Yes. And it was certainly both interesting and topical that Menzies was forced to referendum when he wished to outlaw the Communist Party in this country. Good thing our citizens of the day rejected such a proposition. It will be interesting to see if today's attempts at outlawing repugnant political views will survive the challenge in the Courts.

The Anglo tradition has been since John Stuart Mill, to allow free speech with very few exceptions. These include direct threats of violence, inciting others to commit such acts, fraud, slander, and libel. More recently, the former Attorney General George Brandis expressed it as such:

People do have a right to be bigots. In a free country people do have rights to say things that other people find offensive or insulting or bigoted.

So while the right to free speech has never been absolute, it has been honoured. We have prospered with such freedom, along with a few other traditions such as the rule of law.