Menzies House

Secret Foreign Campaign To Suppress Free Speech In Australia Exposed

How would you feel if I told you a radical George Soros funded foreign lobby group is secretly launching a campaign to stifle free speech and silence climate realists in Australia?

You would probably think I’m a conspiracy nut – this couldn’t happen, I must be mad! 

Except that is what is going on right now. Leaked emails from  Avaaz, an unethical “shadowy foreign organisation” funded by radical leftist mogul George Soros, and one of the big-money donors to Climate Alarmism in Australia, have revealed a large-scale, co-ordinated international effort to threaten businesses, and lobby the government to impose ideological censorship tests on the media.

Some backgroud: you may have read recently that Gina Rinehart, a staunch small-government conservative and advocate of lower taxes and climate realism recently acquired apx 13% of Fairfax Media (owners of the left wing climate-alarmist Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and other publications).

This would not normally make news  - a business person buying shares in a company is hardly noteworthy. And Ms. Rinehart has specifically stated – on the record – that this is simply a business investment, and her beliefs will not affect their operation.

But I have just learned that because of Gina Rinehart’s beliefs, an underhand,  international, coordinated campaign by left wing extremists has just been launched to assault freedom of speech, calling on the government to change the law to stop her from getting the seat on the Fairfax Board to which she is entitled, and trying to intimidate and threaten the Fairfax Chairman into vetoing her.

Avaaz is a million dollar international radical left-wing activist group, and they are ‘partners’ in Australia with GetUp! Together they have just launched a full scale campaign to attack Ms Rinehart and intimidate the Fairfax Chairman to prevent her from joining the Board. But this is just the first stage in their plan. If they are successful, they specifically have said that they call on the government to impose an ideological test on the media in Australia. You read that right: they want an the government to censor all media they disagree with.

This is a campaign that should strike terror into the hearts of all of us who believe in free speech, a free media, and the Australian way. If they get their way, none of us are safe.

This is their plan to censor free speech – in their own words:

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has just bought a major stake in Fairfax media -- in a bid that could turn The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald into mouthpieces for climate denial to protect her mining interests. But together we can foil her plan…

 The media inquiry that Avaaz members helped win is just weeks away from reporting, and provides the government with the crucial chance to act. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is supportive of stronger ownership limits -- but he needs a community outcry to get the whole government on board… 

We desperately need stronger ownership limits, a 'fit and proper person' test for use of public airwaves, and a strong and independent media regulator.

That’s right: they are blatantly and unashamedly calling on the Government to impose a “fit and proper” – ie leftist ideological – censorship test on the media.   Even though Ms. Rinehart has pledged to not let her views influence editorial policy. The fact that she is a climate skeptic, and believer in small government,  means that she must be stopped and her rights curtailed.

GetUp! followed up with an email to their members saying this is “bad news for the issues we care about” urging them to take action to silence free speech by those they oppose.

I can not stress this enough: this attack on free speech is incredibly serious, and  goes against everything we believe in as Australians.

I will be honest. I don’t know Gina Rinehart. I have never met her, I have never spoken to her, I have never emailed her.  I honestly don’t know much about her. But one thing I do know: that Australia needs a free and fair media, and if the radical left want to use the government to suppress free speech and blackball Ms Rinehart because she supports Andrew Bolt, then we need to do something about it. Because first it’s Gina, and then it’s Andrew Bolt, and then it’s anyone else who doesn’t tow the government line.

This is a co-ordinated campaign by radical left alarmists who are running scared that the Australian people have woken up to their game , and are getting so desperate they are now trying to use the government to suppress anyone who disagrees with them.

We need to take action now to nip this campaign in the bud.

So what to do?

There are two actions you can immediately take which will only take a couple of minutes, but will make a BIG difference.

1)  We need to let Fairfax Chairman Roger Corbett know that he CAN NOT give in to extremists, and can not veto Ms. Rinehart from the board because of radical left wing pressure. Can you please immediately email Fairfax Chairman Roger Corbatt on  mhughessmith@rccorbett.com.au and phone his office on  (02) 9282 2833 to tell him to resist left-wing threats and blackmail, and not veto Ms. Rinehart from the position to which she is entitled.

