FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN AUSTRALIA

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Freedom of speech isn’t protected in the Australian Constitution — and it’s disappearing faster than you think according to Senator Ralph Babet hence he is introducing a Constitution Alteration (Right to Free Speech) 2025, the purpose of which is to enshrine freedom of speech within the Australian Constitution.

Senator Babet deserves our support.

  • I’ve introduced the Constitution Alteration (Right to Free Speech) 2025 to enshrine freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Australia’s Constitution.
  • Australians assume they already have free speech; they don’t. That assumption is now dangerously wrong.
  • State and federal laws increasingly punish Australians for saying what they honestly believe, even simple biological truths.
  • Without freedom of speech, there is no freedom of thought. The right to speak your mind is the foundation of every other liberty.
  • My Bill will give Australians the chance to vote in a referendum and decide, once and for all, whether we still believe in the right to speak freely in our own country.

This Bill is urgently needed and will provide protection of a right that Australians assume they already have. That assumption is increasingly dangerous. While freedom of speech in this country is generally assumed, it is not guaranteed. Indeed, it is under perilous threat right now.

Over the past decade, the right of Australians to say what they think has increasingly come under attack. While Australian Parliaments have made no effort to protect speech, they have passed laws – at state and federal levels – to restrict freedom of speech. We are now at a point in this country where it is dangerous to openly say things that most people privately believe. It’s a brave person, for example, who opines in public that men cannot become women. Is that really the kind of country we want to live in? A country in which stating simple biological truths puts a person in danger of being dragged before a tribunal to be interrogated for their words.

Senator Babet proposes to make the following speech to the Senate:

Australia lacks, at a national level, entrenched protections of freedom of speech. Our role as elected representatives should be to provide and sustain that right.

This Bill, if successful, will give the Australian people the power to vote in a referendum and determine just how important freedom of speech is to them.

I believe the people will vote overwhelmingly in favour of free speech, because Australians may disagree on many issues, but we believe in a fair go and the right of everyone to voice their opinion without fear or favour.

Our proposed alteration to the Constitution will protect freedom of expression along similar lines to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, which provides that the Congress ‘shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press’.

The Australian Constitution already provides some express protection against legislative action by the Commonwealth. Section 116 says that the Parliament ‘shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion’.

In a similar way, our proposed protection for freedom of speech would reflect the assumption of all Australians that people have the right to express their thoughts with confidence and without fear of censure.

Moreover, it would put a brake on efforts to suppress freedom of speech that are, shockingly, becoming more and more common around the Western world, including here in Australia.

There shouldn’t be a single Senator in this chamber who would say they were against freedom of speech.

There shouldn’t be a single Senator in this chamber who would say to their constituents, I want to make it more difficult for you and your family to express your opinions.

We came to Canberra not to oppress our constituents but to defend and ensure their freedoms. This bill does that. And it is long overdue.

I commend this Bill to the Senate.

GOD HAS AND IS USING MUSK TO RESTORE AMERICA

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 The Democratic Party demonstrated that it no longer supports the First Amendment – the constitutional right of freedom of speech. This was the catalyst for Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022. The revelations of how systematic and structured the censorship really was became clear from the release of the Twitter files.

A free society cannot exist without freedom of speech. And Musk knowingly overpaid for Twitter simply to defend everyone’s constitutional right to freedom of speech. He knows that in the absence of a free society, there will only be a decline.

The threats that half of the users would leave, that Twitter would collapse, and that Musk and his team would fail miserably have been everywhere since the acquisition. But let’s look at the simple facts… Twitter had 229 million monthly active users (MAUs) prior to the acquisition. X now has 600 million monthly active users – an increase of 371 million.

There’s no other way to put it, X is absolutely thriving. It is already one of the greatest turnarounds in history and a representation of what the vast majority of the population wants.

The censorship industrial complex, which opposes freedom of speech, is also why Musk established xAI – his artificial intelligence company that will be the first to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Musk knows that as these reasoning AIs like OpenAI’s GPT and xAIs Grok become more useful, they will essentially become the operating system for our lives, and for our education. If they are programmed and trained on untruthful information, it would be disastrous for civilization.

That’s why the goal of xAI is to produce an unbiased, “maximum-truth-seeking AI.” Balanced, unbiased, evidence-based, and capable of incredible performance and scientific discoveries.

Pray that Musk’s eyes will be opened to the truth of God’s Word and that he will understand what a good God we have and come to the knowledge of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us with His death on the Cross.

YOU MUST BOW AT THE LGBT ALTAR OR ELSE

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Article by Michael Brown, Christian Press Op-Ed Contributor

Do you remember when the main goal of LGBT activism was creating an atmosphere of “tolerance and acceptance”? Those days are long gone, and the goalposts have been moved dramatically. Today, if you do not partake in the public, mandatory celebration of LGBT pride, you will be marked and you will be ostracized. If you don’t believe me, just ask NHL hockey player Ivan Provorov.

