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# Faces of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/faces-of-the-day-83/
- Published: 2021-09-06T18:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-09-07T10:00:13.000Z
- Author: General
- Tags: Censorship, Featured, Free Speech, NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 01:54

**Free Speech Union**

Remember how we crowdfunded successful Court proceedings so that Speak Up for Women could hold a meeting in a library about proposed law changes before Parliament? It turns out the exercise **cost the Palmerston North City Council more than $30,000 to defend its outrageous deplatforming.**

Also revealed under freedom of information laws, **not a single member of the public had actually laid a complaint about the proposed event.** It appears the deplatforming was motivated by two of the City’s own councillors.

[Stuff reports](https://www.fsu.nz/r?u=5xNnogsdD9yGIfGEM2rlXVmVCY4ANUJ4SoMnzguSGYxeTnLgibtXoP6Tuxv45fyfUyMRPGyy64XVo8B5c7y4ccer9hbP3-tDjSios3woxT2iBI1gMi9fj14boTJI7CzAiwCHA4MoqLupJ1YDPr%5FLfNAt-JjHuB9AZ0gcxwclO0aVfoJrkyC3smJo34TNWx3YQ2LvhyU-KuTszyMiLN4DEOiAhf3Ms1gnXdtb-hdexi-Bh5tl8%5FpcsuMhXkovPfz5rtEyZOfZSkA-zkl9haD5FBNK5b2U2nBXHdcuOKIjOPoe3zHTBSf0pDKu6rNYDSCWunPi8EBllYxvEzmlQwB-RcViZoWHTgv%5FTboCxITajawxIZktRdJEWPRwdnWoRKI-7iQ8eIyJSDmvEOdVk%5FPOICcaytlM-0IjK0AhEC4r0LdsvbrOqi0CYXYt%5FPFk6iVxK2xxA5kAkKLik9InrmQwbQ&e=7fadc673a72ea2b83503324cde301771&utm%5Fsource=freespeech&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=210830%5Fnwsltr&n=9) it was two Councillors, **Rachel Bowen** and **Lorna Johnson** (pictured), who kicked up a fuss about the meeting taking place and instigated the costly litigation.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/31/f4/31f4e20a-0315-499e-83ff-139e8eab53bf/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/screen-shot-2021-09-06-at-9.21.31-pm.png)

Palmerston North City Councillors, Rachel Bowen and Lorna Johnson.

**Palmerston North ratepayers are now out of pocket by tens of thousands of dollars due to the decision to try and cancel the booking.** But in a statement to *Stuff*, the Council said it had “no opinion” about the costs it incurred.

In his decision, Justice Gerald Nation said the booking cancellation involved a “serious failure” to recognise Speak Up for Women’s rights under the Bill of Rights Act.