Freedom Of Speech In Australia - A High School Report - By Christopher Urquhart.
What is the meaning behind freedom of speech and do we need it?
Are there any laws that will not allow us to say certain things?
When do the laws not apply?
There is no freedom of speech law in Australia, but there is a freedom of expression law. You are allowed to freely express your self in many ways, but it is illegal if you express yourself in ways that can be considered defamation, where defamation is defined as "A false statement that injures someone's reputation and exposes him to public contempt, hatred, ridicule, or condemnation. If the false statement is published in print, or through broadcast media, such as radio or TV, it is called libel. If it is only spoken, it is called slander."1 Defamation is illegal in Australia.
What if it is not a false statement, but a derogatory one? For example, calling a black person a "nigger", it may not harm their reputation, but it still makes them feel singled out and hated, particularly if it is spoken by a Caucasian or someone from a different race. Hence it is considered racist and racism is illegal in Australia.
Another type of derogatory comment is to 'insult' them about their sexuality? For example, if you call a lesbian ( a women who is wants to be with a woman instead of a man ) a "lezbo" - or "carpet muncher" or any insult that can embarrass them about their sexuality - It's not defamation, because it is a fact. However, it still can cause them all the effects of public humiliation and so on. If you do it regularly, the homosexual (a person who wants to be with the same sex) can sue you. It is also illegal to refuse someone employment because of there sexuality, but with recent law changes an employer can fire an employee at any time with out having to give a reason; thus letting them discriminate as they please, at least in the beginning of the employer / employee relationship.
Prejudice, is similar to racism and similar to discrimination towards someone's sexual preference. Prejudice is where you discriminate against someone with a disorder, or because of a physical feature. Generally, if someone calls out a prejudicial comment in public, they may get removed from the area, but wont get arrested, unless they do it to the point where it is considered harassment or riotous behaviour.
Most people don't say discriminatory things, because of common curtesy and respect. Although some religions and some individuals have problems with certain types of people eg: a Catholic might be discriminatory against a homosexual, because he or she may believe that the homosexual is against there religion and that raises the problem with "Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through media regardless of frontiers.(1)" 2, which allows a person to publish their opinions and ideas in a newspaper and so on, thus exposing the public to their view point.
1 http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/term/E0563767-C3CE-42B0-90107F29AF588A6C
2
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2001-02/02rn42.htm
This freedom to express one's viewpoint, can cause the same adverse effects of public humiliation, embarrassment and so on as does defamation, but unlike defamation which is illegal, expressing one self is not illegal. Although under freedom of speech, being able to say what you want may at times be considered "slander", slander is not a very serious crime. However, if you were to make a comment out of hate and deliberation to try and harm someone mentally by means of public media, (keeping in mind that it is not illegal to expose someone but it is illegal to insult them. for example; if you call a black person a "nigger" you may get a small fine, but if you did that by means of public media it then turns from slander to libel) it becomes public and therefore more serious and you could be held accountable and be fined for a large amount of money. Basically meaning that it is not illegal to expose someone but it is illegal to insult them.
Some people might ask: "Why shouldn't we be allowed to criticize?". If we go to a restaurant and don't like the food and say this food is horrible, why can we not say homosexuals are horrible? The answer to that question is simple, food doesn't have feelings, you need to respect the feelings of others even though you may not like them or have different beliefs. Criticism of food or movies etc is not illegal, it is an opinion. As long as you keep it to an acceptable level.
Opinions. It may be one's opinion that homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to marry or black skinned people shouldn't be aloud to have rights. But due to voting we have made certain things illegal, even though they might contradict the freedom of expression law. Hence racism is not allowed. Freedom of expression lets us express ourselves and speech is a form of expression, so, non-technically speaking, we basically have freedom of speech, but legally it is just not called freedom of speech.
Do the laws apply In the seat of parliament? All the laws are suspended in the seat of parliament; so they can say what they want, when they want and about anyone or anything they want and get away with it ( Any statement made in parliament is absolutely privileged and cannot be made the subject of inquiry in a court of law or other constituted authority )1. Members or the parliament have this privilege so that they can deal with matters more effectively by not having to worry about breaking any laws.
As a citizen you have the right to protest, but when the protesting gets out of hand It is considered a riot and then becomes a crime, you are allowed to hold up 'non offensive' signs like 'save the whales' or 'save the rainforest' and chant things such as 'save the whales' or 'save the rain forest' etc. But you are not allowed to physically get involved by getting in the way of boats or tying yourself to a tree etc.
Religion / Cults also have rights to speak out their beliefs. Even though the general public would normally reject them and say they hate people pushing different religions onto them. Until it becomes excessive to the point where it could be considered harassment or a public disturbance, no legal action can be taken.
How can we tell the difference between criticism and defamation? The difference between criticism and defamation is generally understood through common curtesy, but is a touchy subject. As an Australian citizen you have the right to criticise (say what you think is good or bad about a person or movie etc) but when it is about people you have to be careful about how you say it so that it can be understood correctly. For example; if you say to a girl "you look better in pants rather than a dress", there is nothing wrong with that but if you said "you look bad in that dress" it could be considered an insult and have the same affects as defamation. Defamation is a lie to deliberately harm someone where as criticism is an opinion.
1
http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/About_the_department/publications/
