Women Speak Tasmania

Tag: censorship

  • Duncan Maskell Must Condemn Today’s Anti-Feminist Rally at Melbourne University

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    Women Speak Tasmania are calling on the University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskell to publicly condemn today’s rally opposing academic freedom and targeting feminist academic and lecturer in political philosophy Holly Lawford Smith. Spokesperson Isla MacGregor said ‘The VC must uphold the University of Melbourne’s policy on academic freedom which states: ‘A core value…

  • Tasmanian Awards for Disservice to Free Speech

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    On International Human Rights Day 2020, Women Speak Tasmania presents the first of our: TASMANIAN AWARDS FOR DISSERVICE TO FREE SPEECH. Our awards go to: * UTAS Tasmanian Law Reform Institute – for refusing to allow Women Speak Tasmania to speak at a forum on gender reforms, and failing to consult with women’s groups (like…

  • How a Tasmanian Senator’s Defence of Free Speech Triggered a Vexatious Discrimination Complaint

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    In July 2020, amid rising global debates over cancel culture, Liberal Senator for Tasmania Claire Chandler published a powerful Talking Point in The Mercury titled “Big names spark turning point against free speech attacks.” Senator Chandler highlighted the Harper’s Magazine open letter signed by 150 prominent writers and academics, including Noam Chomsky, Margaret Atwood, and…

  • Katie Warren’s Open Letter About Further Cancellation at Brisbane Hotel

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    Following the February 2020 The Australian interview and Triple M Hobart, Katie Warren continued to face targeted harassment on Facebook. Screenshots from the time show individuals from Hobart’s transgender community responding to her safeguarding concerns with direct threats, including a comment stating: “Honestly, sounds like we should be giving CPS a call about you. I…

  • Interview with Katie Warren at Breakfast with Kaz & Tubes

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    Katie Warren, former bass player for Hobart’s rock-punk band Yoni & The Steamers, became the focus of intense backlash after posting concerns on her personal Facebook page about material in the book Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out (2014) by Susan Kuklin. The book, a collection of first-person interviews with transgender and gender-nonconforming teens, includes…

  • Yoni and the Steamers band banned, split over transgender row

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    A rock musician says she was bullied, blacklisted and ultimately had her band broken up ­because she expressed concern at material normalising child abuse being provided to transgender children. Until late last year, rock-punk band Yoni and the Steamers, popular on Hobart’s pub scene, seemed destined for greater things, having released an EP and single…

  • RIP Tasmanian Times: The Death of Independent Journalism

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    Tasmanian Times, previously owned by independent editor Lindsay Tuffin, has been taken over by Green Party stalwart and political aspirant Alan Whykes. Whykes has brought a new style to Tastimes that has not been welcomed by many former writers, contributors and readers. Alan Whykes has stood as a candidate for the Tasmanian Greens in several…

  • Forum: “Review of Transgender Law Reforms”

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    On 17 March 2019, Women Speak Tasmania (WST) announced that the Tasmanian Regional Meeting of the Quakers cancelled their booking for a public forum due to be held at the Friends Meeting House in New Town. The cancellation came just one day before the event, which was set to discuss the impact of transgender law…

  • Quakers Cancel Booking for Women’s Forum 

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    The Clerks of the Tasmanian Regional  Meeting (TRM) of the Quakers yesterday cancelled the forum booking for Women Speak Tasmania scheduled for Monday night 18 March.  The forum was to be held in the Friends Meeting House in Argyle Street, New Town. ‘The cancellation appears to be the result of a smear campaign from some…

  • Anger at Hobart City Council Inquiry into ‘Anti-Transgender Material’

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    Hobart City Council has been accused of stifling free speech after launching an investigation into alleged “anti-transgender material” distributed by a feminist group at the city’s famous Salamanca Market. The group, Women Speak Tasmania, yesterday told The Australian the investigation, and a public apology ­issued by the council to those who might have been offended,…