By Don Brash

Tomorrow I was due to speak to members of Massey University’s Politics Society in Palmerston North. I was invited by the group two and a half months ago to speak about my experience as Leader of the National Party.

This morning, the University’s Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas announced the University has cancelled the booking due to “security concerns”, my involvement with Hobson’s Pledge, and my views on Māori wards on councils, which she says “come dangerously close to hate speech” and fail to recognise “the values of a Tiriti o Waitangi-led organisation”.

She also references my “support” of Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux (which was in fact merely support of their right to speak, not an endorsement of their views).

You can read the Vice-Chancellor’s full statement here.

I believe the Vice-Chancellor’s position is a disgraceful contradiction of publicly-funded universities’ role in hosting robust debate and the free exchange of ideas.

You can read the Free Speech Coalition’s media release in response here. (more…)

The pair of controversial alt-right activists have a message for the Kiwis after a failed speaking tour.

“Hope you enjoy shariah.”

Caolan Robertson, an agent for Lauren Southern, sent the message to the Herald over Twitter adding it was the official tour response.

Lauren Southern and Stephen Molyneux have claimed that “powerful forces” prevented them speaking in New Zealand.

“We had paid, we had an agreement in hand and the guy who was in charge of the venue was very keen on free speech – it’s an open canvas,” Molyneux told Newshub.

“He knew who we were, he knew what was going on.”

After the emails were sent out alerting people to the venue, something changed, Molyneux said. (more…)

Dear Supporter,

Despite Phil Goff’s claim that we have ‘backed down’ on our legal action, which challenged his public declaration that he ‘banned’ Canadian speakers Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux, he knows very well we haven’t.

We had to withdraw the urgent application because it turned out Mr Goff’s claims were false. The decision to cancel the Southern/Molyneux event was never his, and our legal efforts forced the Council to concede that it must act in a politically neutral manner when managing public facilities.

We simply could not waste a day of the Court’s time on an issue that, thanks to our legal efforts, the Mayor and Council’s lawyers finally admitted we were right on. Only in Mr Goff’s world is that a backdown. (more…)

The controversial topic of far-right speakers Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux’s upcoming New Zealand event is causing a rift among groups before the duo even land in the country.

The Canadian pair are known for their polarising views on topics including feminism, gender, immigration and Islam and were banned by the Auckland Council from speaking at venues it owns earlier this month.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said, in response to criticism on the ban, he was “not going to aid and abet people who spout racist nonsense by providing them with a venue.”

Their promoter yesterday confirmed the duo have now secured a location after being granted work visas by Immigration New Zealand last week.

Auckland Peace Action spokesperson Valerie Morse accused the duo of hate speech and told Morning Report they were attempting to deny others their rights as human beings. (more…)