The Accidental Seditionist

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‘Not a Man, Not a Ship, Not a Plane, Not a Gun for the Aggressive Imperialist War on Korea and Malaya !’

Sedition is quintessentially a ‘political’ crime … used to criminalise expression that is critical of the established order. This has helped fuel concerns … that there is a potential for the law to over-reach, and to inhibit freedom of expression and free association. 
Fighting Words, Australian Law Reform Commission report, 2006

Only Communist Party members were tried for Sedition from 1948 to 1951, and the last of them was W. F. Burns – and he, like his predecessors, ultimately suffered defeat before the High Court on account of his ‘fighting words’. Nonetheless, as The Accidental Seditionist reveals, the legal consequences of Bill Burns’ case reverberated powerfully. On a personal level, also, the impact of the case on Bill and his family was significant – as Ron Burns, Bill’s eldest son, explains.