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Hosted by Free Speech Union · news · EN-NZ · 214 episodes
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
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
36%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchFree 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.
Free To Speak is hosted by Free Speech Union. The show has published 214 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "David Smylie: One Email, a Medical Council Complaint, and Why a GP Left New Zealand" (26 October 2026, 42 minutes), "Cath Simpson: Suspended by the Tribunal, Sacked by Health NZ | Free Speech Union" (25 October 2026, 47 minutes), and "Paul Henry: Interviewing, the Campaign Trail and the Future of Media" (19 October 2026, 51 minutes).
Free To Speak publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 51 minutes across 214 episodes.
Booking probability for Free To Speak is 36%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Free To Speak requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Free To Speak's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for Free To Speak are Advocacy & Social Causes. Free To Speak has a news audience.
Free Speech Union hosts Free To Speak, a news show with 214 episodes published.
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Episode #43
GP David Smylie tells Dane Giraud how one late-night email to a pharmaceutical sales rep, sent in November 2022, became a Medical Council of New Zealand investigation. He says the complaint was made by the rep's...
Episode #42
Health NZ sacked mental health nurse Cath Simpson on 9 October over posts she made on X in her own time and deleted more than a year ago. The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal had suspended her for two months...
Episode #41
Broadcaster Paul Henry joins Dane Giraud on the art of interviewing and what separates a good journalist from a bad one. Henry argues the best interviewers listen hard and go in ready to be surprised, while the worst...
Episode #40
Free Speech Union Council Chair Stephen Franks and Tauranga lawyer Kirsten Murfitt compare notes on being investigated by the New Zealand Law Society. Both faced complaints over letters they wrote for clients. Both say...
Episode #39
Karl Mokaraka earned the nickname "the man over the fence" the day he borrowed a wheelchair for height and climbed the fence at a Pakuranga press event. From there he put his questions straight to the politicians...
Episode #38
Free Speech Union Executive Director Jillaine Heather joins Dane Giraud on Free to Speak to set out the Union's priorities heading into the 2026 general election. Together they work through the three campaigns the FSU...
Episode #37
Dame Elizabeth Rata is a sociologist of education at the University of Auckland and a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She joins Dane Giraud to discuss her 40-part YouTube series, The History of New...
Episode #36
Mike Grimshaw is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Canterbury. He joins Dane Giraud to make the free speech case for letting the Irish rap group Kneecap perform here, after Hungary barred them. You...
Episode #35
Corina Shields returns to Free to Speak. As producer of Shubz Says So, she helped build one of the most talked about shows on independent New Zealand radio. Then she walked away from the station that carried it, and...
Episode #34
Comedian, broadcaster and author Andrew Doyle, creator of the satirical persona Titania McGrath, joins Dane Giraud to unpack how Britain is sliding back towards blasphemy law, not by name, but through the language of...
Episode #33
In 1986 Stephen Rainbow marched with HUG, Heterosexuals Unafraid of Gays, while living as a married father who had not yet come out. Forty years after the Homosexual Law Reform Act passed, he joins Dane Giraud to argue...
Episode #32
Juliet Moses is a lawyer, President of the New Zealand Jewish Council, and the author of "Biting the Hand", a Quillette essay on what happens when artists insist their work and their politics cannot be separated. Her...
Episode #29
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...
Episode #28
Elliot Ikilei, former New Conservative leader, key figure in Hobson's Pledge, and now New Zealand First's 2026 candidate for Takanini, joins Dane Giraud for a conversation that moves from common ground to open clash...
Episode #27
Erica Stanford says a VPN ban was never on the table. Barrister and Free Speech Union Council Member Douglas Brown isn't convinced. Douglas joins host Dane Giraud for a freewheeling episode on three stories that end in...
Episode #25
This winter, Ani O'Brien is taking the Good Faith Yarns Tour around the country: honest, good faith conversations with locals in towns and cities across New Zealand, on the topics we usually just shout about. She sits...
Episode #24
ACT MP Laura McClure joins Dane Giraud to talk about her Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill, which passed its first reading unanimously and is now before select committee. The bill amends the Crimes Act 1961...
Episode #23
Dr Ben Jones, Director of Case Management at the UK Free Speech Union, joins host Dane Giraud to discuss his new book, Island of Strangers, and a question that should trouble anyone who values open debate: how did...
Episode #22
"I have always been the big-mouth Māori that says things we're not supposed to say." Corina Shields — better known online as Aunty Heihei (@AuntyHeihei) — returns to Free to Speak to talk with host Dane Giroud about her...
Episode #21
Is it now a criminal offence to pray for someone struggling with gender confusion? Could a parent face prosecution for affirming their child's biological sex? Bob McCoskrie of Family First joins Dane to unpack the...
Recent guests on Free To Speak. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
head of renewables and firming operations at CS Energy, fundamental pediatric therapy
assistant professor of philosophy, University of the Austin
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Westside Kings Church
Senior Scholar at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
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