Canadian activist 'Billboard Chris' hails ‘tremendous victory' against eSafety Commissioner and the censorious ‘regime of fear' in Australia
Mr Elston described the hearing as a 'total destruction' of Ms Inman Grant's case against him, and claimed all of the eSafety Commissioner's 'so-called experts' were 'basically dismissed'.
The ruling, handed down on Tuesday evening, rescinded a takedown order issued by the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant for a social media post made by Mr Elston in February last year.
Mr Elston's post criticised the World Health Organisation's appointment of Mr Cook to an expert panel to draft policy on caring for transgender people.
In the post, he wrote: 'This woman (yes, she's female) is part of a panel of 20 'experts' hired by the WHO to draft their policy on caring for 'trans people'. People who belong in psychiatric wards are writing the guidelines for people who belong in psychiatric wards.'
The eSafety Commissioner called the post degrading and issued X with the takedown notice in March and threatened a $782,500 fine if the social media giant refused.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday evening, Mr Elston said the Administrative Review Tribunal deputy president Damien O'Donovan had judged Billboard Chris acted in accordance to his convictions.
'(Mr O'Donovan) even quoted my own testimony where I said that because I believe sex is immutable I'm personally convicted,' he said.
Mr Elston said when the deputy president looked at his entire campaign, he saw Billboard Chris had been consistent on this matter.
'My post itself was not about causing serious distress or harm to Teddy Cook. It was about bringing light to a situation where children are being harmed. And we sometimes forget that. This is all about the kids,' he said.
Mr Elston said the tendency across the West, not just Australia, was to 'cancel' people and get them fired to instill a 'regime of fear being pushed by these bureaucrats'.
He said in his case, Ms Inman Grant was an 'unelected bureaucrat' who only censored in 'one direction.'
'I think this is a tremendous victory. We're stacking up some wins against these censors across the globe,' he said.
'This is, I think, the third victory against the e-Safety commissioner. They keep throwing money at this though because they have inexhaustible resources, but we have something they don't have. We have the truth and we're just going to keep spreading it because the truth spreads for free.'
Billboard Chris made headlines after he was approached by a Brisbane City Council in Queen Street Mall while he held a sign stating 'children cannot consent to puberty blockers', who accused him of obstructing people's movement.
The council worker went on to issue Mr Elston with an $806 fine for 'obstructing or unreasonably disturbing any person lawfully using a mall', a claim the activist calmly insisted was untrue.
Mr Elston's sign reflected current Queensland law after the state government issued a directive banning puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for new patients suffering gender dysphoria earlier this year.
Asked if he would come back to Australia following after the recent run-ins, Mr Elston said he would certainly return.
'Not only are they trying to censor me on the digital town square, every physical town square I go into in Australia, they're trying to remove me,' he said.
Mr Elston said he had recently secured victory against Brisbane City Council after he challenged the fine.
'This is how we have to act. We can't just let these censors tell us what to do. I'm having conversations about children who are being harmed,' he said.
'Other people go to that town square, they do whatever they want. They actually obstruct people. I did nothing of the sort. So I think I'm going to sue Brisbane City Council as well now that ticket has been thrown out and I'll probably come back just for that.
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Sydney Morning Herald
13 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Please. End the suffering and feed Gaza's poor, starving children
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News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
White House lashes out at 'South Park' Trump parody
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Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Planning a trip to the US? Don't mention the Donald
There are those who misguidedly believe that not only should sport and politics never mix, travel and politics shouldn't ever coexist either. Fat chance. As the world has witnessed with international sport over the decades, the notion that it and world events can be separated has proved historically risible, and now we witness overseas travel becoming markedly more politicised. Nowhere is it more starkly illustrated than what appears to be the weaponisation of tourism for political purposes by the Trump administration and its facilitators, who appear to be Googling overtime in search of any criticism of the president and his policies. This article, and others I've written critical of US treatment of tourists under the Trump administration in my role as travel editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, will likely render any visit by me to the United States a risky proposition. I'm not complaining. For me, it's no loss. It's still a wide, wonderful and mostly welcoming world out there, and word has it that our far more rational Canadian friends could do with a little Antipodean love in the form of a holiday there. Loading So forget about yours truly, and consider the recent case of a reader of the Traveller title of the above publications. Only a few hours before the departure of his flight earlier this month to visit his daughter in the US, Australian Bruce Hyland received notice from American immigration authorities that he would not be permitted to enter the country. This news came after having been approved to visit. 'No reason for a cancellation was provided [for the decision to refuse entry],' Hyland writes in his Traveller letter, 'so one is in the Kafkaesque situation of having breached some official procedure, while having no way to appeal the decision or determine what that procedure could be.'