Provorov, who is from Russia and plays for the Philadelphia Flyers, declined to participate in pregame warmups for the Flyer’s LGBT pride night since he would have been required to wear a pride-themed jersey.

He explained to reporters, “I respect everybody and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion [which is Russian Orthodox]. That’s all I’m going to say.”

In other words, if someone identifies as LGBT, that’s their business, and he respects that. He has his own religious beliefs which dictate how he lives, and he would ask others to respect that. Live and let live.

Flyers coach John Tortorella was supportive of Provorov’s choice, explaining that the team made clear where it stood on LGBT pride. As for Provorov himself, Tortorella said that “he is being true to himself and to his religion. This has to do with his beliefs and his religion. That is one thing I respect about Provy, he is always true to himself, so that’s where we’re at with that.”

But not everyone was as tolerant (remember that word?). According to hockey journalist Pierre LeBrun, if Provorov really respected the LGBT community, he would have participated in the event and worn the jersey. To paraphrase, “Who gives a hoot about his religious convictions? To respect someone means to celebrate who they are and what they do, even if it is in fundamental contradiction to one’s own beliefs and convictions.”

Hockey commentator Gord Miller seconded LeBrun’s sentiments, adding that Provorov should have been banned from playing in the game. After all, he tweeted, “Freedom of expression doesn’t give you freedom from the consequences of your words or actions.” To paraphrase again, “Failure to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride has serious professional consequences!”

Sports and comedy writer Rachael Millanta was even more blunt, calling Provorov “ignorant, obnoxious, and homophobic,” also referring to people like him as “bigots” who “hide behind their cherry-picked religion.”

Oh, the beauty of open-minded, liberal tolerance!

So, by Provorov following the consistent Christian teachings of the last 2,000 years (or, more broadly, the consistent biblical teachings of the last 3,000+ years), he is an ignorant, obnoxious and homophobic bigot who is cherry-picking his beliefs.

The same can be said for the tens of millions of Russian Orthodox Christians who share these beliefs, along with many hundreds of millions of other Christians of like heart and like mind.

In short, you cannot graciously disagree. You cannot respectfully opt-out. Instead, you must deny your convictions, rewrite the Bible, run roughshod over your faith, and publicly celebrate something you believe to be wrong. Otherwise, you are a crass human being and a small-minded bigot. Those are your only choices!

Already in 2011 in my book A Queer Thing Happened to America, I could point to the Riddle Homophobia Scale, used in schools to evaluate whether the students were “homophobic.” According to the scale, both tolerance and acceptance were considered homophobic, since homosexuality was not something to “tolerate” or “accept.”

Instead, the only way not to be homophobic was to embrace a “positive” attitude which called for “support, admiration, appreciation, and nurturance.”

Yes, if you don’t want to be a homophobe, you must admire your lesbian friend. You must nurture your transgender colleague’s new identity. Otherwise, you will be marked.

Are you surprised? Well, consider this: “The Riddle homophobia scale was developed by Dorothy Riddle in 1973–74 while she was overseeing research for the American Psychological Association Task Force on Gays and Lesbians.”

That’s how far back it goes, although it wasn’t widely released until 1994. That’s why I started my article with this question: “Do you remember when the main goal of LGBT activism was creating an atmosphere of ‘tolerance and acceptance?’”

Most young people, including young adults, do not remember this time because they never experienced it. Instead, they have grown up with the choice to celebrate LGBT pride or be branded, to comply publicly or be ousted.

That’s why one of the chapters in my forthcoming book Why Have So Many Christians Left the Faith is titled, “If Gay Is Good, Christianity Is Bad.” That’s how much the tables have turned, even though the testimony of Scripture remains as clear today as it has ever been.

One of my colleagues, who is now a pastor, worked for years as a computer programmer with Bank of America. He told me that little by little, he was getting pushed out of his job through LGBT activism. By the time he quit, every employee, let alone higher-level managers or executives, could see on your bio whether you identified as an LGBT ally. If not, you could virtually kiss your career advancements goodbye.

Provorov is just the latest example of this reverse bigoted, small-minded, judgmentalism which leaves us with only one ethical choice: We will continue to love our LGBT neighbor as ourselves and we will refuse to back down on our convictions regardless of cost or consequence. That’s what Jesus would have us do.

There is a week-long celebration of Gay Pride in Sydney at the moment with 12.000 marchers including our Prime Minister and other politicians.

Article from “The Age” newspaper February 25th, 2023

“Anthony Albanese made history on Saturday night when he became the first Australian prime minister to march in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

“It’s unfortunate that I am the first, but this is a celebration of modern Australia … a diverse and inclusive Australia,” he said.

“We need to be a country that respects everyone for who they are.”

Marching in his 35th Mardi Gras, Albanese paid tribute to the 78ers – the protesters from the original march 45 years ago ″⁣who were thrown in jail”.