2)We have prepared a petition we will present in support of free speech and a free media. PLEASE Sign our petition by clicking here (if nothing happens when you click on the link, try scrolling up)

Make No Mistake: If we let them get away with censoring Gina Rinehart – then everyone who opposes their radical agenda is in danger. And we will have no way to get the truth out to the Australian people.

Please, take the five minutes to email Fairfax Chairman Roger Corbatt on  mhughessmith@rccorbett.com.au and phone him through  (02) 9282 2833 and tell him to NOT GIVE IN to million dollar left wing intimidation.

This is a battle we can not afford to lose. If Ms. Rinehart is vetoed from her rightful Board position because of her climate realism, then all Australians will suffer.

Please take action now.  

Tim Andrews is the Managing Editor of Menzies House. 

Update On The Campaign To Close The Illegal, Racist & Divisive Tent Embassy

You know you are making a difference when your opponents are so desperate they resort to insults and threats of violence to try to shut you down.

In the last 48 hours I have had to remove dozens of threats, defamatory comments, and downright abuse from our facebook page made by the “tolerant” left. I have received emails not just filled with abuse, but actually threatening me. 

Janet Albrechsten is spot on when she writes:

Last Thursday, protesters from the Aboriginal tent embassy bashed against the glass walls of the Lobby Restaurant intimidating the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the emergency workers receiving awards inside. Predictably, much of the media moved quickly on to the dark arts of political scheming when it transpired that a Gillard staffer leaked Tony Abbott's whereabouts.

But rewind a moment longer to consider a more important principle. The thuggish activists saw no irony in proudly exercising their right to free speech by using violence and intimidation to shut down those with whom they disagreed.

The protests personify a strain of illiberalism found more often among those on the Left than the Right

You should read the whole thing.

Freedom of speech is under attack in Australia by these thugs supported by our government and our tax dollars!

Is it any wonder under Gillard we have plummeted in our Press Freedom IndexScore and are now ranked worse than Namibia, Poland and Niger? 

That's right, a non-partisan, international media watchdog now admits that Freedom of Speech in Australia is in danger.

It is clear that the radical left are desperate and trying to shut us down. Why? Because they know Australians are waking up to their radical agenda.

Here are just a few news stories from the last few days:

Gary Johns, a former LABOR Minister, had this great piece attacking the “Aboriginal Preferment Industry” admitting it was time to “close the tent” 

Bob Carr, the former LABOR Premier of NSW has said that the Tent Embassy should have been “packed up years ago”

The Australian revealed how the Tent Embassy is BLATANTLY illegal but the government is choosing not to act.

And Piers Ackerman notes in a must-read piece that“The feral rabble infesting the so-called Tent Embassy camped on the lawn opposite Old Parliament House (OPH) has performed a great public service.They have effectively killed any constitutional change enshrining affirmative action for those who self-identify as Aboriginal Australians…The 40th anniversary of this monstrosity should be its last.”  (Read the whole piece)

 

We  are all Australians, and we should all be treated equally. No-one should receive special privileges or extra taxpayer funding on the basis of their race.  To do so is a recipe for disaster. 

But this is what the tent embassy proponents want. To have special treatment. 

We’ve tried years of welfare-reconciliation and it has failed. And indigenous-preferment industry knows this, and that is why they are running scared.

We can't give up now.  With your kind donations, we have been able to finance advertisements reaching over 100,000 Australians in the last two days, and will continue to fight for what is right for Australia – no matter the insults, abuse, and threats we receive.

 

It isn't easy to stand up for what is right. You get attacked, you get insulted, the media call you a 'racist' and a 'NAZI'. But at the end of the day, those who signed our petition showed they cared about our great country, and did what was right.

 

Tim Andrews is the Managing Editor of Menzies House. 

 

Has Politics Finally Moved Beyond The Personal?

