Banning so-called bigots from our shores lays waste to freedom of speech

Their outlook is also more than a little self-regarding. Multiculturalism and state subsidized abortions might today be treated as preconditions for any decent and progressively minded society. But at what point do we say an opinion is accepted enough for a contrarian to be silenced? If you a believer in free speech – not a fair-weather supporter but a true believer – the answer is simple. Never.

What's more, the finer points of race relations, abortions and the censorship of lurid music are all issues on which reasonable minds can differ. They're the kinds of issues where no one person has a pipeline to universal moral truth. And for that reason, we should be loathe to censor anyone, irrespective of how subjectively offensive their views may strike us. As John Stuart Mill famously pointed out, the fact that an idea is wrong or bad gives no grounds to have it silenced. We can all benefit and learn from bad ideas, even if only by appreciating what makes them wrong helps deepen our understanding of what makes the good ones right.

This is why we should resist the lynch-mob mentality of do-gooders who want to co-opt the immigration system to give their views ascendancy over society at large. The principle really has nothing to do with abortion, misogyny or racism. No amount of noise-making or confected outrage from activists should be allowed to prevent an otherwise eligible person from gaining entry into Australia.

The word bigot is now the go-to pejorative label for figures like Wilders, Newman and pretty much anyone whose views fly in the face of whatever happens to be the progressive-minded wisdom of the day. The irony is that bigotry's actual meaning – an obstinate belief in the superiority of one's own opinions – is far more befitting of those who wish to see the force of law silence their opponents than someone who happens to think that terminating a pregnancy is the wrong thing to do.

Those who wish to see Newman, Gilders and Tyler the Creator banished from Australia all act as though their cause is about protecting civil society. Yet the fact that these self-anointed moral guardians want to adjudicate which views are acceptable for consumption by mainstream Australia reveal just how little faith in civil society they actually have.