On Thursday evening Lachlan Murdoch delivered the 2014 Keith Murdoch Oration at the State Library, an annual speech that honours his grandfather’s life and work. The oration raises funds to support the ongoing work of the Library and has previously been delivered by Nobel Prize winner Laureate Professor Peter Doherty and former Prime Minister Paul Keating.

Standing before a room of guests that included James Packer, Sarah Murdoch and Premier Denis Napthine, Lachlan stated that ‘a free media must be dependent on no one for favours’ and that censorship in any form ‘erodes our freedom to know, to be informed, and to make reasoned decisions in our society and in our democracy’.