We have followed the evisceration of free speech values in the United Kingdom and other Western nations. Australia has been one of the most chilling examples of how a population can be conditioned over time to view free speech as a threat. The country now criminalizes and regulates an ever-expanding range of speech, including political and religious viewpoints. The most recent example is the Supreme Court of New South Wales upholding a conviction for ‘vilification’ after women’s rights campaigner Kirralie Smith and the publication Binary Australia referred to two transgender individuals as men due to their biological sex. That led not only to $95,000 in fines but also to a sentence of compelled speech.
The complaint was filed in November 2023 by Justin “Riley” Dennis and Nicholas “Stephanie” Blanch after the defendants objected to their inclusion in women’s football.
Rather than engage in that public debate on the merits, Dennis and Blanch also sought to punish the defendants for causing “serious contempt” and “severe ridicule” by refusing to use female pronouns and other identifiers according to their transgender status. The NSW Local Court found Smith and Binary Australia incited hatred and severe ridicule of the two trans women, holding that they exposed the athletes to “a sustained campaign of belittling, harassment and intimidation.”
Found guilty, Smith was given a $55,000 fine for Blanch and another $40,000 fine for Dennis to be paid within the next 28 days.
In an added chilling penalty, the court ordered Smith and Binary to publish a statement that they reject and to keep it featured on social media for three months. The addition of compelled speech makes this a perfect storm of anti-free speech measures.
We have previously written about the free speech nightmare in Australia. Former Australian Attorney-General and Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland has been an enthusiastic champion of censorship. She insisted:
“Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy. Doing nothing and allowing this problem to fester is not an option.”
The lack of free speech protection by the courts has fueled this trend. Previously, the High Court ruled that newspapers and television stations that post articles on social media sites like Facebook are liable for third-party comments on those posts. That exposed publications to crippling costs for allowing free speech exchanges on social media. While there have been occasional wins for free speech litigants, the Australian courts have shown comparably little fealty to free speech.
Polls have shown that many Australians still have concerns about the government’s crackdown, and 45 percent believe that information deemed “misinformation” by the government should still be protected. That is still a sizable portion of the population. With a mere majority supporting free speech principles, there is a sharp disconnect from the extreme anti-free-speech policies passed by the legislature and enforced by the courts.
Christian groups are pushing for a final appeal in the case.
One can disagree with Smith and still support her right to reject transgender status and criticize the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sports. While I have low expectations for the Australian courts, the Australian people still hold lingering free speech values even after years of crackdowns and prosecutions. However, it will take a major political movement to remove anti-free-speech elements from the country’s legislature and courts.
It’s not just abolition of free speech, but an attack on freedom of religion too. “Thou shalt not bear false witness”. Violating the the ninth commandment, telling a lie, is a sin for Christians. The government is requiring people to lie contrary to their religious convictions because they have no regard for Christianity. That is the same as requiring a Muslims or Jew to eat pork, which they would never do, but punishing a Christian for refusal to lie is somehow OK.
Proclamation 80—Calling Forth the Militia and Convening an Extra Session of Congress
“On April 15, 1861,…President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling forth the state militias, to the sum of 75,000 troops, in order to suppress the rebellion. He appealed ‘to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union.’”
Proclamation 92—Warning to Rebel Sympathizers
“[On] July 17, 1862,…I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion or any rebellion against the Government of the United States and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States on pain of the forfeitures and seizures as within and by said sixth section provided.”
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Abraham Lincoln was a Great American President.
Now President Donald J. Trump MUST implement his rendition of “The Lincoln Era”; close the border; rescind rebel sanctuary cities; compassionately repatriate all illegal and unassimilable aliens since Jan. 1, 1863; issue mass temporary work permits with no path to citizenship; revoke birthright citizenship; make English the sole official language; commence a war to defeat the rebellion; impose martial law; suspend habeas corpus; “smash” rebel printing presses, networks, podcasts, and social media platforms; and imprison political opponents and rebel judges, all in order to save not the Union but the Nation, eradicate communism and the communist American welfare state, and place America squarely back on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, including absolute freedom, free enterprise, free industries, free markets, private property, and minimal taxation and regulation, alongside infinitesimal constitutional government.
Not to be outdone by the “villification and harassment” ruling in Australia’s trans case, British tabloid The Guardian just announced that 155 scientists and researchers just sent a letter blaming the Trump administration for “vilification and harassment of many American scientists,” to wit, Anthony Fauci, after Senator Rand Paul disclosed email texts from Fauci telling his [Fauci’s] team to delete/erase emails and texts.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/28/trump-administration-fauci-scientists
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/unearthed-emails-blow-hole-in-fauci-s-claim-that-he-never-asked-staff-to-delete-emails/ar-AA1MhH0W
Lin, that’s the same trick wearing a different jersey. “Vilification” doing the heavy lifting to cover up factual scrutiny is the exact move we’ve been picking apart in the Smith case all day. Fauci told his own people in writing to delete records, then turned around and swore under oath he never did that. Somebody pointing that out with the actual emails in hand isn’t harassment. That’s just called holding a guy to his own word.
That’s why it matters how these words get stretched anywhere. Once “vilification” or “harassment” gets wide enough to swallow up honest, documented criticism, it doesn’t stay on one side of the aisle. It’s a tool. And tools get picked up by whoever’s got the power that day, red or blue, doesn’t matter.
Olly: Yes, (your last paragraph is good) and that phrase (vilification and harassment) becomes the phrase du jour for MSM/media’s manipulation of public sentiment…
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776
I’d say they could fight back but they can’t. I had an Aussie friend once ask me why we Americans had such an obsession with guns. I told him that we we similar countries – both English speaking, former British colonies. However, Australia’s independence was GIVEN to them; we TOOK ours by force.
It helped that the French told the British to stop attacking the Colonies and backed the Colonies up with cash, ships, and troops.
It’s a minor detailed as overlooked as is the Land of the Free and the home of the Slaves.
They gave up their guns and speech followed.
With free-speech falling in many Western countries, it more important now more than ever to fight to maintain free speech in America.