The publication by the Newcastle Herald of a political advertisement by Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party stating “there are only two genders – male and female” has provoked a backlash that has seen the advertisement removed from the paper’s online edition.
The publisher, Australian Community Media, has apologised for printing it in the first place, and a scheduled appearance of the ad in The Age has been cancelled.
This raises a question about freedom of speech, particularly political speech.
