Free To Speak

Free Speech Union
  • 3.7 (3)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

Free to Speak is the New Zealand podcast that goes beyond headlines to explore the principles behind our most contentious debates.Produced by the New Zealand Free Speech Union, it examines freedom of expression and why it matters to a free and democratic society.Expect interviews with guests from New Zealand and around the world, plus deep dives with our Council into the cases and policy work shaping free speech today. Any questions, queries or feedback? Email: podcast@fsu.nz  www.fsu.nz

  1. 1d ago

    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 New Zealand investigation. He says the complaint was made by the rep's manager. David says he apologised early and offered to meet the rep, but the Council never passed his apology on. He says a committee then told him in writing that he was racist, on the strength of that one email. He was required to complete 12 months of supervised sessions, at his own cost, on implicit bias, colonialism and institutional racism. He did the sessions but would not write the two essays that came at the end, and chose to leave New Zealand. David argues the Council should get back to protecting the public from dangerous doctors. Dane connects his story to the Free Speech Union's campaign on professional regulators. Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 91811, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  2. 2d ago

    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. The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal had suspended her for two months and let her keep nursing. In her first public interview, Cath tells Free Speech Union Executive Director Jillaine Heather how one man's complaint to the Nursing Council became a fight for her career. She talks through the posts, on abortion, COVID, Rawiri Waititi, immigration and gender, and where she regrets the language she used. She describes the Council going through her account and adding posts the complainant never raised. The Tribunal's penalty included a programme covering everything from cultural safety and colonisation to gender and sexual diversity. Health NZ knew about the posts for 18 months and kept her working with patients until the Tribunal ruled. Its own dismissal letter accepted her remorse was genuine and raised no clinical concerns about her work. It sacked her anyway. Cath is appealing the Tribunal's decision in the High Court. Help fund the expert legal work: https://fsu.nz/donate/cath-simpson/ Read the Tribunal's full decision: https://fsu.nz/documents/cases/cath-simpson-hpdt-decision-2026-09-10.pdf Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 91811, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142  Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  3. Oct 19

    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 best interviewers listen hard and go in ready to be surprised, while the worst arrive with an agenda. Now on the campaign trail, he reflects on the broadcasting skills he has taken into politics and what voters tell you when you are willing to listen. The conversation turns to media and free speech: the Government's plan to scrap the Broadcasting Standards Authority, and what, if anything, should replace it. Dane points out that the tyre changer in Takanini is never the one shoulder-tapped to judge what is acceptable. They finish on how podcasts and phone-made content have given working-class and South Auckland voices a platform. Both argue a broadcasting regulator could have put those voices at risk. Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 91811, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  4. Oct 12

    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 Law Society. Both faced complaints over letters they wrote for clients. Both say the complaints system was turned against them. Stephen's case began with a letter sent for a client to clinics offering gender-affirming care to minors, setting out the legal risks after the Cass Review. A Standards Committee censured and fined him. The Legal Complaints Review Officer reversed that finding. Kirsten's case followed an open letter she published for her client, Lobby for Good, seeking information about a Tauranga City Council property purchase. They cover the cost of defending a complaint, rules that treat causing distress as misconduct, and what that means for clients who need a lawyer to speak for them. Professional regulators are an election campaign issue for the Free Speech Union. This special episode looks at the public and private cost of processes that seem more interested in groupthink than in protecting consumers. Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 91811, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  5. Oct 5

    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 press event. From there he put his questions straight to the politicians inside. In this episode Dane Giraud sits down with the Ōtara-raised activist to talk about the South Auckland he grew up in, a community that once judged you by your street rather than your race. They trace what changed as the freezing works and factories closed, the shared spaces vanished and the humour that held people together went with them. Mokaraka argues the real divide is about money and class rather than race, and that the common thread behind much of the hardship is the absent father. He makes the case that South Auckland's stories rarely reach the rest of the country, and asks who actually speaks for the families being left behind. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 10423, The Terrace, Wellington 6143 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  6. Sep 28

    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 2026 general election. Together they work through the three campaigns the FSU is running before election day. The first is opposing the return of blasphemy and religious hate speech laws. Heather argues the state can protect people from threats and harassment, but it cannot wall off beliefs and faiths from criticism. The second is professional regulation. She argues licensing bodies are straying beyond consumer safety into people's lawful private views. A mandatory course becomes compelled belief, she says, when someone has to give the approved answers to keep their licence. The third is the Government's new Online Safety Bill, introduced in August 2026, which would establish a regulator inside the Department of Internal Affairs. Heather's concern reaches past the under-16 age limit. She argues the real question is whether a government body should sit between adults and their access to lawful online communication. The Union is planning a symposium on the online space for early 2027. Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 10423, The Terrace, Wellington 6143 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  7. Sep 21

    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 joins Dane Giraud to discuss her 40-part YouTube series, The History of New Zealand Education. The series traces how the country built a world-leading school system in the nineteenth century, and why it later declined. Rata argues that free, standardised state schooling did more than teach children. It built a nation and produced knowledgeable citizens who could hold Parliament to account. She draws on primary sources such as inspectors' reports and the legislation itself. She covers the 1852 Constitution Act, the expansion of the vote, and the shared work of Māori and European New Zealanders. She also makes the case that a sound knowledge of history is a defence against being misled. Without shared, verifiable reference points, she argues, language and history can be bent to fit whatever a given moment wants them to mean. The conversation closes on the new knowledge-rich history curriculum, due to be taught from 2027. Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 10423, The Terrace, Wellington 6143 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

  8. Sep 14

    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 letting the Irish rap group Kneecap perform here, after Hungary barred them. You do not have to like the band to defend that, he argues. The conversation then widens. Dane and Mike trace the transgressive history of rock and roll and hip-hop, and the long line of attempts to tame popular music. They start with the fear in the United States that the new music would bring young Black and white audiences together. Grimshaw argues that earpods and algorithms have stripped music of its public power, and that subculture has faded. The manosphere, he says, has moved into the gap those subcultures left. Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union. Uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join the Free Speech Union: https://www.fsu.nz/join Support our work: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe Website: https://www.fsu.nz Got feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nz Promoted by Free Speech Union, PO Box 10423, The Terrace, Wellington 6143 Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

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Ratings & Reviews

3.7
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Free to Speak is the New Zealand podcast that goes beyond headlines to explore the principles behind our most contentious debates.Produced by the New Zealand Free Speech Union, it examines freedom of expression and why it matters to a free and democratic society.Expect interviews with guests from New Zealand and around the world, plus deep dives with our Council into the cases and policy work shaping free speech today. Any questions, queries or feedback? Email: podcast@fsu.nz  www.fsu.nz

Information

  • Creator
    Free Speech Union
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    215
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Free To Speak
  • Show Website
    Free To Speak

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