Dear Editor,
Congratulations to the newly reformed Adelaide Festival board in making an apology to Palestinian/Australian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah and extending an invitation for her to speak at the 2027 Adelaide Writers Festival.
The pressure placed on the previous board was unrelenting, led by Premier Peter Malinauskas who has a very selective view as to what constitutes ‘community harmony’. His vindictive contribution to this blacklisting will taint the Festival state for a long time to come. Bigotry and bias – not a good combination for a leader.
The issue of political censorship has now been highlighted by the rushed passage through the Federal parliament of ‘The Combatting Antisemitism Hate and Extremism Bill 2026’.
This was a knee jerk reaction to a tragedy, with consequences downstream that will not aid the much parroted phrase of ‘community cohesion’. Why is this so? Because the difficult questions are not being asked re: foreign interference and the ongoing Gaza catastrophe.
Kathy Bradley, Louth Bay
