Andrew Little, hand in hand with the Human Rights Commission, has been secretly working on formulating draconian hate speech laws. Proposed hate speech laws for New Zealand are imminent.
Justice Minister Andrew Little told Stuff the Government is bringing forward changes around hate speech, but shaping a law had taken time.
A number of options were now “working their way through” the cabinet process, he said.
“The review of our hate speech laws are in the final stages. I expect there will be an announcement in a matter of weeks.”
I wonder if Andrew Little has bothered to consult with Winston Peters over this? I suspect not.
What is very concerning is the political involvement of the Human Rights Commission:
The Human Rights Commission had led some of the work with the ministry as they wanted some of the conversation to happen away from the political fray, given it could easily be derailed with so many strongly held views, he said.
“In reality you want to have a conversation with New Zealanders about what is the right balance between the Government politicians and officials. We want society to have a conversation about this and avoid protests. You’ve got to think quite deeply and thoughtfully about it.”
I don’t think Andrew Little has thought very deeply about this at all, and it sure looks like he wants as little as possible debated before trying to ram these laws through. The fact that they’ve worked secretly on this because they know that there will be protests says all you need to know about how bad these laws will be.
It appears though, that Andrew Little hasn’t learned to consult his coalition partner, and is set to see a repeat of the mess that Tracey Martin landed him in when she told him NZ First’s caucus were onboard with abortion law changes when they weren’t.
Andrew Little proceeded with the laws introduction despite being told it was a red flag for NZ First. Let’s hope that Winston Peters applies the hand brake again on Andrew Little’s excesses.
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