the type of behaviour witnessed under tyrannical or communist government regimes. It has no place in Australia, a nation that prides itself in being a society of equal opportunity, liberal values and free speech. All that is now coming to an end under the Labor government, who recently tabled the largely despised Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, which received thousands of submissions opposing the legislation, which are still being uploaded to the database, weeks after the submission deadline closed.
It appears that Australians greatly value free speech.
Yet the government here banned Candace Owens from even making an appearance in the country. It is starting to become blatantly clear that the government has no respect for the Constitution, or for free speech rights. Political communication is upheld in Australian law; it is an implied freedom arising out of section 7 and 24 of the Constitution which gives citizens the ability to fairly elect representatives of government. They cannot possibly engage in the political process in any just or fair way, unless they are provided with fair and free communications from thought leaders and fellow citizens. America also has even stronger free speech protections which are more directly expressed through the First Amendment. Both Australia and America are signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which contains express human rights provisions protecting free speech, namely through Article 19. Dr Paul Taylor has written extensively on the subject of human rights within Australia, offering arguably the most comprehensive commentary on the literature of the ICCPR the world has ever seen. There is no doubt that the West, through International instruments, is legally obligated to abide by comprehensive human rights legislation. These international laws are further entrenched within Australia’s own domestic case law which makes ample reference to human rights. One instance is the High Court case of Jumbunna, in 1908.
Has the government read it? Are the laws sinking in?
The Labor government appears to have absolutely no clue what is in the ICCPR, or what is in the Constitutions which form the backbone of Western governments. They think Owens is a serious threat just for exercising her legal right to speech. 31,000 people who signed a petition think her treatment by the government is uncalled for and unlawful. On November 4, Monica arrived in Canberra to drop these 31,000 signatures to the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke. She indicated the office had been lax with their communications, and was forced to drop the petition files (two large ring binder folders), to the parliamentary administration instead. The files were taken to Burke’s office via Senator Malcolm Roberts, a fellow freedom fighter and respected Australian politician. Roberts will also table the petition in Parliament and set the record straight; Australians value free speech and they support Americans coming to Australia to share important political information.
31,000 signatures far outweigh the likes of a handful of Labor politicians who happen to view Owens as a national security threat. The threat is perhaps, the growing tyrannical flavour within Australian Labor governance and the complete lack of academic legal knowledge within its ranks.
Owens’ ban is happening at the same time legal professor, Dr Joanna Howe, faces being blocked from the public gallery in South Australia’s Parliament. To ban an academic legal expert from the place where laws are made, is frankly ridiculous, and the Australian population is starting to realise it. Perhaps it’s time the government ought to pay attention to legal or political commentators in or entering Australia, who seem to know the law far better than our so-called ‘experts’ in power.
Owens will be challenging her visa ban. Australian tax funds should not be used to target American political commentators, especially during domestic and American election periods. Australians continue to be proud supporters of free speech, but it appears our inept government cannot read the audience, or the times we are in.
As all the drama above unfolds, many continue to desert mainstream and government sources of ‘news’ and are instead, flocking to social media influencers like Candace Owens, Joanna Howe, and Monica Smit…
When do you think the government will begin to understand what is going on and why?
