Political free speech - how far does it extend?
David B. Field · eYLS (Yale Law School) · 2005
Extract: Ever wondered, as you consume your nightly diet of television soap drama from State or Federal Parliament, what would happen if you said the same scurrilous things about public figures, but outside Parliament, where there is no suspension of the laws relating to defamation, and where you might invoke prosecution for fomenting public disorder? Are there any limits at all to what one can say in the interests of political free speech, or do the sensitive egos of politicians and public officials ensure that we are constrained in what we can say about them? This was the issue confronting over 130 school mooting teams from around Australia which entered the Bond University High Schools Mooting Competition for 2005.