That a publicly funded body aims to teach the Catholic bishop of Hobart a harsh lesson for distributing a mild and polite statement of the church's opposition to gay marriage is an outrage in itself. Once again, free speech is the real target

The promise from our current Prime Minister was explicit: Section 18c would be abolished or, at the very least, watered down. What have we now learnt? That expedience trumps principle, free speech is anything but sacred and, most dismaying of all, cowardice reigns supreme in the Coalition party room

Had the Romans adopted our current law's determination to save the sensitive and litigious from distress, the Pharisees would not have had to tolerate the enmity and harsh words of an upstart preacher from Galilee