Barry Soper has interviewed the man who has been associated with Trevor Mallard’s claims that there is or was a rapist at Parliament. As one will see, a very different picture is painted from the man stood down.

Barry Soper reports:

Referring last week to the alleged assaults, Mallard said: “We’re talking about serious sexual assault. Well that, for me, that’s rape.”

In a two-hour sit down discussion in his home, the devastated man said: “The accusation of rape has put me in a very dark place.
“I was driving to Parliament the day after the bullying and harassment report on the place was delivered and heard on the radio that a ‘rapist’ could be stalking the corridors and it disturbed me greatly,” he said.
However early that afternoon he realised he was the so-called “rapist” when he was summoned into the office of the Parliamentary Service boss Rafael Gonzalez-Montero to be stood down.

I suspect hundreds of people at Parliament know who he is, as it is easy to work out who is not at work.

“It’s ironic that the review was about bullying and harassment. I feel I’ve been bullied out of Parliament and harassed within it, particularly by the Speaker’s claim,” the teary-eyed man said.

Ironic is one word for it.

The complaint was ruled to be unsubstantiated last year, laid two years after the incident happened.
The man said it resulted from working alongside a colleague at Parliament when a clipboard was lost.
“We searched for the clipboard which was important and with great relief we finally found it. She gave me a high five but being a little old-fashioned I hugged her back, that was honestly all there was to it,” the man said.
Two years later he said she laid a complaint and both of them were interviewed. In a written decision after the investigation last year, her claim that he hugged her from behind, pushing his groin into her, was found to be unsubstantiated and no further action was warranted.

One can’t know exactly what happened, but certainly what is described sounds very different to rape. An unwanted hug is not rape.

Immediately after that he was sent packing from Parliament, with Mallard summoning the media to declare: “I don’t want to cut across any employment or possible police investigation, but I am satisfied that the Parliamentary Service has removed the threat to the safety of women working in the Parliamentary complex.”
The Speaker understood the same man was responsible for the two other claims of serious sexual assault. He later added one of the key dangers is no longer in the building.

Describing someone as a threat to the safety of women is very unwise, when they effectively work for you.

After talking to the man, NewstalkZB saw the finding of the investigation against him, a finding that would usually be kept under wraps by the unimpeachable Parliamentary Service. The finding bore out everything the man had claimed and found the claim against him was unsubstantiated.

Yet he got labeled a rapist.

An experienced defamation lawyer, Hugh Rennie QC, was asked whether the man had been defamed but wouldn’t personalise it to the Speaker, preferring to make his comments in a general sense.
Rennie said the statement that a “threat” has been removed is an allegation of continuing risk which is unjustified on the facts stated. There is no evidence stated of a continuing
threat and to suggest there is, and that the response needed is to be barred from the workplace, is defamatory. …

“There is a public interest in receiving correct information but none in receiving incorrect information. The serious allegations that have been made against this man – not named but readily identifiable in his workplace – are defamatory. On the facts stated it is very unlikely that a defence that this was done in the public interest would succeed,” Rennie said.

And no parliamentary privilege on this.

The distraught man said: “I never thought I would ever find myself in this situation, it’s not who I am, I’m thoroughly devastated. I would like to be able to return to work to clear my name and I expect, at the very least an apology from the Speaker for labelling me as a rapist which I most certainly am not.

The handling of this has been an absolute mess.

Newsroom reports:

The country’s 5 per cent MMP threshold makes it difficult for new parties to get a foot in the door.
This was demonstrated by TOP’s performance in 2017.
But there is wide agreement from Māori and South Auckland MPs that Hannah Tamaki and the Destiny Church ethos will speak to a portion of Kiwis, particularly Māori.
And Newsroom understands Tamaki has a plan to help get in the door, in the form of a Mana-Coalition mash-up.
Mana Movement leader Hone Harawira has long had his heart set on winning back his Tai Tokerau seat in the north.
Like the Tamakis, Harawira has been critical of Labour deputy Kelvin Davis in recent weeks, following a heated exchange over Destiny Church’s Man Up programme.
Harawira says Davis’ comments about Man Up, and unwillingness to allow the programme into prisons, failed to properly serve Māori.
Harawira believes he should be the man in the north.
He has also posted an endorsement for Hannah Tamaki’s plans in a Facebook post on the Mana Movement page: “When Parliament doesn’t listen – time to go into Parliament,” he wrote.

