That’s Debatable!

We were delighted to welcome Dr James Kierstead onto ‘That's Debatable!’ to discuss his latest report, “Unpopular Opinions: Academic Freedom in New Zealand”. James is a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, where his work focuses on universities, free speech, and democracy. We begin with a recap of a story that hit the UK press back in 2021 about academics who were threatened with expulsion from the Royal Society of New Zealand for criticising plans that would see Māori knowledge added to the school curriculum. Controversy around race issues, especially those relating to the ‘Treaty of Waitangi’ continue to exert a chilling effect on free expression – one testimony in the report notes that “Questioning anything about the radical current interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi is likely to be career ending”. Another area explored in detail within the report is the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (‘CCP) on academic freedom, with recent incidents revealing how higher management in New Zealand’s universities appear to be afraid to offend the Chinese Government. In a discussion on taboos – and the double standard around taboos – we briefly bring the focus back to the UK and the troubling call this week by Labour MP Tahir Ali for the introduction of blasphemy laws. In his conclusion, Dr Kierstead notes that if New Zealand can rediscover its historical defence of academic freedom, there is an opportunity for New Zealand’s universities to steal a march on the larger and better-resourced university systems it tends to compete within the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Finally, a reminder to listeners and viewers of our Comedy Unleashed event on 17th December – tickets are selling fast!

‘That's Debatable!’ is edited by Jason Clift.