Free Speech Union attacks reporter for asking minister questions
Tuesday, 28 July 2026
The Free Speech Union ‒ which exists to defend free speech ‒ has attacked a journalist for asking Health Minister Simeon Brown questions over email, after it obtained questions sent by a Post reporter about one of his appointments.
On Monday, The Post’s national affairs editor Andrea Vance emailed a series of questions to Health Minister Simeon Brown about his appointment of Dr Manoja Kalupahana to the Medical Council.
The appointment was gazetted on Friday and put on the Beehive website on Monday morning.
Before an answer was received and within three hours of the query going to the minister, the Free Speech Union issued a press release attacking Vance for even asking the questions.
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“The Free Speech Union is questioning why The Post's Andrea Vance appears to be reviving an old muckraking campaign against newly appointed Medical Council member Dr Manoja Kalupahana, warning that ideological litmus tests for public appointments threaten both free expression and good governance,” the group said in a statement.
The broadside from the FSU ‒ an organisation which has a stated goal of advancing the cause of free speech ‒ was in response to a reporter asking a minister about the appointment of a new person to a regulated body.
The questions sent to the minister did not ask whether Kalupahana’s political views could disqualify her from public service.
They focused on the appointment process: whether Brown was aware of her previous public profile before appointing her to the Medical Council; whether officials, Health New Zealand or the council were consulted; whether any concerns were raised about public confidence; and whether the minister had discussed the appointment with the Free Speech Union.
The Free Speech Union characterised the scrutiny differently, describing it as an attempt to put Kalupahana’s “lawful political views” on trial and warning against ideological tests for public appointments.
“The real issue here is not Dr Kalupahana. It is whether professionals can participate in public debate without fearing that years later a journalist will weaponise their lawful speech against them.”
When Brown’s office was asked for a response to the questions ‒ which it later furnished ‒ Brown’s press secretary also said that they would be alerting Kalupahana to the questions. Brown’s office confirmed to The Post that they forwarded the media query on to Kalupahana.
The questions were also sent to the Medical Council prior to the Free Speech Union’s release being issued.
In 2023, Kalupahana’s social media activity became the subject of a workplace complaint and media scrutiny.
At the time a Stuff reporter contacted her seeking comment about her online posts and their relevance to her role as a doctor. No story was published.
The case became a cause célèbre for the FSU, which argued it showed health professionals could face consequences for expressing lawful opinions outside their clinical roles.