MALCOLM Turnbull is alleged to have once claimed that barely "100 people in Australia care about Section 18c but there are 16,000,000 enrolled voters”.

It seems we can count Fairfax MP Ted O'Brien in the tiny group that cares about Section 18c as he seems thrilled by moves to allow folks who want to racially insult and offend other folks more freedom to do so.

He could usefully contribute to the debate over Section 18c by describing just what folks can't say at the moment that he wants them to be able to say.

Skip the "jackboots” cliches and give us some real examples.

The freedom warriors like Ted O'Brien really seem to be only interested in the freedom of privileged, powerful voices like Andrew Bolt to be able to insult and offend with even greater freedom.

I had not noticed Andrew Bolt's voice being silenced.

These powerful right wingers endlessly portray themselves in The Australian (and endlessly on the ABC) as powerless and marginalised, which is simply nuts.

Perhaps Ted O'Brien could tell us all where he stands on the real freedom of speech issue and the need to reform defamation laws.

At present, defamation laws protect the wealthy and powerful from disclosures of information which would be in the public interest.

Is Ted O'Brien happy for this to continue?

If so, this suggests his support for "freedom of speech” is really only about those freedoms that The Australian cares about.

CLIVE NEWTON

Nambour