Menzies House Managing Editor Timothy Andrews gives us his take on the SMH question:

The other day I came accross the fact that the Sydney Morning Herald's "The Question"section the springboarded off the meteoric rise of Newt Gingrich, who has had his fair share of personal baggage, to ask whether politics has finally moved beyond the personal. 

With my background in U.S. politics, and my personal intest in the personal/political divine, I thought I ought pen an answer, sticking to the 400 word limit set for published pieces. I should note that I penned this prior to reading any of the published pieces, hence any similarities to Menzies House Contributor and IPA All-Star James Paterson's piece are purely coincedental.

So here goes:

Newt Gingrich’s political resurgence can be traced directly to one event last Thursday: the South Carolina GOP Primary debate.

When CNN’s John King led the debate by asking Newt to respond to allegations that he asked his second wife for an ‘open marriage’, Newt’s response – a scathing indictment of the “elite media” – propelled him to the lead; a remarkable 20 point turnaround in the polls almost overnight.

Part of this was no doubt a backlash of conservative outrage at perceived ‘liberal media bias’; a reaction to the view that the media who refused to cover numerous Democratic improprieties, choose to focus upon Newt only as he is a Republican. Added to this was the redemption narrative that Newts sins were long passed and he had sought absolution, and the obvious desperation of the Republican base for a candidate who is neither a moderate flip-flopper, nor certifiably insane.

Yet beneath this lies a very simple truth. At a time when U.S. unemployment is at record highs, and Americans are struggling just to get by, long-gone personal indiscretions are the least of anyone’s worries.

This US election is squarely about the economy. The US Government is $15 trillion in debt, budget deficits are projected to remain for decades, and the Democrat-controlled Senate hasn’t passed a budget in over 1000 days. These are the real issues. But sex sells.

Affairs make better copy than economic analysis, and the media, rather than focus on the matters of substance, continue to frontpage tawdry tales of lust and love.

But at a time of economic crisis, the country who forgave Bill Clinton has wearied of such antics. And in an age where the internet is rapidly heralding the death of privacy, and the flaws and failings of our friends are open for all to see, their effect has worn off, and informed voters have become inured.

Character certainly matters in politics, and cases of hypocrisy remain relevant. However this is a far cry from using scandal to substitute distract from real issues, creating an environment when only the most spin-obsessed hollow men devoid of substance or character can survive, and the days of Trial by Media Feeding Frenzy are nearing an end. Yellow journalism is ill for any democracy that relies on an informed populace, and the public’s rejection of such tactics is a welcome relief, and a sign of things to come.

Politics has moved beyond the personal. The media just hasn’t gotten the memo. 

Obviously I am not predicting that Mr. Gingrich will win the Florida primary, let alone the elction; my comments are simply limited to the bump he received. Sill, I think said bump is a telling point...

Also, I ought note that I did try to limit myself to the SMH 400 word limit guideline, so I didn't have the chance to speak about David Campbell, Della Bosca etc... perhaps another time...

Tim Andrews is the Managing Editor of Menzies House. 

Happy Australia Day!

It has become unfashionable to be proud of Australia. 

The Labor Government plans to indoctrinate all children through their compulsory education curriculum to use the term “Invasion Day”. The University of Western Australia has announced that displaying the Australian Flag on your car makes you a racist. We are told our constitution is racist. That Australia Day is an “artificial fabrication” designed by “smug Anglo-Saxons to ensure we forget real history” of “hypocrisy and racism”through “noisy triumphalism and trumped up nationalism.”

At university campuses across the country, it remains a rite of passage for young wannabe intellectuals to burn our flag as a sign of their intellectual sophistication, an act which initiates them into the left wing movement (and, I suspect, guarantees them a job as a journalist…).

It would seem every day we are told by our self-appointed intellectual elites that there is nothing to love about our great country, and that we must engage in ritual abasement and self-flagellation; ashamed to be Australian.

To say you’re proud of Australia means you are viewed as uneducated, someone to be sneered and jeered at.

I’ve had enough.

I’m proud to be Australian, and no amount of radical left wing propaganda or cries of “Racist!” will ever change this.

