Great timing? Tasmania’s govt attacking freedom of speech
Labor lashes timing of defamation law change DUNCAN ABEY MERCURY JANUARY 12, 2015 NEW corporate defamation laws proposed by the Tasmanian Government represent a direct attack on freedom of speech and will stifle public debate, the Opposition says.
And deputy Labor leader Michelle O’Byrne said the timing could not be worse, in the wake of the deadly attacks on the staff of satirical Paris-based magazine Charlie Hedbo.
“Once again Tasmania is at the front of the national stage for the wrong reasons,” Ms O’Byrne said.
“The State Government wants to bring in legislation around defamation that will mean nobody can ever say anything against a corporation.
“Now this doesn’t just apply to the people the Government says it will target, such as forestry protesters, but it will apply to individuals and it will apply to the media.
“The right to free speech has never been more warmly embraced by the world than after what we have seen in Paris, and for nobody to be ever allowed to say anything negative about a corporation just smacks of silencing dissent.”………….http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/labor-lashes-timing-of-defamation-law-change/story-fnj4f7k1-1227181465484
No comments yet.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
Leave a comment