Well said.

I did however wonder whether singling out universities as "the final bastion of freedom of expression and the contest of ideas" went a bit far.

I can recall many occasions when elements within universities have attempted to shut down meetings involving speakers they were ideologically opposed to. Why is it that conservative politicians often need a hefty police escort to attend some university campuses?

These "bastions of the contest of ideas" often also have a dominant political ethos. Both the major universities in the ACT are well connected with the ALP. Equally, one can identify universities elsewhere that are bastions of more right-wing thinking.

Don says "People like me who write for newspapers, write books and write blogs have to ensure that what we write is understandable and interesting, but always within the law."

Not so - nothing compels you to be understandable or interesting. They're just things that matter to you as an author. It's notable and revealing that you don't include accuracy among your desiderata.

Don – just yesterday evening I had the temerity(?) to stand in the centre of Brisbane with an enlarged photograph of an 8-week-old preborn baby and a sign stating, “This is not a potato”.

A few minutes after starting to hold up the signs, three 17 year-olds (two females and one male) came up to me and for the next hour aggressively harangued me for making the statement. They explicitly said that I should not be allowed to make any public comments that they interpreted to be opposed to abortion. For a while the male tried to take the signs from me, but to be fair, one of the girls did tell him that he shouldn’t.

I asked them why they didn’t respect freedom of speech. They assured me that they did - but, not for someone whom they regarded as being anti-abortion. In vain I tried to help them see that respecting free speech is precisely about letting people whom you disagree with having the freedom to speak anyway. But they wouldn’t have any of that.

You might like to think that they are the exceptions but from my experience they are not.

Earlier this year I was arrested in Hobart when I was holding a sign that read on the front, “Everyone has the right to life, Article 3, Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and on the back, “Every child has the right to life, Article 6, Convention on the Rights of the Child.” Australia is signatory to both of these documents.

It is true that I was also holding a photo of an 8-week-old preborn baby, and I was within 150m of a place where abortions are done, but if the “universal” in “Universal Declaration” means what it says, why shouldn’t the document be able to be promoted in all public places?
I think that there is no doubt that freedom of speech in Australia is not just under threat but is already being suppressed.

Don, you are entitled to express your views. Things you are not entitled to are:

1. Being provided with an audience to hear your views

2. No criticism of your views

3. Not having people tell you your views are wrong, objectionable or otherwise inappropriate, especially when they are wrong.

It seems to me you are complaining more about people disagreeing with you than your right to express your views. After all you have shown time and time again on OLO that you don't understand climate science, but you still get a platform on the topic.

I can't see how your freedom of speech is being repressed.

free speech explained:

http://xkcd.com/1357/

JP is absolutely right. His claims will be publicly vindicated as a raft of Court Cases trialing anyone who similarly speaks out against the atrocity of abortion unfold. One young woman who held up two pictures ..one of a developing baby... much the same as the one we see on TV advertisements for the vitamin supplement.. Elivet is it? outside an abortion facility...and was apprehended by police officers who confiscated them and charged her with displaying "obscene" pictures, has already appeared for "mention" in Court.One wonders if any judge would ever rule that pictures of the Jewish Holocaust were "obscene" and therefore never to be shown in public without risking a similar charge?

A few meters from where this young woman was "apprehended", the Falun Gong weekly display their "obscene" pictures of tortured fellow Falun
Gong practitioners...free of any risk of being charged with "displaying obscene images". Of course the images are obscene ..torture and abortion are obscene acts. Unbelievable as it may seem freedom of speech in our country has been well and truly eroded. Watch this space...!