I am proud to live in a free country which has freedom of expression, protection of minorities, which welcomes legal immigrants and is built upon fundamental western values of human rights. I’m proud we have beautiful beaches, the nicest people, and themost livable cities in the world. I’m proud to live in one of the most free countries in the world, and that the Howard Government left us with an economy that is the envy of the world.

What made Australia great was the belief in fundamental values, and a cultural heritage which enabled this.  

Sadly, these values that make Australia great are coming under attack by the left.

Under the guise of political correctness, people are being tried and convicted for speaking their minds. Our government wants to censor the internet, has set up an inquiry to censor journalist critics, and the Greens want to censor the media outright. This is not to mention that Labor is creating a nanny state to tell us what to eat, drink, and do on weekends.  

Under the guise of ‘multiculturalism’, people are treated as preferred citizens on the basis of race, and tax dollars are going to promote division and separate social and religious groupings.

Worst of all, last year was the passing of the economy destroying carbon dioxide tax by Julia “There Will Be No Carbon Tax Under The Government I Lead” Gillard, for which there are just no words.

What explanation can there be for such policies? I think the publically declared hatred of everything Australian speaks for itself.

Today, as we celebrate Australia Day, let us remember the generations of battlers before us who built this great land, and the legacy they have left us. Let us remember the legions of retired Australians, so neglected by our present government, for what they have done. Let us remember what it is that makes us great.

But let us also remember that the price of this is eternal vigilance and a constant battle to preserve this heritage. There is a concerted effort to undermine our values and our democracy, and we can never let up the fight or we shall lose all that we have, and all that so many fought and died for.  

Thank you to all you have done in spreading the word. Thank you to everyone who has sacrificed and donated to keep freedom alive. Thank you for not giving up.

Australia is the greatest country on earth, and working together, we will make sure it will stay that way.

Well may we say, Advance Australia Fair. Now, and for many, many more years to come.

Tim Andrews
Managing Editor 

An A Happy New Year From Tim!

As yet another year comes to a close, the time has come for me to add my own words to what Andy said earlier, and thank everyone for their support in 2011! 

2011 was a difficult year for Australia, with not only natural disasters, but man made ones also - prime among them being the passing of the unnecessary, destructive, undemocratic tax on carbon dioxide.

Let 2012 be the year we turn the corner, and help start to reclaim that which made Australia great.

I have to start by thanking our Assistant Managing Editor, Andy Semple, for not only running the site when I am away, but for providing a constant stream of well written, well thought out, posts demonstrating just how bad the radical left agenda really is. His contribution is too great for me to put into words, and I know just how much our readers value his input. 

Next I need to thank our IT guru: he asked us not to name him, but words can not express just how indebted to him we are, and how much he has done to keep Menzies House running. Mate, you know who you are, and thank you, thank you, thank you.

I want to thank all of you who submitted posts to us: without your contributions, this site would cease to exist, and we would be nowhere. Thank you for taking the time to contribute and make Menzies House the leading Australian online presence for center-right thinkers and activists! 

And finally, I want to thank you - our reader - for your patronage and support. For reading our columns, for sharing them with your friends, for contributing in comments, and for tolerating the small infestation of trolls we have.

May you all have a prosperous and highly successful and freedom-filled 2012!

Tim Andrews
Managing Editor 

Help Us Stop The Far-Left's Latest Attempt To Destroy Our Economy

An urgent call to action from our Managing Editor, Tim Andrews:

The radical extreme left environmental movement has launched an attack on Australia’s economy, seeking to scare off investment, and blackmail/harass/intimidate business into destroying jobs, and no-one in the media has said anything about this.

This is the great sleeper issue, by which the left want to take over our entire retail supply chain, and unless we take action now, they will get away with it.

