What is art, and what is hate? Just ask the police! Free speech, hate speech, and a brand new set of laws that look a lot less like “social cohesion” and a lot more like State Powers to Hammer Thy Enemies. 
This week alone, three flashpoints lit up at once, a satirical tweet lands a bloke in jail, a far right agitator is prosecuted, and Canberra police raid a cafe over protest art on the wall.  
So who decides what counts as “hate”, police on the spot, politicians in Canberra, or the courts, and why do some voices cop the full force of the state while others skate on national television. 
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00:00: The week the hate speech laws bite 
00:38: Police raid a Canberra cafe over posters 
03:13: “Criminalising art”, the posters, the gig, the complaint 
13:03: The three free speech issues, and the double standard 
15:15: Why crackdowns backfire 
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.
