Public Address | Cafe | Legal Beagle: The Government's Proposed Decriminalisation of Racist Hate Speech

Tim McKenzie

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 19:22:09 +1200

If someone publicly said that a particular New Zealander of Ruritanian descent should "go back to Ruritania", in a context where the plain meaning was that the Ruritanian–New Zealander was unwelcome here, could that be an offence, either under the current law, or the proposed changes?

EE

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 16:11:26 +1200

Thanks for outlining this issue with such clarity.

The modifications proposed are in response to the Mosque shootings, but, ironically, wouldn't there be a case to prosecute anyone who published some Islamic religious texts, I'm thinking specifically of what they say about homosexuals.
See: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Homosexuality

They would seem to contravene…

Nick Russell

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:34:24 +1200

It seems a bit of a stretch to argue that the proposed reform will somehow narrow the scope of prohibited speech. If you can draw a distinction between speech which is offensive enough to "excite hostility" but is not offensive enough to "stir up hatred", then hats off to you.…

Public Address

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:34:24 +1200

Discussion from blog post.