After six proposals and tens of thousands of submissions, a revised hate speech law proposal has been announced, with now only one change to the Human Rights Act.
In a press release, the Free Speech Union (FSU) is cautiously celebrating:
This morning Justice Minister Kiri Allan announced on Newshub Nation that each of the six proposals released last year to amend hate speech laws will be dropped, except for the inclusion of ‘religious communities’ under the speech restrictions of the Human Rights Act.
In the Newshub interview, Minister Allan says, “Some of the debate on this topic over the last year has been disappointing and at times deliberately divisive and misleading, particularly in regard to the proposals that were out for consultation. This is not, and never has been, about the government wanting to restrict free speech.”
The FSU says that expanding the current legislation to cover religious belief could potentially criminalise any criticism of any religion or belief.
Both ACT and National say they will not support the current proposal.
The FSU have published a podcast (37 minutes) with Jonathan Ayling, Stephen Franks, Bryce Edwards and New Zealand Jewish council member Juliet Moses discussing the implications for free speech if religious belief is included in the legislation.
Discuss it on The BFD.