Free Speech Coalition
The Free Speech Coalition says that concrete examples of speech the Government intends to criminalize with its hate speech legislation is central to robust debate on the proposals.
Spokesperson for the Coalition, Dr David Cumin says, “The Prime Minister has described the type of speech the government intends to criminalise as “when you see it, you know it”. That’s precisely the problem — a key objection of those opposed to hate speech legislation is that what counts as ‘hate speech’ is entirely subjective.”
“One only has to spend five minutes on Twitter to see people have wildly different notions of ‘hate speech’ but inevitably, those who define the bounds of hate speech will be those in power.”
“The public is essentially being asked to trust the courts, but when proposing to criminalise speech with a maximum three-year penalty, the government must be clear — particularly when it’s language they’re criminalizing.”
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