Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

Chapter 9
FREE EXPRESSION TESTED IN
COURT
A regime in which a person is prevented from saying what he or she thinks about
matters of public importance is a totalitarian regime. – David Perkins, barrister
Let’s digress to where I find myself at Yatala Labour Prison, pronounced
Yatla, 1 Peter Brown Drive, Northfield, Adelaide SA 5185, Division G 1-
Cell 6, prison number 160026. Is it here in Cell 6 and do I describe it in
detail, or do I start with my last day of freedom – 13 August 2009?
Again, where do I start my story? It’s still vividly clear to me this Thursday
at the Federal Court of Australia, 1 Angas Street, Adelaide, where in
Courtroom 1 three judges heard the appeal against the findings made and
the sentence imposed by one of their fellow judges, Bruce Lander, on 16
April and 13 May 2009.
The three appeal judges – Gilmore, Graham and Spender – the latter
presiding, arrived on Monday, 10 August, in Adelaide, and then three days
later had acquainted themselves with the matter by studying the Appeal
Book’s more than 2200 pages – in theory that is what happened. The
morning was taken up with my barrister David Perkins trying to convince
them that Justice Lander erred when, among other things, he did not take
into consideration Section 18D of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA),
which forms one of the exemptions under the Act, namely that material of
an academic or artistic nature is not subject to the RDA.
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