Some of you may already be aware that reckless activist organisations such as Greenpeace, the WWF, and GetUp! have commenced a long-term campaign to bully and intimidate Australian businesses to succumb to their demands, in particular through programs such as ‘Markets for Change” and the demand for “voluntary” certification. This campaign of harassment centres around threatening a business that if they do not comply demands and participate in the far-left’s “voluntary” certification program, that these organisations shall engage in a concerted campaign to damage the business. If the business does not comply, then the same demands are made of retailers to boycott the business, or face similar negative consequences. As a result, these bodies are generally successful at capturing large sections of the global supply chain. And please note, this type of “greenmail” would be illegal under the Commonwealth Trade Practices Act, if it were not for the specific exemption for “environmental” organisations.

This type of unethical behaviour has already been seen on numerous occasions in New South Wales. Perhaps the most prominent of this was the “noHarveyno” campaign, which targeted the retailer Harvey Norman for sourcing furniture with wood products sourced from Australian timber, processed in China, then re-exported to Australia. These products were in full compliance with both Australian and Chinese law, however the campaign’s demand was that Harvey Norman only source products that it certified. Similarly, retailers such as Woolworths have been targeted by the campaign Wake Up Woolworths to only stock certified paper.

The most recent, and most disturbing, action taken by these groups to damage the New South Wales economy has been their unwarranted attack on Solaris, a leading paper manufacturer in Australia, which I previously wrote about. Essentially, Solaris invested $20million to build a manufacturing plant in Greystanes, creating jobs in an area the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports as having the third-highest unemployment rate in New South Wales. Solaris also expressed its desire to expand the plant in future years. This was a tremendous opportunity for the local economy, as well as for New South Wales residents overall as it supplied consumers with high quality goods at a cheaper price. All timber used is certified by independent auditors as being legal in origin, and Solaris has a biodiversity program in place that far exceeds legal standards.

However, as Solaris has refused to be intimidated into joining ‘certification’ programs, a concerted campaign has been launched to intimidate retailers not to use Solaris’ products, which, as smaller retailers are unwilling to oppose the multi-million environmental machine, has succeeded in ensuring that production at Solaris’ plant has ceased. As a result, there is a brand new manufacturing plant in Western Sydney, capable of significantly boosting the local and regional economy, laying idle.

But Solaris is not the issue here, they are just the latest example. The real issue is the overwhelming evidence of a multi-pronged, long-term strategy by radical environmentalist organisations to capture the global supply chain, with the WWF’s own documents identifying 100 companies affecting around 50% of all production globally that they wish to target. Greenpeace’s Head of Research recently made the staggering admission of the underhand tactics they shall use in colluding to greenmail businesses, saying that Greenpeace “is willing to play the role of  good cop or bad cop in partnership with organisations [to] drive organisations to partner with  groups that seem more middle-of-the-road in orientation”. I further note that in their internal documents, the WWF poses the question as to whether there will be a time when consumers will not have a choice between products that do and do not meet their standards admitting:  ‘Absolutely ...”.

If you have not already done so, I would strongly urge you to read the stunning expose “Naked extortion? Environmental NGOs imposing [in]voluntary regulations on consumers and business” released in September by the Institute of Public Affairs, which demonstrates step-by-step the unethical intimidating and harassment campaign planned by these bodies against job-creators in Australia. This is a must read, which details step-by-step just what these radicals are trying to do, and shows what will happen if we let them get away with it.

Although all of Australia is affected by this campaign, NSW seems to be the central target at the moment, so, I ask you all to write to the NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell, to ask him to take the following actions. Because if he does not, then investment in New South Wales shall be significantly limited, residents will no longer have access to low-priced products, and consumers will be denied the right to select for themselves what products they choose to buy.

Premier O’Farrell’s details are:

Mr Barry O'Farrell, MP
Level 40 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000

Please write to Barry O’Farrell TODAY, and ask him as a matter of urgency that:

1)That the NSW Government institute an urgent review of the actions of Greenpeace and the organisation “Markets for Change” to access their impact on:

a) Lost job opportunities at the Solaris plant in Greystanes
b)Investment in New South Wales
c)Jobs and Economic growth in New South
d)Possible breaches of any legislation due to blackmail, harassment, and intimidation
e)The affect they have on the capacity of legally-constituted businesses to trade.