Well at least this match-up makes more sense for Mana than the coalition with the Internet Party.

Davis will be hard to beat in Te Tai Tokerau. He got 54% of the vote in 2017. The electorate would need to feel he has let them down, to vote him out.

Stuff reports:

Israel’s president said Sunday (Monday NZT) he is shocked by a German official’s comment that he wouldn’t advise Jews to wear skullcaps in parts of the country, which is drawing mixed reactions at home.
Felix Klein, the government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, was quoted Saturday as saying: “I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany.”
He didn’t elaborate on what places and times might be risky.
“The statement of the German government’s anti-Semitism commissioner that it would be preferable for Jews not wear a kippa in Germany out of fear for their safety, shocked me deeply,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement.

The rise again of anti-Semitism in Germany is of massive concern. The Guardian suggests it has two sources:

Klein acknowledged that the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers, many from Muslim countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq, has had an impact on the situation in Germany. Some were influenced by watching certain television channels “which transmit a dreadful image of Israel and Jews”, he said.
However, he emphasised that the far-right was to blame for the overwhelming majority of antisemitic crime.

Extremism is bad, whatever its form.

Stuff reports:

Teens as young as 14 are being locked away before being found guilty, the Children’s Commissioner has said in a call for change.
A new report has examined how New Zealanders aged between 14 and 17 on bail are dealt, with and what changes are needed.
The work started in March 2018 with Oranga Tamariki asking the Office of the Children’s Commissioner to review how the ministry dealt with people in Youth Court, particularly around remand decisions and whānau.
The review found about 80 per cent of the about 140 young people currently in youth justice residences were there awaiting the outcome of a court case.

“Often the charges against these young people haven’t been proved. But they nevertheless find themselves in a youth justice facility, sometimes for weeks, sometimes for much longer,” the review said.

There may be an issue here but we are not given enough information to decide.

Most would agree with the principle that having a young person in a youth justice facility is a last resort.

The first thing we are not told is what proportion of young people charged with a crime are sent to a youth justice facility? 10%? 1%? 0.1%?

But the more important thing we are not told is what charged are those 110 young people facing? If it is burglary, then I’d agree having them in a youth justice facility may makes things worse. But what if it is homicide or rape? You really can’t have them in the community if they have allegedly killed someone? Also are those 110 repeat offenders?

Also how many of them were on bail but breached the conditions of bail?

I’m sympathetic to the principle espoused but the report and article do not give enough information to decide if there are realistic alternatives.

Stuff reports:

New Zealand’s median weekly rent reached $500 for the first time in April after a 5.3 per cent annual increase and strong growth in the provinces, according to the latest Trade Me Rental Price Index.
Head of Trade Me Rentals Aaron Clancy said it was a big milestone and showed how much demand existed around the country.
“It’s getting more and more expensive for New Zealand tenants, high rents aren’t just a ‘city problem’ anymore either.
“Six regions hit all-time highs in April, as a growing number of Kiwis look at their options outside our three largest cities. We’re seeing some Kiwis look further afield for their next rental, it’s a cost they can’t or don’t want to pay so they’re saying goodbye to the big city for life in the regions.

The Government keeps passing laws increasing costs for landlords. The fact that rents then increase to a record high should surprise no-one.

By John Stringer.

Alex Braae at The Spinoff has a good piece on the Christian parties, in “The Bulletin.” GREAT opening line…

Christian political parties are like Wellington buses – you wait for ages and then two turn up at the same time. Bishop Brian Tamaki has confirmed he too will be launching a political party, reports... It follows months of high profile stunts which hinted towards further interest in politics. Bishop Tamaki says he will outline his plans at a press conference today, and says his party will focus on values that are being eroded by politicians. He also said it is a “privilege and a responsibility to seek to represent the New Zealand people,” which certainly doesn’t rule out the possibility of him being a candidate.

The attempt to distance the new party from Destiny Church made the press conference farcical. Most of the questions, naturally, went to Brian Tamaki, instead of the party’s new leader Hannah Tamaki, who said she didn’t want to discuss politics at the launch OF A NEW POLITICAL PARTY. That’s an entrée of the political naivety that will abound around this latest christian’ political iteration.

That would be in contrast to Destiny’s last effort at getting a political party off the ground. Destiny NZ, which stood in 2005 and got 0.6% of the vote, was always kept slightly at arms length from the general business of the church...

