When whining lefties write about the crushing of dissent in Australia, I think of people like Armando Valaderes, who suffered torture in Cubas gulag system.

“Silencing Dissent is an appropriate book for an appropriate era. At a time of increasing cultural homogeneity, collective apathy and lack of community participation in Australia, this book examines how for over ten years, John Howard’s conservative Liberal-Coalition government has employed intimidation, deceit, obfuscation and conspiracy to silence and ridicule those who seek to dissent its policies.

Silencing Dissent reveals how our Australian democratic institutions, both government and NGOs are being eroded. The very heart of public participation has defected - and this book shows how and why. In John Howard’s Australia in 2007, by contributing to the book - each Silencing Dissent contributor is a radical dissident…”

And Ken’s right - the government spends a lot of its time agenda-setting. It tries to move the goalposts rather than actively preventing critics’ goalkicks. Though just the same, Andrew, if you take any paid consultancies from this lot make sure the story you publicly tell is the one the government wants told.

Also, just because things like the Hicks case are not the norm doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get angry about them.

There are also instances of governments restricting access to information which have the effect of making dissent more difficult because of a shortage of relevant data. One example is the collection of regulations that prevent access to the content of Australian Workplace Agreements, thereby ensuring that public discussion depends on anecdotes and assertions instead of methodical research.

What is much more concerning is governments drowning out dissent with media manipulation and paid advertising. When this happens it’s not a matter of actively suppressing dissent but of manufacturing such a lot of noise somewhere else that dissenting voices aren’t heard. I believe that kind of opinion-management has become more prevalent over the last 20 years, again with both sides of politics being equally culpable.