2)That the NSW Government raise the issue of Greenpeace’s charitable status with the Federal Government, noting that both Canada and New Zealand recently revoked Greenpeace’s deductable-gift-recipient status on the basis that it is a political organisation, not a charity (and it would seem obvious that threats to business to cease certain sorts of trading is political, not charitable)

The current NSW Government was elected with a strong mandate to stand up to special interest groups, and bring in real change for New South Wales and reinvigorate the local economy. We need to hold them to this promise, and taking action on this matter is critical to achieving these objections.

Make no mistake: if we let the radical left get away with it in this case, then they will increase their campaign to all industries, and all of us will suffer.

It is time to draw the line in the sand

It is time to take action NOW!

Tim Andrews is the Managing Editor of Menzies House. 

UPDATE: Councillor Ross Grove, from Holroyd City Council (which covers the Greystanes area where the Solaris plant is located) has put up a statement on his webpage. An extract:

Holroyd Councillor Ross Grove is calling on Greenpeace to immediately end their unreasonable vendetta against Greystanes-based paper-manufacturer Solaris after a research report from the Institute of Public Affairs exposed the organisation’s hardline approach to intimidating the corporate sector in order to make them sign up to their agenda.

Update 2: Here is a copy of my letter to Premier O'Farrell

Update 3: Please join our facebook page against Environmental Blackmail to express your opposition to these gutter tactics by the left! 

Update 4: Andrew Rohan MP, Member for Smithfield, has raised this as a Notice of Motion in the NSW Parliament. Read here (at #796)

Update 5: Make sure you read the IPA's expose of the whole scam here

Three Cheers For Alan Joyce

Tim Andrews congratulates Alan Joyce for doing the right thing, and notes that the real villian here is the Fair Work Act:

As someone who has three QANTAS flights booked in the next week, and may still not be able to get on at least one of them, I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to CEO Alan Joyce for standing up to Union blackmail and doing the right thing.

There is no doubt whatsoever that if the current, outdated, inflexible model imposed upon QANTAS was to continue, the Airline would eventually cease to exist. It can not, after all,  succeed  against other airlines in a highly competitive international marketplace if shackled by such things, hence why QANTAS International is losing money, and it is highly disappointing that, in persisting with their unreasonable claims, union bosses were happy to see QANTAS go bankrupt just to preserve a few of their perks.

Still, it is rare to see a CEO have the courage to do what Alan Joyce did and ground the whole airline, knowing the personal abuse it would cost him. CEO’s in Australia these days are generally successfully threatened into making deals with union bosses so that our left wing media can say nice things about them, they’re safe from attacks, and it is the consumers and taxpayers who foot the bill when the company goes bust 10 years later and their successors will ask for a taxpayer bailout.

However, the union bosses are not the real villains here. Rather, it is the fact that they were allowed to blackmail a company into a position where it is brought to its knees, and the lock-out was the only choice left, that is the real issue. And the fact remains that none of this would have occurred if not for the euphemistically named Fair Work Australia Act, which allows Unions to take protected strike action on pretty much anything, and limits employers responses whereby their only choice it the lockout – which is what occurred here. And so, with the Fair Work Act designed to give Unions almost limitless power, it is only inevitable that something like this has occurred.

This is the real crime here – that Labor has imposed upon the workplace an incredibly outdated piece of legislation as a payoff to its Union donors for the millions of dollars of members money they donated to the Labor Party. The Fair Work Act is responsible for this. It is bad law, and it must be repealed, hence why it is so disappointing that Tony Abbott has refused to point this out, out of fear of a Labor Party WorkChoice scare campaign.

Unless the Fair Work Act is repealed, get used to seeing disputes like this again, and again, and again.  

Tim Andrews is the Managing Editor of Menzies House. 

 

A Personal Account Of Far-Left Bias Killing Stories At The Monthly

Tim Andrews notes how The Monthly killed Jana Wendt's profile of Andrew Bolt because it wasn't a hatchet job, and reveals how the exact same thing just happened to him:

It was with great interest that I read a few days ago that Jana Wendt was commissioned by The Monthly to write a profile piece on Andrew Bolt, and that when it emerged that it would not be a hatchet-job, Monthly Editor Ben Naparstek killed the piece, and in its place, an inaccurate attack piece by Anne Summers was commissioned and published.

