Legislative Council member Aaron Stonehouse said Premier Mark McGowan’s recent comments that a visiting public speaker was not welcome in Western Australia were out of line.
- Premier Mark McGowan has said controversial US speaker Milo Yiannopoulos might not be welcome in Western Australia when he visits in December
- Mr Yiannopoulos rose to notoriety making comments against Islam, homosexuals and feminism
- Liberal Democratic Pary senator Aaron Stonehouse and Mr Yiannopoulos said the Premier should not decide who was welcome to speak in WA.
In October Mr McGowan said he did not think controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos was making the right choice in coming to Perth, and also banned him from visiting Western Australian government facilities.
“Anyone who defends paedophiles and associates with Nazis, I don’t think is a rational person we should have delivering lectures and performances to Western Australians,” he said.
“I don’t think he’s welcome in Western Australia.”
However Liberal Democratic Party representative Mr Stonehouse, whose electoral area includes Cannington and Southern River, said he did not believe it was up to Mr McGowan to say who West Australians wanted to listen to.
“We don’t know how Milo’s ideas will be received in Western Australia,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s up to Mark McGowan to make the decision alone.
“That’s for the people to decide, not the government.”
While it is unlikely Mr Yiannopoulos would visit government properties during his time in Perth, Mr Stonehouse said it was inappropriate for the Premier to decide who was welcome on publicly owned property.
“The government doesn’t own these buildings, the people do,” he said.
Mr Yiannopoulos is a self-titled conservative Internet super-villain who has come under fire for his comments criticising Islam, homosexuals, the feminist movement and a supporter of US president Donald Trump.
He began his career as a technology journalist and worked his way up to editor of America’s Breitbart News Network but was forced to resign in February after a podcast was released in which he said sexual relationships between minors and adults could be consensual.
He later said he was referring to his own experience as a minor, and denounced paedophilia.
He has also been seen in public with alleged neo-Nazis but as a person with Jewish ancestry he said he did not support anti-Semitism and enjoyed breaking taboos.
Mr Yiannopoulos said he agreed with Mr Stonehouse that allowing free speech was more important than not upsetting people.
“Without free speech we don’t have a free society,” he said.
“People must have the right to state their opinions and ideas without fear of losing their jobs and livelihood.
“My goal is to energise the crowd with the unspoken truths about the critical issues being discussed in society.”
Mr Yiannopoulos often simplifies politics to Left verses Right-wing and said he had been targeted by a movement which tried to silence controversial comments.
“The core of the current problem is that the Left wants to own free speech to the exclusion of the Right,” he said.
“Free speech cannot just be the purview of the Left.”
Mr Yiannopoulos is touring Australia to promote his new book Dangerous and will speak in Perth on December 2.
His speech location has not been released yet, allegedly due to concerns of retaliatory attacks against the premises.
