Letter to The Editor - We need more free speech, not less

To The Age         Any discussion of so-called "hate speech" needs to take into account the fact that the term has been weaponised by various powerful minority groups and institutions to protect themselves and promote their interests at the expense of others ("Wounding with words", 14/3). Free speech is certainly "vital to democracy and the contest of ideas"; it is equally important for the enactment of justice and the unfettered search for truth. The problem is not so much that "the effects of hate speech are overstated", since plenty of evidence shows otherwise, but that these unpleasant effects are wrongfully cited in order, deliberately, to close down debate on politically sensitive topics. It follows that in Australia, currently, we need more free speech, not less.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic