Ross Cameron embraces Kirralie Smith after speaking at her fundraiser for the Australian Liberty Alliance held at North Ryde RSL.<\/p>\n
Former Liberal MP Ross Cameron who said the NSW division of the party was \"basically a gay club\" looks likely to be banished from the party for up to five years, potentially turning him into a free-speech martyr. <\/p>\n
But Mr Cameron received support from an unexpected figure, former High Court judge Michael Kirby, who said gay people had learnt that being unfairly punished reinforced feelings of exclusion and social stigma. <\/p>\n
The NSW Liberal Party state executive is scheduled to decide next Friday if Mr Cameron should be suspended for saying on television last year that NSW Premier Mike Baird was threatened with his job if he supported internal voting changes that would undermine the power of the Liberal's dominant left faction. <\/p>\n
The disciplinary hearing isn't directly related to Mr Cameron's recent public comments about homosexuality, when he joked that the Roman emperor Hadrian had a homosexual lover who probably used cocaine. <\/p>\n
But those comments, including the \"gay club\" jibe, made it unlikely he would escape a suspension, two Liberal sources said, which would be a major snub for the former parliamentary secretary to Treasurer Peter Costello and well-known Sydney political identity. <\/p>\n
Liberal free-speech advocates haven't rallied behind Mr Cameron, who has developed a reputation for pushing the boundaries of political and social commentary in appearances on Sky News and elsewhere. <\/p>\n
Those who have declined to support him include Human Rights Commissioner turned Liberal MP Tim Wilson; left-baiting columnist and Liberal Party think tank director Nick Cater; Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher, who is Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's representative on the NSW Liberal state executive; former leader Tony Abbott; and Walter Villatora, Mr Abbott's campaign manager who is trying to win Mr Baird's old seat in the NSW Parliament. <\/p>\n
At a meeting last year of the 21-member executive which considered whether to discipline Mr Cameron, only one person spoke in his defence, according to someone present. Alex Dore, the 24-year-old nephew of the editor of The Daily Telegraph, Chris Dore, said it wasn't the party's role to police the public comments of its members, the source said. <\/p>\n
Under the NSW Liberal Party's strict rules, penalties for speaking publicly about internal matters are imposed about once a month. Last year they ranged from a three-year suspension to verbal request not to do it again, another party source said. <\/p>\n
The executive is controlled by the left faction. Mr Cameron's views are associated with the party's right. <\/p>\n
Mr Cameron, who has compared himself in private to the Greek philosopher Socrates, will be allowed to defend himself. The meeting will be run by party president Kent Johns, who last week said that Mr Cameron's remarks about gay people were highly offensive and he was becoming \"nothing more than a circus act\". <\/p>\n
Asked if he had prejudged Mr Cameron, Mr Johns said: \"I'm not prepared to discuss internal party matters.\" <\/p>\n
It could be possible the comments would be protected under a High Court ruling that found there was implied right to free speech in the constitution, according to Mr Kirby, who was part of the decision and made history as the first openly gay High Court judge in 1996. <\/p>\n
\"There may be a constitutional question as to whether opinions expressed by Mr Cameron in the context of political meetings are not protected by the constitutional implied right of free speech which the High Court of Australia has held exists in Australia for speech about political questions,\" Mr Kirby said in an email. <\/p>\n
\"I was a party to one such decision of the High Court in the unanimous opinion in Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520. I adhere to what the court said there. In a representative Parliamentary democracy as provided by our constitution there is a need for active and energetic debate whatever might be appropriate in other circumstances. <\/p>\n
\"LGBTIQ (gay) people learn in their lives that the problems they face often come about through the overreach of criminal and punitive laws. Such overreach tends to reinforce social stigma and attitudes of denigration and religious feelings of exclusion of others and self-righteousness. So I do not favour punishment in such circumstances.\" <\/p>\n
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See the article here: <\/p>\n
Liberal ex-MP who called party a 'gay club' likely to be kicked out - The Australian Financial Review<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ross Cameron embraces Kirralie Smith after speaking at her fundraiser for the Australian Liberty Alliance held at North Ryde RSL. Continue reading