A right-wing university club has been accused of ‘getting woke’ after canceling a performance by a controversial men’s rights activist despite describing himself as a bastion of free speech.
Sydney University’s Conservative Club had scheduled gender commentator Bettina Arndt to speak at an event next Tuesday discussing the ongoing trials of Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann, but has now withdrawn the invitation.
Ms Arndt’s earlier appearance at a club event where she spoke about what she called a ‘false rape crisis’ on university campuses in 2018 required a police presence to keep protesters at bay.
Controversial gender commentator Bettina Arndt has been kicked off the panel at a right-wing university club event
However, she accuses people associated with the Conservative caucus itself of ‘leaning on people’ to stop her coming this time, although no reason was given for her sudden removal from a speaking panel.
“Back in 2018, the conservative club kids were all over the place to put my event on – they all stared at them and put it on,” Ms Arndt said The Australian.
‘It is telling that this time it is the vigilant Young Liberals who are preventing me from participating in proper discussion of this controversial law.’
Ms Arndt claimed organizers had considered canceling the event but settled for her no-show.
“Some have been loaned out, but it’s just crazy,” she said.
‘I love the fact that a 74-year-old grandmother is such a terrible threat on our campuses.’
Originally just labeled the ‘Higgins’ Event’ Tuesday’s session has now been retitled ‘Lawfare in Australia … a critical examination of Australia’s legal system and its weaponisation’.
The panel will now feature legal commentator Chris Merritt and journalist Andrew Urban, but the originally listed convener, Conservative club president Freya Leach has also been scrubbed.
Ms Leach, who ran unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate for the Sydney inner west seat of Balmain in the 2023 NSW election, told The Australian the event had nothing to do with her and she did not want to comment.
Members of the Sydney University Conservative Club pose with British political and cultural commentator Konstantin Kisin (centre)
The event was billed as a ‘relaxed and conversational’ dissection of issues surrounding the sexual assault allegations made by Brittany Higgins against Bruce Lehrmann and the resulting legal proceedings and political implications.
On 4 March, the Conservative Club held an event with former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott and British cultural commentator Konstantin Kisin, where protesters attempted to drown out the event by banging on the door.
A clip on the club’s Facebook page from inside Sydney University’s Great Hall shows people inside trying to isolate the noise by placing clothing at the base of the door, which appears to amuse those inside.
“Unlike the siege of Constantinople, the siege of Constantine (Kisin) was a spectacular failure,” reads the caption.
‘Better luck next time! Freedom of speech survives another day at Sydney University.
‘Usyd socialists ‘in vain’ tried to stamp our event.’
Ms Arndt, who rose to fame as a sex therapist in the 1970s and ’80s, was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2020 for striving to achieve “gender equality through advocacy for men”.
Conservative club president Freya Leach had also been announced to be on the panel but said the event has nothing to do with her
However, some called for the award to be stripped after Ms Arndt sympathetically interviewed Nicolaas Bester, who was convicted of sexually assaulting High Court student Grace Tame while working as a maths teacher in Tasmania.
The interview was shown alongside the title ‘feminists pursue disgraced teacher’.
In 2011, Bester was convicted of maintaining a relationship with a young person and sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison.
He was released after serving 19 months, but in 2016 he was jailed again for producing material about child exploitation.
His student victim, Ms Tame, who was the 2021 Australian of the Year, was one of many people to be struck by Ms Arndt’s recognition.
“I believe that honoring someone who actively defended a pedophile on a public platform is a blatant example of the long-standing, systemic moral corruption that continues to hamper our society,” she said.