The problem for “Coalition NZ” –as it’s called, an obvious play on the 1996 “Christian Coalition” the most successful attempt of this constituency to get into parliament (4.33%)– is, even Christians keep Destiny well-and-truly at arms length. They consider it unrepresentative of what most Kiwis consider Christianity to be (in any of its NZ forms). A case of Westboro v Waitakiri.

...Given a large share of Destiny’s congregation is Māori, it stands to reason that will be an electoral focus. However, as Mr Tamaki is an intensely polarising figure, he might struggle to attract pretty much any votes at all from outside his church.

Interesting, like NZF’s commando raid on Maori seats? Will Shane Jones make a tip for a Maori seat with Labour acquiescence to maintain NZF post-Winston? So, compression amongst Maori voters as well as Christians. It’s ever diminishing slices of minority voting cake.

The timing is remarkable, given National MP Alfred Ngaro’s heavy hints he is planning on launching a Christian values party as well. While a large number of New Zealanders hold various Christian faiths, most of them don’t necessarily vote for religious parties.

This is a disaster for Alfred Ngaro, timing wise. And with Simon Bridges cold waterboarding any Botany coat-tailing this week, it seems this baby is well and truly stillborn before any immaculate conception. But, it’s early days yet. There will be plenty of chats around Last Supper tables, yet.

… The Spinoff, conservative columnist Liam Hehir absolutely savaged the idea as “more likely to lead to the complete political marginalisation of conservative Christianity within New Zealand politics.”

This is the real threat of Brian Tamaki II (2005, 2020), the electorate will have had Capill, Craig, Tamaki. Three strikes and you’re out.

It also leaves the New Conservatives somewhat out in the cold. Their deputy leader Elliot Ikilei said he wasn’t concerned about the new entry taking their turf. “Despite not being a Christian party, we are the only party who has universal values that Christians hold to.” But for a party that is aiming for the 5% threshold, a few thousand votes could make a big difference. 

That is the same HUGE mis-assumption conservative groups always make, that they hold the monopoly on “christian values;” that people of that perspective will vote according to their particular party branding. Even in 1996, many Christians did not support the Christian Coalition despite being a reasonably broad coalition of conservative voters made up of two quite different Christian parties (Christian Heritage, Christian Democrats) forced together by NZ church and christian leaders. The pool has to be grown over time around a core of distinctive issues of moment. ‘Smacking‘ is done and dusted. Abortion is on the rise as a social human rights issue (tick); euthanasia is hot (tick); gay marriage has flown the coop; religious freedom (Folau) coupled with free speech is hot (tick); legal prostitution is done, cannabis reform is hot (tick) etc. What’s left? State funding for Religious Schools?

...Despite all three parties (well, one party, one soon to be party and one highly possible party) having significant struggles ahead to get a few percent, they each have something advantageous in their favour. Alfred Ngaro has an MP’s resources. Brian Tamaki has a congregation. And the New Conservatives already have a party infrastructure in place. So each has elements that could push their vote into the thousands, rather than the hundreds...

You actually need about 130,000 votes, depending on the voter turnout (ie 2017 was up 6.5% on 2014). This makes it harder for niche parties as they are drawing from a finite pool. 2,605,854 votes 2014; 5% would be 130,292

It could also leave National, once again, left bereft when it comes to support parties.....

That’s what makes Simon Bridges’ comments re a Ngaro accommodation somewhat bemusing. One understands he has to stand by brand-National, but if he does so, 2020 is simply a repeat of 2017, National bogged down on a plateau of 42-44% and no ally. OR if NZF trips below 5%, a fist fight between National v Lab/Greens. An ally of some description makes sense.

The rest of Alex Braae’s The Bulletin is here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/the-bulletin/23-05-2019/the-bulletin-christian-and-conservative-party-field-gets-crowded/

Duncan Garner writes:

Flagship KiwiBuild policy in tatters as PM refuses to speak its name…

It’s the crumbling collapse of the KiwiBuild monument that Labour MPs dare not mention this week. It must be ignored as Grant Robertson’s wellbeing Budget takes centre stage.

Yes Kiwibuild has become the Lord Voldemort of Labour policies – they are now to scared to even mention it by name.

