What Donald Trump is doing to mangle free speech and the democratic process in the United States should surprise nobody who is awake in Australia. It’s been happening here for decades.

Trump is creating an environment where public policy and regulatory governance of media companies can be used as a weapon and perceived critics are dumped, apparently even for telling jokes.

US President Donald Trump sprayed ABC journalist John Lyons last week.Credit: Bloomberg

But what the president is doing in America has at some level long been the habit of Australian state and federal politicians. And few have called them out.

Like Trump, Australian politicians have black-banned and publicly berated unfriendly reporters and commentators. They have attempted to have their critics sacked. They have used policies as a weapon of intimidation.

There’s no question Trump’s attack on comedian Jimmy Kimmel and subsequent comments that others will be next threatens free speech and the role of the media in a healthy democracy. But even his attempt to humiliate and intimidate ABC journalist John Lyons during a press conference on the White House lawns evoked memories of at least two Australian prime ministers who could eviscerate a questioner with a sentence.

Of the main parties, Labor has the champion haters. In 1986, the Hawke government threw the media into chaos when it changed........

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