Hate speech or free speech?

Don Brash and the Free Speech Union visit Massey University

In early 2018, when former National leader Don Brash had a speech on politics cancelled at Massey University, a question - that has recently been thrust into headlines - was posed. Is free speech under threat? At the start of this month, Brash was back on the Manawatū campus as part of the Free Speech Union’s (FSU) controversial nationwide tour.

The event, hosted in a highly guarded lecture theatre on campus, aimed to promote “freedom from censorship and cancel culture”. Ironically, a week earlier, activist Daphna Whitmore of the FSU was cancelled from speaking at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

This cancellation was fresh in Brash’s mind as it fuelled his talk. Brash questioned the power of cancel culture and reiterated that “universities should be the place to have intellectual debates on complex topics”.

Brash was met with nods of agreement from the majority of the elderly audience, but found resistance from a few fresh-faced students.

Massey University Students’ Association (MUSA) President, Marla Beissel, was one of the students in attendance, but her recount of the talk was that it was merely “tame and uneventful”.

“I think inviting Brash is more of a publicity stunt for the Free Speech Union, rather than a move to effectively argue for free speech,” says Beissel. “It would be much more effective and interesting if, for instance, the FSU invited a refugee that has been persecuted in another country where free speech is not allowed. Or, someone that challenges the status quo rather than upholding colonial ideas and white supremacy.”

In 2018, Brash was barred from speaking at Massey University a few days before he was scheduled to present with his campaign group Hobson’s Pledge. Critics had labelled the group as racist, and believed his talk would be harmful to race relations and Māori on campus.

Vice Chancellor Jan Thomas cited the cancellation over security concerns - but documents released under a later Official Information Act request reveal Thomas didn’t want a “te Tiriti-led university be seen to be endorsing racist behaviours”.

This time around Brash faced no resistance from Massey University, and little backlash from students of the Manawatū campus. Despite this lack of uproar, Jonathan Aylin, CEO of FSU, described the hired security for the event as “the most I’ve ever seen in my time touring with FSU”.

In conversation with Massive, Ayling expressed his concern for free speech in New Zealand, arguing, “It's fundamentally regressive to think we can move forward, and grow as a society by silencing people.” When asked about if the FSU agreed with Don Brash’s political stance on certain topics Ayling reiterated that, “We [FSU] don’t take stances on substantive issues. We are here to preach the importance of free speech and debate.”

“It was encouraging to have students in attendance who completely disagreed with Don. The way we advance complex problems and come up with solutions is by debating in controlled environments like this conference,” Ayling continues.

“It becomes muddy when organisations start vetoing qualified professionals from speaking simply because they don’t see eye to eye. That is what AUT did, we are glad Massey did not follow suit.”

Uni Q Albany President, Elizabeth Jane does not believe the group is inherently homophobic towards the LGBTQ+ community, but believes that they support groups who are.

“Their goal is simplistic in that they [FSU] believe everyone has the right to say what they want; they don’t feel like cancelling or censorship has any place in reasonable debate.”

“What they fail to recognise is that freedom of speech is not freedom of consequence, and sometimes that consequence is losing a room booking,” Jane continues.

One of the students in disagreement with Brash told Massive that they believed the event was “full of violent misinformation and sends an unsafe agenda for a number of communities who find university a safe place”.

“It’s sad to see such events go ahead with no backlash. It shows that the University has loosened their stance on such provocative speakers.”

Massey University has walked a slippery slope with independent speakers in recent years. In 2020, Massey University’s Wellington campus cancelled the controversial feminism event, Speak Up for Women due to “health and safety concerns”. In reality, a public outroar of Massey student’s, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community, had caused the event to make mainstream media, and the negative spotlight forced Massey to pull the event all together.

Speak Up for Women campaigned against gender self-identification on birth certificates, and the inclusion of transgender women in sports.

With the FSU somewhat successfully touring New Zealand’s universities with controversial figures spearheading their efforts, it begs the question, has Massey University loosened their restrictions on external speakers? And if so, does this show a shift in our society's viewpoint on free speech?