Free Speech Union's Podcast

About Free Speech Union's Podcast

Free to Speak is the New Zealand podcast that goes beyond headlines to explore the principles behind our most contentious debates. Produced by the New Zealand Free Speech Union, it examines freedom of expression and why it matters to a free and democratic society. Expect interviews with guests from New Zealand and around the world, plus deep dives with our Council into the cases and policy work shaping free speech today. Any questions, queries or feedback? Email: podcast@fsu.nz www.fsu.nz

Publisher

Free Speech Union

Category

news · news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Jun 2019

Latest episode

10 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

203 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   10 Aug 2026

   Frances Widdowson: Kamloops, unmarked graves and academic freedom

   Frances Widdowson is a Canadian political scientist. She was an associate professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary until her dismissal in 2021. For several years she has examined the evidence behind the May 2021 announcement concerning the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. She joins Dane Giraud to set out what she has found. In May 2021 it was announced that the remains of 215 children had been confirmed at the site. Widdowson gives her account of what followed. She describes ...

2. 

   3 Aug 2026

   Shubz: Called a Kūpapa for Talking to the Wrong People

   Shubz has been called a kūpapa. The word describes Māori who sided with the Crown in the New Zealand Wars, and it still gets thrown at Māori accused of betraying their own. Shubz gets it for having David Seymour on his show. Shubz hosts "Shubz Says So" on Radio Aotearoa. His method is simple: talk to people you disagree with, in public, without the gotcha. That has meant long conversations with David Seymour, Brian Tamaki, Don Brash and others, and it has cost him standing in parts of his ow...

3. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Paul Moon: Killing Te Reo Māori | Free to Speak

   In 2018, historian Paul Moon published a book arguing that te reo Māori is on course to disappear as a living language, and that almost everything being done to revive it is failing. The reaction was immediate and hostile. Moon's position is that he is a friend of the language, and that a good friend does not offer false comfort. He argues that compulsory language teaching has failed in Wales, Ireland, Luxembourg and Singapore, that fluency figures are self-reported and unverifiable, that no...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.7 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

14 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 49 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

78

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

50

Contact Free Speech Union's Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.