Free To Speak

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

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. 5d ago

    Corina Shields: "Te Pāti Māori Doesn't Speak For All Of Us" | Free to Speak

    "I have always been the big-mouth Māori that says things we're not supposed to say." Corina Shields — better known online as Aunty Heihei (@AuntyHeihei) — returns to Free to Speak to talk with host Dane Giroud about her move from social-media commentary into the producer's chair at Radio Aotearoa, where she now produces "Shubz Says So" with Shubz Live. ABOUT THIS EPISODE Corina is a wāhine Māori who built a following by saying the things she believes mainstream and Māori media won't. In this wide-ranging conversation, she and Dane dig into why so many New Zealanders no longer trust the legacy press — and why a wave of citizen journalists and independent broadcasters has risen to fill the gap. They cover her conviction that Te Pāti Māori does not speak for all Māori, the gulf between iwi leadership and the ahikā keeping the home fires burning, and why she argues "racism" has become a lazy label used to shut conversations down rather than have them. Dane brings his own perspective as a Jewish New Zealander on how hate-speech laws can end up silencing the very minorities they claim to protect — by letting the government decide which voices within a community are legitimate. The conversation also turns to a three-week hīkoi across the North Island to communities that rarely get a microphone, the difference between funded and unfunded media, the role of academics versus the people doing the work on the ground, and why Corina decided her voice is more powerful outside Parliament than inside it. A frank conversation about media plurality, hard conversations, and the freedom to disagree. Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    59 min

  2. Jun 1

    Is Prayer Now Criminal? Bob McCoskrie on NZ's Conversion Therapy Law

    Is it now a criminal offence to pray for someone struggling with gender confusion? Could a parent face prosecution for affirming their child's biological sex?  Bob McCoskrie of Family First joins Dane to unpack the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022 — and why he believes it should be repealed immediately.  Bob explains how the law's vague definitions, the removal of consent as a legal defence, and its deliberate one-directional design have created a chilling effect on counsellors, parents, and religious communities alike.  He makes a striking argument: now that the government has banned puberty blockers, the conversion therapy law is actively fighting itself — criminalising the very parental behaviour the government now endorses.  The conversation also covers the under-16 social media ban debate (Bob's answer is more nuanced than you'd expect), the lessons from the 2020 cannabis referendum, and why shutting down debate always backfires.  CHAPTERS  0:00 – Introduction & South Auckland memories  4:35 – What is the Conversion Practices Act and why does it exist?  9:40 – Vague definitions and the consent trap  19:15 – Prayer, parenting, and the chilling effect  25:33 – Detransition stories and the clinical pushback  30:28 – The under-16 social media ban debate  38:52 – Holding big tech accountable  48:10 – The puberty blockers ban creates a legal contradiction  52:00 – Cannabis referendum: how Bob beat Chloe Swarbrick 57:30 – Media silence, labels, and free speech Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    1h 3m

  3. May 25

    Young Men Right, Young Women Left - And Why That Spells Disaster | Michael Johnston

    Young men drifting to the Right is the half of the story everyone is reporting. The other half — young women radicalising Left at an even faster rate — is barely discussed. And when politics becomes completely gendered, Michael Johnston warns, it spells disaster. In this episode of Free to Speak, Dane Giroud sits down with Michael Johnston — Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative and leader of its work on education — to take apart what's really driving youth radicalisation on both sides.  They get into what "left" and "right" even mean to today's young people (and why, by one definition, Te Pāti Māori is the most right-wing party in Parliament), the housing market as the single biggest threat to liberal democracy, why universalism matters, and the case for free speech as the weapon of the powerless. The conversation then turns to Michael's home turf: education.  How did a 19th century NZ schooling system that was, by the standards of the time, remarkably liberal and knowledge-focused end up where it is now? What did Tomorrow's Schools and the 2007 curriculum actually do? And why — beyond economics — do boys in particular need male mentors and male-only spaces to find out who they are? Dane shares the story of how Raymond Hawthorne opened up Shakespeare for a kid from South Auckland who never expected to read it. 🎙️ Recorded for the Free to Speak podcast — the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union.  Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    1h 9m

  4. May 18

    Former BSA Board Member on Why Abolishing It Was the Wrong Call - Pulotu Tupe Solomon-Tanoa'I

    Pulotu Tupe Solomon-Tanoa'I served four years on the Broadcasting Standards Authority. With the BSA now set to be abolished by the Coalition Government following the Sean Plunket / The Platform jurisdictional decision, she sits down with FSU Council member Dane Giraud for an open exchange on what the BSA actually does, where free speech and protection from harm collide, and whether scrapping the body off the back of a single controversial ruling was good process. It's a genuinely civil disagreement — and one of the more substantive conversations on broadcasting regulation you'll find in New Zealand right now. They cover: - How BSA complaints actually work — and why only ~8% are upheld - The elasticity of "harm" and who gets to define it - The Heather du Plessis-Allan ruling and whether counter-speech would have done more - The Plunket / Platform jurisdictional decision and the cost-of-appeal problem - Why years of reform consultation were shelved before the BSA was scrapped - Online pile-ons, platform accountability, and the Mikey Sherman case - David Harvey's voluntary-standards model — and its gaps - Vexatious complaints, and the BSA's 2020 decision not to hear complaints about te reo Māori Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    1h 1m

  5. May 11

    Peter Boghossian: The Crisis of Honesty | Free Speech, Hard Conversations & What's Gone Wrong

