David’s Free Speech Campaign

Kiwiblog’s been going at the Electoral Finance Bill pretty hard. The core of the argument around the EFB comes down to whether or not you believe there is unlimited freedom of speech or whether you believe there should be reasonable limits on free speech prior to an election and, if so, to what extent.

The problem Farrar has, is he actually agrees with the sentiment of the Electoral Finance Bill in the sense that he supports regulating freedom of speech prior to an election (via reasonable spending caps on political organisations) - but to “sell” this message to his Right Wing colleagues he’s dressed it up as a Freedom of Speech issue.

The most recent move was announced on Kiwiblog this afternoon. Farrar announced the launching of The Free Speech Coalition along with Cameron Slater (aka Whaleoil) and Bernard Darnton - the Libertarian who tried to sue Helen Clark.

The Coalition’s website gives an immediate impression it is aimed at free speech. For example, beneath the site’s banner headline is the phrase “Speak your mind anytime”. But the irony is Farrar’s already disclosed he supports reasonable limits on freedom of speech prior to an election. So, it sort of ruins his (and the Coalition’s) credibility right out of the gate and it makes you wonder about the real motivation behind the Coalition.

As one comment suggests, the Coalition should be more appropriately known as:

“The Campaign for Freedom of Speech in the regulated period immediately preceding an election as it pertains to political dialogue but unrelated to reasonably regulated political party statements”.

Farrar’s own commitment to free speech is more directly under attack in the threads. Dead Duck Dux is asking why and whether Farrar’s prohibition on the word “cunt” is now released. Apparently, it’s not.

Ironically too, in the last couple of days Mr Free Speech Farrar has deleted comments made by Sonic because they offended David’s sense of work ethic and he also threatened anyone daring to comment on Rory English (Bill English’s son who made un-PC comments on Bebo) that they would be dealt with severely. Clearly Kiwiblog is not modelling an excessive amount of free speech.

Farrar’s hypocrisy on free speech has more than a passing resemblance to National’s own blind spot on the EFB. National is busily chomping at the bit about the EFB and yet is a major beneficiary of anonymous donations or under-hand masked donations made via lawyer trusts. National’s not interested in fair an equitable electoral law. It’s just unhappy the government might create a law that disadvantages its (the National party’s) interests.

Tags: Dead Duck Dux, election, national, sonic