Prime minister sheds some light on hate speech law reform
Ardern has indicated the government is seeking National’s backing. Luxon says the party doesn’t see the need for hate speech laws but will look at the government proposal
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Thursday, November 3, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Andrew Little claims Hamilton West candidate was ambushed at protest; buy now, pay later schemes to be regulated; the environmental impact of cruise ships; but first, renewed debate about hate speech and free speech
Jacinda Ardern is looking for broad consensus on hate speech law reform (Image: RNZ/Nick Monro)
Musk, free speech and where we draw the line
After a brief hiatus, hate speech law and concurrently, debate about free speech has entered the chat again following Kiritapu Allan’s announcement on Sunday. I was asked a couple of weeks ago on my Friday morning spot on TodayFM whether I thought we could constructively talk about this subject. I enthusiastically replied yes, with the caveat that I wasn’t confident that it would be constructive online. That was a bit of a cop out as it ignores the fact that in 2022, online discourse is almost a proxy for what we understand to be speech. That's been well highlighted in the eight million articles (unscientific estimate) about Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and speculation about the changes he plans to make. The Front Page has a great listen and read on Musk, free speech and where we might draw the line.
Ardern looking for broad consensus, seeking National's backing
During the two-day counterterrorism hui on Monday and Tuesday, the prime minister added some clarity to where the government might be heading on hate speech law. As Newsroom’s Marc Daalder reports Jacinda Ardern is looking for broad consensus, indicating the government would seek National's backing for a slimmed down reform package. Daalder writes that the prime minister’s comments suggest that the government may leave the definition of hate speech as it currently is, which only includes discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin. There’s been a case underway in Wellington this week where a judge was being asked to rule on the current law not covering hate speech about people’s sexuality.
National doesn’t see need for hate speech laws
Opposition leader Christopher Luxon also opened the door and let a crack of light shine on his perspective yesterday saying the party strongly supported free speech. "We don't actually see a need for hate speech laws,” he said. He went on to say the party “would look at what the government's proposing, when it gets it on paper and puts it into detail." He was challenged to state a position on hate speech law on Tuesday by Jonathan Ayling of the Free Speech Union.
New study reveals levels of discomfort about expressing views at universities
On Nine to Noon yesterday, Kathryn Ryan interviewed Dr Jamin Halberstadt, co-author of a new study about how comfortable students feel to express views on certain areas in the classroom. It found that between 20 and 40% of students from Otago, Auckland and Victoria Universities felt uncomfortable “speaking up and giving their views” on gender, politics, religion, and sexual orientation. I think it’s worth noting the US study that creates the comparison for the New Zealand study was conducted by the Heterodox Academy. Though the academy says it's explicitly non-partisan, it has been criticised for having an ideological slant and creating a moral panic about free speech on campus, noting in its introductory blog that “academia has become a left-leaning tribal moral community that is a hostile environment for non-liberals”. I think it’s equally important to note that Halberstadt was very cautious about not extrapolating beyond the New Zealand study’s data and did not assign possible causes to the results.
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Little says union misled Hamilton West candidate about protest
Yesterday, health minister Andrew Little visited the University of Waikato to make an announcement about mental health support for students, where he became the target of a protest by Tertiary Education Union (TEU) members. Standing among protestors was Labour’s new Hamilton West candidate Georgie Dansey. Dansey left the protest after she was approached by Stuff. Little told the Herald last night that Dansey wasn’t there to protest him and had been told by the TEU that Little was going to speak in support of the protest. In a Facebook post last night, Dansey said “I wasn’t there to protest the minister and when it became clear the minister was being ambushed I left”.
BNPL to be regulated
Yesterday the government announced it would regulate buy now, pay later (BNPL) schemes. Stewart Sowman-Lund has a good explainer. Before minister for commerce and consumer affairs, David Clark made the announcement, a financial mentor shared details of a person who had been charged 85 late payment fees by a single BNPL lender. Previous reporting from Stuff’s Rob Stock has indicated BNPL scheme providers have been struggling with profitability. In Australia, three retail banks offer a BNPL scheme. In May, BNZ’s parent bank NAB announced it would launch a BNPL product called “NAB now, pay later”. The bank said it would not charge interest, late fees or an account fee. Banks are already regulated and better resourced to handle compliance work, so while none of the New Zealand banks are currently offering a BNPL scheme, you could argue they may be better placed to do so than standalone providers in the future.
Niwa concerned about environment impact of cruise ships
Cruise ships are back, but as Stuff’s Amber Allott writes, uncertainty and concern remains when it comes to what environmental impacts they have. The Ovation of the Seas is scheduled to arrive at Christchurch’s Lyttelton Harbour this morning carrying about 4180 passengers. It will be the largest cruise ship to ever visit the port. Most cruise ships visiting New Zealand this season will be fitted with “scrubbers” – which are used to remove cheaper, high-sulphur fuel – switching to diesel or low sulphur varieties that meet emission limits. Niwa says wash water discharges from the scrubbers could be a risk to marine environments and predicted they would exceed guidelines in Lyttelton, Tauranga and Auckland ports and at Akaroa Harbour’s cruise ship anchorages.
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Re your story on Hamilton West: what does this mean? "...Dansey wasn’t there to protest him and had been told by the TEU that Little was going to speak .." Do we protest someone, rather than protesting against something?