National's Chris Bishop blasts letter from Free Speech Union, asks to 'cancel my membership'

National's Chris Bishop, Leader of the House.
National's Chris Bishop, Leader of the House. Photo credit: Newshub / Free Speech Union.

The Free Speech Union (FSU) says it's written to Leader of the House Chris Bishop to share its concerns about the Government's repeated use of "urgency" in its first 100 days in power.

But Bishop wasn't impressed.

The FSU posted its letter on X, which firstly congratulated the Government, before letting rip.

"We acknowledge there are circumstances where expeditious action needs to be taken by the Government, however, we question whether the amount of time Parliament spent in urgency in the past 100 days was justifiable".

The FSU also said bills passed under urgency get less scrutiny from MPs and the public, and can become law without going through the full Select Committee process.

"Further, the Government has not been mandated explicitly to pass legislation which was not included in the policy manifestos of any of the three parties in Government," the letter said.

"Is this a joke? Please cancel my membership," Bishop responded.

A user on X challenged Bishop to explain why the FSU was wrong.

"The idea that using urgency after an election to repeal things quickly when you said you would do exactly that is a violation of free speech is frankly nuts," Bishop said.

"It demeans the concept of free speech. I’ve resigned. Focus on actual issues, there’s plenty of genuine FS [free speech] issues around," he concluded.