Free Speech Coalition will defend current and long held free speech rights
31 March 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Free Speech Coalition will campaign against new laws to supress traditional freedom of speech signalled by Justice Minister Andrew Little.
Constitutional lawyer, and Free Speech Coalition spokesperson, Stephen Franks says, “New Zealand already has clear laws
against incitement of violence. We have a very new, uncertain, and far reaching law against digital harassment."
"We have seen little or no effort by the government to enforce the existing law in the internet era, or even to explain
it. Few New Zealanders know how our existing law works to criminalise genuinely hateful attempts to incite violence and
contempt. We have seen instead repeated efforts to justify the granting of fresh powers like those used overseas to
allow authorities to criminalise arguments and the expression of concern about issues where they want only one view to
be expressed or heard."
"The Government and the Human Rights Commission should focus on explaining and enforcing the existing law, not
disgracefully seizing on the wave of sympathy from all decent New Zealanders, to rush through new restrictions on the
opinions we may debate, express and research."
"The term ‘hate speech’ is deliberately extreme. It has been designed to prejudice discussion. It exploits the decency
of ordinary people. How could anyone not oppose 'hate'? But as defined legally it generally means something that could
upset someone. Overseas examples often just gives authorities the ability to say it means what they want it to mean from
time to time. Recently, in Britain, their version of the law was used to bring criminal charges against an elderly woman
who refused to use a transgender man’s preferred designation as a woman and insisted on referring to him as a man who
wanted to use women’s toilets.”
“New restrictions raise obvious questions around who gets to decide which ideas are suppressed, how many peaceful New
Zealanders could see themselves targeted, and how these laws could be used in future to shut down speech for political
reasons.”
“The worst aspect of this law is the ‘chilling effect’ – even speech that would pass the legal test may still go unsaid
due to fear of committing this new kind of blasphemy. This has fundamental risks across society, from academic debate to
internet memes.”
ENDS