III A MATTER OF INTERPRETATION A Text, Context, Society: The Implied Freedom and Progressivism In regard to the implied freedom of political communication, Aroney argues that the Court’s finding in ACTV was carefully reasoned in order to provide a direct or ‘necessary’ implication of the freedom from ‘the application of traditional methods of legal reasoning’ to the text or structure of the instrument, consistent with the Engineers case, rather than an ephemeral appeal to external conditions or social values. For example, Mason CJ cautioned that any implication through structure must be ‘securely based’ and ‘logically or practically necessary for the preservation of the integrity of that structure’. This was assisted through the Court giving theoretical content to the idea of representative government, where the legislators are chosen by the people. The Court consequently argued that representative government implies full and free communication of policies, ideas and opinions between electors to function effectively. It should be noted that interpretation of representative government as involving effective function through free communication is itself a value-laden approach. It is possible to conceive of an ineffective representative government, and the Constitution makes no comment on the necessary quality of the representative government. So even though the freedom of political communication is arguably a textual and contextual implication necessary for the proper functioning of the instrument, it also seems that this
potentially subject to government intervention, communication on any subject could be covered. The fundamental point here is that since communication on any subject matter may influence voting on that subject matter, and every subject matter is potentially able to become involved in political processes, communication on any subject may be considered relevantly political and therefore covered by the implied freedom. Stone agrees, arguing that the definition of ‘political’ communication should extend to …communication about issues that could become matters of federal law or policy or, in some way, the subject of federal governmental action… The federal Parliament considers a wide array of issues, and the breadth of federal government involvement in modern life… means that it is almost impossible to be sure that any matter will not become the subject of federal political debate. Stone goes even further, proposing that the implied freedom should cover all communication that influences a person’s attitude toward any public issue: In these debates, questions of religion, moral philosophy, history, medical science and sociology all arise. Voters' understanding of and attitudes to these matters can affect their attitudes on questions of public policy, their attitudes to the… government, and ultimately their vote at a federal election. Ultimately, it is the substance of these communications which enables a voter to assess a government and determine their vote. ‘For example, people may form their political opinions by discussion of matters not on the political agenda, including matters like religion and philosophy that develop more fundamental commitments’. This is the moment where the intersection between the free exercise of religion and the implied freedom of political communication