Free Speech Union Election 2026: David Seymour (ACT) on blasphemy laws and regulators
ACT leader David Seymour says sections 61 and 131 of the Human Rights Act "really ought to be gone", and that ACT has "no intention of ever...
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Free Speech Union's Podcast
The official podcast of the Free Speech Union. Focused on protecting and promoting freedom of expression in New Zealand, the Free Speech Union Podcast hosts interviews with international and...
Episodes
20 of 219 episodesFree Speech Union Election 2026: Winston Peters (NZ First) on the social media ban
NZ First leader Winston Peters says National's under-16 social media bill and Labour's digital duty of care won't stop at children: "it'll b...
Free Speech Union Election 2026: Paul Goldsmith (National) on hate speech and the BSA
Justice and Media Minister Paul Goldsmith rules out any new hate speech legislation: "We've been very clear about that." He tells Free Speec...
David Harvey & Ani O'Brien: The Return of the Online Regulator | Free to Speak
In 2023, more than 18,000 Free Speech Union supporters told the Government they didn't want a single regulator for online content. The Minis...
David Smylie: One Email, a Medical Council Complaint, and Why a GP Left New Zealand
GP David Smylie tells Dane Giraud how one late-night email to a pharmaceutical sales rep, sent in November 2022, became a Medical Council of...
Cath Simpson: Suspended by the Tribunal, Sacked by Health NZ | Free Speech Union
Health NZ sacked mental health nurse Cath Simpson on 9 October over posts she made on X in her own time and deleted more than a year ago. Th...
Paul Henry: Interviewing, the Campaign Trail and the Future of Media
Broadcaster Paul Henry joins Dane Giraud on the art of interviewing and what separates a good journalist from a bad one. Henry argues the be...
Stephen Franks and Kirsten Murfitt: Lawyers, Letters and the Law Society
Free Speech Union Council Chair Stephen Franks and Tauranga lawyer Kirsten Murfitt compare notes on being investigated by the New Zealand La...
Karl Mokaraka: The Man Over the Fence on South Auckland
Karl Mokaraka earned the nickname "the man over the fence" the day he borrowed a wheelchair for height and climbed the fence at a Pakuranga...
Jillaine Heather: The Free Speech Union's election priorities
Free Speech Union Executive Director Jillaine Heather joins Dane Giraud on Free to Speak to set out the Union's priorities heading into the...
Dame Elizabeth Rata: how New Zealand built a world-leading education system
Dame Elizabeth Rata is a sociologist of education at the University of Auckland and a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She...
Mike Grimshaw: Kneecap, free speech and the transgressive power of music
Mike Grimshaw is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Canterbury. He joins Dane Giraud to make the free speech case for let...
Corina Shields: Independent Media and the Stories Nobody Covers
Corina Shields returns to Free to Speak. As producer of Shubz Says So, she helped build one of the most talked about shows on independent Ne...
Andrew Doyle: How Blasphemy Laws Are Returning as 'Harm' and 'Islamophobia' | Free to Speak
Comedian, broadcaster and author Andrew Doyle, creator of the satirical persona Titania McGrath, joins Dane Giraud to unpack how Britain is...
Stephen Rainbow: Homosexual Law Reform, Free Speech and 1986
In 1986 Stephen Rainbow marched with HUG, Heterosexuals Unafraid of Gays, while living as a married father who had not yet come out. Forty y...
Juliet Moses: Artists, Donors and Who Owns the Stage | Free to Speak
Juliet Moses is a lawyer, President of the New Zealand Jewish Council, and the author of "Biting the Hand", a Quillette essay on what happen...
Frances Widdowson: Kamloops, unmarked graves and academic freedom
Frances Widdowson is a Canadian political scientist. She was an associate professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary until her dismissal...
Shubz: Called a Kūpapa for Talking to the Wrong People
Shubz has been called a kūpapa. The word describes Māori who sided with the Crown in the New Zealand Wars, and it still gets thrown at Māori...
Paul Moon: Killing Te Reo Māori | Free to Speak
In 2018, historian Paul Moon published a book arguing that te reo Māori is on course to disappear as a living language, and that almost ever...
Elliot Ikilei: Can a Conservative Truly Support Free Speech? | Free to Speak
Elliot Ikilei, former New Conservative leader, key figure in Hobson's Pledge, and now New Zealand First's 2026 candidate for Takanini, joins...