free speech

The past few months have shown us the importance of public servants making public statements as well as limits involved with this. Namely: public servants are required to be apolitical.

There’s an implicit idea we understand the basic meaning of “free speech”, and we are all entitled to it. But what does it really mean, and how entitled are we?

The tone of public discourse has become so aggressive, nit picking and ideological there were few willing to engage. Founding editor of the Griffith Review, Professor Julianne Schultz asks if Australia needs a more mature national conversation, what role does the humanities play in fostering that?

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has decided that public servants should be free to criticise government policy under fake names on social media, on the basis that such comments cannot possibly reflect badly on their employers.

In the age of social media, public servants who enjoy political activities and contributing to public life often find the rules oppressive or hard to decipher. Nine tips on how far your freedom of speech goes on Facebook.

Free speech is a fundamental democratic value; the Australian constitution impliedly protects political communication. Why, then, is the government so keen to gag public servants?