From curbing protests to controlling what can be said, state and Federal Labor governments are becoming authoritarian. Next in line is the thought police entering campus, Nick Riemer reports.
In December, the NSW Labor government gave itself the power to ban street marches for an indefinite period. We saw what that meant on February 9 as violent police charged, maced, beat and arrested protesters against Herzog’s visit.
In January, the federal ALP introduced new hate speech laws, which confer unprecedented discretion on the government to criminalise speech and groups to which it objects. Now, in a further stride down its authoritarian road, the federal government is reported to be proceeding with plans for political training for Australian university staff.