I found this particularly interesting, because, well, the exact same thing happened to me!

But first, some background.

Rachel Hills is a prominent Australian left wing writer, commentator, and journalist. I first met Rachel in my second year of University when she was running for Student Union, and I dedicated a few weeks of my life to try to make sure that she wouldn’t get elected (she didn’t, but then, nor did the candidate I was supporting...). We continued as sparring partners for the next few years, and were opposed to each other on pretty much every issue that came before us. Her far-left pedigree remains impeccable: her frequent columns in newspapers, her personal blog, her friends, her employment history all attest to her committment to left wing causes. Politically we are as different as can be.

Which would make it understandable as to why Mr. Naparstek commissioned Rachel to write a profile piece on me. A piece that Rachel flew from London (where she is presently based) to DC specifically for. A piece for which, at the commission of Mr. Naparstek, Rachel spent over three hours interviewing me.

With her credentials, it is rather obvious that someone who didn't know Rachel well would come to the conclusion that anything she wrote about me would be negative. Right? 

And this is where things get interesting. See, although she’s firmly of the left, Rachel is a journalist who has impeccable integrity and the highest ethical standards. One who believes in writing fair stories – not baseless crass attacks. She is still part of that dying breed of journalists who are genuinely fair and balanced (even if she is still very wrong in her political opinions!).

Which is why alarm bells started ringing for me when Rachel told me that after she submitted her profile of me to Mr. Naparstek, on receiving it, he told her he was no longer interested in publishing the story, paid her the kill fee, and that was the end of it. No ifs, no buts, no redrafts: it was killed. 

Still, Rachel went on to write a piece for the Australian Spectator about the Australian political scene, the anti-carbon tax movement, and my general thoughts (giving me way too much credit for my involvement) and I thought that was the end of it.  

Except then I read the story about Jana Wendt, and was hit by just how similar what occurred there was to what happened with Rachel’s piece about me. Because in both cases a profile of a conservative was killed after being commissioned under dubious circumstances. 

So, I emailed Rachel, and after a few days of email exchanges, earlier today she sent me the final piece  that she submitted to The Monthly. And, reading it, surprise surprise, it wasn’t a hatchet job, but was rather a fair and balanced profile (even if I didn’t like quite a few things in it!).

Now, Rachel has stressed that at no point did Mr. Naparstek say that the piece he commissioned her to write was killed because it wasn’t the hatchet job that he desired.

However, I can put two and two together, and to me it seems blindingly obvious: Under the leadership of Mr. Naparstek, The Monthly has no interest in fair and balanced reporting, and simply wants grubby, gutter sensationalist attacks on conservatives. And when journalists present them with articles that go against this, Mr. Naparstek shuts them down. 

The Jana Wendt piece on Andrew Bolt was killed because it didn’t smear him. Rachel Hills' piece on me was killed because it was fair and balanced.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist...

So the next time you see a copy of The Monthly, and are tempted to pick it up, just ask yourself: what exactly is this magazine really about. 

UPDATE: Andrew Bolt clarifies that Jana Wendt didn’t have her profile on him killed direcly by The Monthly, but rather, pulled out voluntarily after Mr. Naparstek made it clear to her that a balanced article was not "what he had in mind". 

UPDATE 2: Welcome to all the Andrew Bolt Readers! We are running a petition through our affiliate webpage, www.supportbolt.com , for Australians to express their support for freedom of speech in Australia and Andrew Bolt. If you have not done so already, please sign the petition by filling out the form below! 

Sign the Petition to Support Andrew Bolt!

Email Address

First Name

Last Name

State/Territory ACT NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA

Post Code

(Please note that for security reasons, in order for your signature to count, you will need to confirm it by following directions on the email you shall receive after you hit the "sign" button...)

Tim Andrews is the Managing Editor of Menzies House.