The furious opposition to Helen Clark’s anti-smacking law in 2007 should have given Ms Ardern at least a tiny clue as to how her hate speech proposals might be received. Ms Ardern was adamant initially that political opinion would not be added as a protected category but later admitted it could be. Ms Ardern also campaigned on extending legal protections for groups that experience hate speech before last year’s election in October. Yet Ms Ardern knows already — and has for some time — that National and Act are implacably opposed. In March 2020, the Ministry of Justice chief executive Andrew Kibblewhite said that hate speech was a "tricky thing" to navigate.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 05, 2021 15:56 UTC