    "There is a crisis of honesty — and we're seeing the consequences in every sphere of life."  American philosopher Peter Boghossian — author of How to Have Impossible Conversations and the mind behind Spectrum Street Epistemology — joins host Dane Giraud for a wide-ranging conversation on free speech, polarisation, religion, antisemitism, the trans medicalisation scandal, the breakdown of moral consensus, and why honest disagreement has become so rare.  🎟️ SEE PETER LIVE IN AUCKLAND — SATURDAY 16 MAY Peter's final New Zealand appearance. Ellen Melville Centre, Auckland CBD. Doors 4:45pm | Starts 5:30pm | Tickets $10.  Book: https://www.fsu.nz/events/free-speech-union-peter-boghossian-free-speech-hard-conversations-and-whats-at-risk  IN THIS EPISODE  — What Spectrum Street Epistemology actually is, and why Peter uses it with school students  — Why "online is a cesspool" and what in-person disagreement teaches that comments never will  — The atheists who are more religious than the religious  — The breakdown of the dominant moral order and the necessary backlash that follows  — Sacred cows: the topics institutions still refuse to discuss honestly  — The trans medicalisation scandal and the cost of suppressing dissent  — Rising antisemitism in the UK and the institutional unwillingness to name what's happening  — Dane's own recent experience of an antisemitic smear  — and how to respond  — Why the Israel–Palestine conversation collapses, even between people willing to talk  — Reading scripture as literature, and the value of radical self-knowledge  — Why fighting, jiu-jitsu and stand-up comedy share something the cognitive world has lost: a corrective mechanism  — The crisis of honesty  — and why everything downstream of it is breaking  CHAPTERS  (00:00) Welcome & guest introduction  (01:55) Why Peter keeps coming back to New Zealand  (03:48) How Spectrum Street Epistemology works  (05:48) Why online conversation turns toxic  (08:16) Making evidence and doubt fun  (10:02) Religion, identity, and moral certainty  (16:18) When moral orders break down  (22:34) Echo chambers and institutional capture  (27:04) Sacred cows and policy taboo topics  (42:46) A personal smear story unpacked  (46:02) Why some conflicts resist dialogue  (51:42) Reading scripture as self-knowledge  (56:52) Fighting, reality checks, and integrity  (1:00:02) The crisis of honesty  (1:09:12) Final thanks  ABOUT PETER BOGHOSSIAN  American philosopher, author of How to Have Impossible Conversations (with James Lindsay), and founder of the Spectrum Street Epistemology project. Formerly faculty at Portland State University. His work focuses on belief revision, civil discourse, and how people change their minds.  Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    1h 12m

  6. May 4

    Banning Teens From Social Media Pushes Them Into Darker Corners Online - David Inserra

    We weigh the push for an under-16 social media ban against what it would take to enforce it and what it would cost in privacy, anonymity, and open debate. We use Australia and the UK as cautionary examples and argue that empowering parents and teaching digital literacy beats outsourcing speech rules to the state. • Australia’s ban in practice, including high rates of circumvention and account shutdowns • unintended shift of young people towards riskier platforms and unfiltered browsing • why age verification undermines anonymous speech and creates data breach exposure • the case for anonymity, from historical pamphleteers to modern whistleblowers • parental responsibility, practical tools, and education as alternatives to blanket bans • moral panic patterns and why correlation is not causation in harms research • how “design not content” arguments can mask censorship incentives • why government-defined “harmful speech” becomes political and inconsistent If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and consider sharing the podcast with others. Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    1h 1m

  7. Apr 27

    Karl Marx was a free speech warrior - with László Molnárfi

    We talk with Irish organiser Laszlo Manafi about why class-first socialism is clashing with the liberal left, and how that split shapes everything from campus politics to protest rights. We dig into Marxism as a way of analysing power, then trace why free speech matters even when the cause feels righteous.  • Class-first organising and why self-criticism on the left matters  • what Laszlo means by liberalism and how identity politics displaces class  • the cultural turn, NGO influence, and elite capture in universities  • Marxism as a framework rather than a fixed policy menu  • libertarian socialism, workplace democracy, and limits of liberal democracy  • what the Soviet Union shows about power and internal democracy  • Marx on censorship and why hate speech laws expand state power  • protest policing, Palestine activism, and the risks of deplatforming  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and consider sharing the podcast with others.  We release new episodes regularly, and subscribing is the easiest way to stay up to date. If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, you can contact us at podcast at fsu.nz.  If you want to find out more about the New Zealand Free Speech Union, visit fsu.nz.  Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    1h 10m

  8. Apr 20

    When Safety Becomes Policy Who Guards Freedom Of Speech - Dr David Harvey & Douglas Brown

    We explore who gets to set the rules for online speech in New Zealand, from InternetNZ’s direction shift to the Broadcasting Standards Authority’s expanding remit. Dr David Harvey and Douglas Brown argue for reforms that protect freedom of expression while still addressing real online harm. • what InternetNZ controls through the .nz domain and why that power matters  • the post-Christchurch Call shift toward a “safe internet” narrative and why “safe” is hard to define  • mission creep risks when unelected bodies expand into speech regulation  • a proposed Media and Communications Authority with three divisions for news, content, and online harm  • voluntary opt-in regulation backed by incentives such as journalist protections and safe harbour  • why harm should be evidence-based rather than offence-based  • governments and the urge to control the message across every new communications platform  • the under-16 social media ban debate including enforcement problems, VPN workarounds, and privacy trade-offs  • why overseas platforms can ignore local rules and what targeting jurisdiction might look like  • how to support a stronger free speech voice in InternetNZ board elections through membership timing If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe and consider sharing the podcast with others. We release new episodes regularly and subscribing is the easiest way to stay up to date. If you have any questions feedback or suggestions you can contact us at podcast at fsu.nz if you want to find out more about the New Zealand free speech union visit fsu.nz Support the show https://www.fsu.nz/ https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech https://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/ https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

    58 min
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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
    194
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Free To Speak
  • Show Website
    Free To Speak

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