Balancing freedom of expression with the need to protect the community is difficult, but it might be better to let Chris Brown and Troy Newman enter Australia and then have a mature debate about their actions, writes Monica Attard.

Two Americans have been barred from entering Australia and it's probably fair to say few of us would be overly familiar with either of them.

For most people of a certain age, the first we heard of R'n'B performer Chris Brown was in 2009 when he was convicted of assaulting and threatening to kill his girlfriend, the singer Rihanna. And few outside the Right To Life movement would know much of Troy Newman, an anti-abortion activist who holds some offensive views about what should happen to doctors who perform abortions and women who have them.

Both are refusing to accept the Australian Government's decision to deny them entry visas.

Anti-abortion campaigner Troy Newman speaks at conference in an undated photo. ( Facebook )

But that's where the similarities end.

To keep Chris Brown out of Australia, the Government used the character test, which requires a fair dose of ministerial discretion to be applied. The decision has naturally grabbed headlines not only because Brown happens to be a performer, but because it has been so openly linked to the very overdue attention finally being paid to the seemingly intractable problem of domestic violence.

Canberra was less successful with Troy Newman, who entered Australia despite having his visa cancelled on the grounds his presence could incite community harm.

He is in detention in Melbourne and is challenging the visa revocation. In a 2003 book he co-wrote called Their Blood Cries Out, Newman not only advocates that doctors who perform abortions should be executed, he likens women who have undergone abortion procedures to contract killers.

His advocacy group, Operation Rescue was linked to the 2009 murder of an abortion provider in Wichita, Kansas where the group is based, having targeted the doctor in protests.

Both cases give rise to serious concern.

Using the visa system to get at the DV problem might seem admirable at first glance: set the bar high and tell Brown's young followers his past behaviour isn't something that can be forgiven.

But it's probably more of a feel-good exercise than anything else. Think consistency for starters: the Immigration Department surely can't background check every Joe who applies for a visa, to ensure he hasn't bashed or killed a partner.

And there's the very uncomfortable fact of home-grown footballers whose behaviour towards women have offended us, but whose careers seem not to be automatically cut short or who otherwise transition to lucrative media gigs.

There's a whiff too in the decision of political expediency on the part of a "new" Government seeking to distinguish itself as sympathetic to women.

If Brown's words on Twitter are to be believed, he can probably do more good than harm. He tweeted:

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He's right on all counts. People make mistakes. They do their time (or in Brown's case, probation) and some even learn. And as any parent will attest, young men are not always inclined to listen to them or teachers who tell them about the wrongness of brutalising a partner.

But there's also the question of whether shielding Australians from people who've done bad things or preach offensive ideas by banning them from our midst is a step too far for a largely well-educated democratic nation.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 5 minutes 36 seconds 5 m Troy Newman - the American anti-abortion campaigner facing deportation from Australia

We have a free media that can lead debate on views that are unacceptable to the majority. Remember 2013 when there were howls of protest over the Dutch anti Islamist Geert Wilders being allowed entry to Australia to preach racial intolerance. We debated his views and his events were poorly attended, chaotic debacles.

We can debate the views of Newman too, sure of the fact there'll be little or no appetite here for the same level of violence that surrounds the abortion question in the US. And sure of the fact that enough of us are smart enough to be able to reject his views if they are still as offensive as they were in 2003.

How to balance freedom of expression with the need to protect the community is a vexed question and there's no easy answer. Democracy isn't neat.

In the end though, wouldn't we prefer to be known as a nation prepared to believe that someone can learn from their actions, then spread a much needed message to an audience that needs to hear it? And aren't we intelligent enough to reject as wrong the views of a redneck zealot?

I prefer to trust Brown to use his clout to tell his audience how wrong it is to bash women and to let Newman speak his mind here so that I can take to social media to express outrage at his very illiberal intolerance for personal freedom.

Editor's note (October 2, 2015): Update: The High Court has rejected an appeal by anti-abortion activist Troy Newman against his deportation from Australia. Justice Geoffrey Nettle ruled the Department was justified in revoking Mr Newman's visa over fears his visit would pose a risk to the community.

Monica Attard is a Walkley Award winning journalist and a former broadcaster at the ABC where she hosted Media Watch, PM and Sunday Profile.