Politics

Federal

Political leadership

Opinion

Think Trump was rough on John Lyons? You never met Bob Hawke on a bad day

Neil Mitchell Journalist September 22, 2025 — 7.35pm

What Donald Trump is doing to mangle free speech and the democratic process in the United States should surprise nobody who is awake in Australia. It’s been happening here for decades.

Trump is creating an environment where public policy and regulatory governance of media companies can be used as a weapon and perceived critics are dumped, apparently even for telling jokes.

But what the president is doing in America has at some level long been the habit of Australian state and federal politicians. And few have called them out.

Like Trump, Australian politicians have black-banned and publicly berated unfr

See Full Page