Australia's so-called "eSafety Commissioner" just got legally wrecked in a major victory for free speech and a massive blow to the censorship regime that's been creeping its way into democratic societies under the guise of "safety."
Celine Baumgarten, an Australian woman who dared to exercise her basic right to free speech when she made a post last year that uncovered a "queer club" at Montmorency South Primary School in Melbourne where kids as young as eight were being encouraged to "identify" as LGBTQIA+. Of course, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, attempted to strong-arm her into deleting a post, and eventually got it censored.
But what is eSafety?
Orwell couldn't have written it better himself!
Here's the post which led to this legal battle:
When Baumgarten exposed this woke insanity, the Australian government's censorship machine kicked into gear.
The eSafety office issued an "informal notice" to take down the post, notifying the social media platform of the dangers, and claimed this couldn't be appealed, which was the action Baumgarten wished to take. But now Justice Emilios Kyrou argues this approach raises serious legal concerns, and he ruled on February 5 that these informal notices can be appealed.
Baumgarten, backed by the Free Speech Union of Australia, celebrated the decision as a crucial victory against government overreach.
"This is a wonderful victory for free speech in these uncertain times, as it proves even the eSafety Commissioner herself isn't above the law," she said. "I'm also hoping this can help reignite the conversation around how gender ideology [is] being pushed in our schools."
Of course, the real issue here isn't just one rogue bureaucrat. It's about an entire system that's been rigged to silence dissent. Baumgarten's original post simply pointed out that young children were being indoctrinated into radical gender ideology, and for that, the government tried to silence her.
The school in question, by the way, reportedly uses "gender-inclusive" language models — which, of course, means banning words like "boys" and "girls" in favor of some dystopian, woke-approved nonsense.
Dr. Reuben Kirkham of the Free Speech Union put it bluntly:
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has exposed the eSafety Commissioner's scheme of sending ‘informal takedown orders' that can't be reviewed. The Tribunal has made it clear that these decisions can be reviewed, despite the Commissioner instructing a Kings Counsel to try and argue otherwise.
The decision is about what we contend is a scheme that the eSafety Commissioner uses to evade scrutiny. eSafety claim they only issued an ‘informal notice' and that it can't be legally challenged. This is a tactic they have been using in 99% of their cases to try and avoid accountability for their censorious behaviour. In other words, the eSafety Commissioner is trying to avoid all accountability. This decision shows they are not above the law.
This was the first hearing of the new Guidance and Appeals Panel, which was established to prevent systematic misuse of power by the state like Robodebt. Given what it has ruled, surely the eSafety Commissioner's practice of sending informal notices cannot continue. We hope the Commissioner will now do the right thing and withdraw her unlawful censorship scheme. She may also wish to consider resigning.
Baumgarten was right to call this out, and her win in court sets an important precedent: Just because some government bureaucrat declares a topic off limits doesn't mean they get to silence the discussion. Seems pretty obvious to us Americans, but Australia has apparently fallen for the woke, anti-free speech agenda.
The fight for sanity in Australia is only just beginning, but this story is a huge step in the right direction.
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