FRANKLIN GRAHAM SCORES A BIG WIN IN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CASE IN UK

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After a legal fight lasting several years, evangelist Franklin Graham has won an important case for religious freedom in the UK. A County Court Judge Claire Evans has ruled that the 2018 Lancashire Festival of Hope was discriminated against when ads promoting the event were pulled from buses in Blackpool, in an effort to ban him from preaching. In 2018, the Blackpool Council and Blackpool Transport Services removed bus advertisements displaying the words “Time for Hope,” citing that members of the community complained about Graham’s association with the festival. The transportation company said they received feedback from members of the community who were concerned over the evangelist’s religious beliefs on marriage and sexuality. Complaints referenced Graham’s biblical views about LGBTQ matters like same-sex marriage.

Some falsely accused him of “preaching hate” or being “racist.” Jane Cole, managing director at Blackpool Transport said, “The removal of these adverts is as a result of us listening and acting on customer and public feedback which we aim to do at all times. Blackpool Transport is a proud ongoing supporter of the Pride and LGBT+ communities and in no way did we intend to cause any distress or upset.” After the decision was announced, additional complaints were made about the removal of the advertisements by members of the public who saw the move as bias against Christians, censorship, and a restriction of free speech. Moreover, the court concluded that the ads themselves were inoffensive and the transportation company had actually violated the UK’s Equality Act 2010. The law forbids discrimination against anyone because of religion or belief.

Judge Evans ruled “overwhelmingly in favour” of the Lancashire Festival of Hope, saying that Blackpool “had a wholesale disregard” for the Festival’s right to freedom of speech. It prioritized the rights and opinions of members of the LGBT community. “We thank God for this ruling because it is a win for every Christian in the U.K.,” Graham said. Despite removal of the ads, the Lancashire Festival of Hope brought 9,000 people together in Blackpool, garnered more than 50,000 online views worldwide, and saw more than 400 people commit their lives to Christ. “It is a significant day for religious liberty,” said James Barrett, chairman of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association UK. “The court recognized that Blackpool Council cared more about appeasing the LGBTQ community than upholding the rights of local churches to advertise a Christian festival.” He added, “The judge summarized it best in her ruling when she said, ‘This is the antithesis of the manner in which a public authority should behave in a democratic society.

IS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN AUSTRALIA GUARANTEED BY EITHER PARTY?

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Listen to Martin Isles of Australian Christian Lobby (ACL). This video reveals that what is proposed by the Ruddock review will not provide freedom of religion for Australians. I recommend all of my Aussie followers sign up for Martin’s weekly “The Truth of it” so you can get involved.

Will our Christian voice be heard? We need to ACT. Wake up church.

What is proposed for children concerning the transgender issue alone  is horrific. All of my followers need to listen to Martin and hear the truth of it. Also, the encouraging stories at the end of this video are worth the time invested.

WILL CHURCHES BE ABLE TO TEACH GOD’S VALUES ON MARRIAGE AND SEX?

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The following is taken from an article in The Australian by Michael Sexton May 29, 2018, it reveals the nation has largely rejected God, HIS Word and His values and persecution of believers who hold to the inerrancy of God’s Word is not too far off.

The Ruddock inquiry into religious freedom, instituted by the Australian Federal Government in the wake of the legislation authorising same-sex marriage, has completed its work but its findings have not been made public yet. In many ways the real issue is one of freedom of speech and is not a problem confined to religious bodies.

Image result for pictures of Israel Folau on the Rugby field

It has been said that the complaints of some of the Rugby Australia sponsors about Folau’s statements raise an issue of freedom of speech. But it is a fact — sad or otherwise — of modern Australian life that a highly paid sportsman or sportswoman cannot continue to make public statements, especially unfashionable ones on moral questions, that alienate sponsors and expect to survive, given the views that dominate almost all public institutions in this country and the boards of most large corporations.

But, the real issue of freedom of speech in this area is whether churches will be able to continue their traditional teachings in pulpits and schools in the light of state and territorial legislation that makes it illegal to engage in conduct that offends or otherwise injures the feelings of individuals on the basis of, for example, their participation in same-sex marriage.

TRUTH ABOUT ISRAEL FROM YOUNG MUSLIM WOMAN

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A young Arab-Israeli woman tells an Arabic TV channel that Israel is absolutely not an apartheid state and that she loves her country.

The video took to the internet by storm, causing outrage as well as intrigue in the Arab world as she defended her country, Israel.

Listen to Dema Taya’s fiery speech against the outrageous accusation that Israel is an apartheid state.

RAMIFICATIONS OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE

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Listen to Martyn Iles do a great job of outlining the impact Same Sex Marriage (SSM) legislation will have on an individual’s freedom. How fortunate we are, to be able to see the outcome of SSM legislation particularly in the USA and Canada, before legislation is enacted here. Also, how blessed we are that God is raising up individuals of this calibre to represent Christians in Australia. We need to wholeheartedly support organisations such as ACL . You only have to read the vitriolic responses on the ACL website to realise ACL is doing a great job. Pray for them and support them financially if you are able.

https://youtu.be/ioUX5vl22Wc