Student Newspapers

In his regular column, Professor David Flint updates the case of the prosecution of the editors of the student newspaper, Rabelais.

Information from the solicitors acting for the Rabelais editors in response to my column in the August 1996 News:

For the further information of your Council and your membership, I would like to bring you up to date with the latest information on the case.

Your column accurately stated that our clients were seeking, through an appeal to the Classification Review Board, to have the Chief Censor's ban overturned, thereby providing a complete defence to the criminal charges against them. Our submission to the Board was supported by the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties, the Victorian Trades Hall Council, the Free Speech Committee, the Book Council's Mr Tom Shapcott AO, ACP's Mr Richard Walsh, the Australia Council Literature Fund's Fr. Edmund Campion and a number of others.

On 26 July 1996, the Board informed us that they had decided to reject our appeal. Unfortunately, in doing so, the Board did not comment upon the principal arguments in our submission, namely, that application of the classification legislation is restricted by the implied Constitutional right to freedom of political communication, and must be interpreted in such a way as to give effect to Australia's international human rights obligations, as expressed in treaties which Australia has ratified and acceded to. We raised a number of High Court decisions with which you would be familiar.

In our view, the apparent failure of the Board to consider these arguments, together with other aspects of the decision, justified our clients seeking review of it in the Federal Court, and an application for an Order of Review was lodged in Melbourne on 15 August 1996.

Professor David Flint

see also
Index of David Flint's material on the website
Free Speech at a Price
Prof David Flint looks at, inter alia, the Rabelais case.

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