Stuff reports:

Stuff reported on the row between councillor Tania Tapsell and mayoral hopeful Reynold Macpherson, which centres on an online post made by Macpherson on the Facebook page of the Rotorua District Residents & Ratepayers’ lobby group on May 14.
The post, a response to a video in which Tapsell encourages more young people to stand for council, is entitled “Beware the charismatic pitch of the Pied Piper”. 
“He has referenced me as a pied piper who lures away vermin and children and this level of hate speech is totally unacceptable,” Tapsell said.

Oh don’t be such a sook and harden up.

Having a political opponent call you a pied piper is not hate speech.

The post has been referred to the police by a confidential council committee.

Unbelievable. They should be charged with wasting Police time.

Stuff reports:

Nothing for business.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s pre-budget outing at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Auckland on Friday to an audience bursting with high-powered business types was unsurprisingly light on any mention of business.
“Nothing for business” and “disappointing” were common refrains around the room as the PM wrapped-up her holistic vision for next week’s first wellbeing budget.

I would have thought if you were speaking to a business audience about the Budget, you would at least spend a fair bit of time talking about businesses as they are the ones who generate the tax and the jobs that allow the Government to spend money.

Warren Green, chief executive officer of Active Roofing, summed up the sentiment.
“It was a bit disappointing,” he said.
“It was more like a Labour Party ideological fairytale. But she’s a great orator.”

What an excellent description of the PM – a great orator for an ideological fairytale!

Active Roofing has about 40 employees. It used to have a strong apprentice scheme. It doesn’t anymore, Green said. The Government’s choice to do away with the 90-day trial law put paid to that, he said.

The company had only let one person go under the law, but without it, and with the changes coming down the line to industry training, it’s just too big of a risk now. So they’re not doing it anymore.
“We’re hugely disappointed with the new training model,” Green said, “the existing model works.”

A small to medium employer suffers more from a bad hire.

Stuff reports:

On The AM Show on Friday, economist Cameron Bagrie said the Government was facing “fiscal challenges” after host Duncan Garner asked if there would indeed be a hole in the years ahead and the Government would need to borrow more.
“When Labour came into power and delivered their plan, they had spending front-loaded but they didn’t leave much wriggle room for the out years or the unexpected,” he told host Duncan Garner.
“Things such as teacher pay, public sector wage demands – I don’t think they factored that in and we know those demands are becoming pretty ferocious and they are pretty expensive.
“So they are going to need more wriggle room for 2021/2022.”
Garner said that had been Joyce’s view.

“He [Joyce] said what they haven’t taken into account are the wage demands or the pay rounds of Labour’s old mates… Joyce was right,” Garner said, to which Bagrie agreed.
“He is going to be right, technically I think his number of $11.7 billion – the real number is going to be a little bit bigger than that,” said Bagrie.

If after 18 months Labour has decided it may need to borrow an extra $15 billion in a possible second term, imagine how much more debt they may then decide they need 18 months into a possible second term. It might be $30 billion.

The Herald reported:

A young man has admitted a prolonged and vicious “racially motivated” road rage attack on a family in which he rammed their car off the road, sending two children flying through the air.

Yes he rammed a car with children in it. Why?

In March last year a Chinese-New Zealand family, including their two children aged 12 and 10, were enjoying a Sunday day out picking blueberries and driving around the Awhitu Peninsula near Auckland. …

Angered, Milne turned his car around and chased the family. He passed them at speed before doing a u-turn to cut them off.
He then confronted the family and demanded they pay for the damage to his car.
Milne, angry, shouting and swearing, also told them he belonged to a gang and was going to kill them.

So actual threats to kill. Not mouthing off online, but in person.

Milne ramped up his threats as he approached the family’s car with his blue-nosed pit bull dog.
Afraid, the family locked themselves in the vehicle, as Milne began hitting the car and yelled that his dog was going to eat the family.
The terrified family quickly fled again.
However, Milne’s racial rage would return.
After abusing the family, he drove to a nearby group of shops and vented his anger to several locals.
He said Asians were “taking over the country” and “f**king Asians” had damaged his car.
Milne also made a racist remark about the shape of the family’s eyes and said they had run away because he would get “the pieces of sh*t” deported.

This is about as racist as you can get. Disgusting stuff. I wonder why racism aimed at Asians tends to generate less outrage than other forms of racism?

Milne chased the family for about 7km and reached speeds of 140km/h, court documents show.
After catching the family he pulled up alongside them on the wrong side of the road and demanded the family pull over.
The family refused to stop, so Milne deliberately rammed their car, causing it to spin out of control, crash into a bank and flip in the air.

They’re lucky to be alive. I hope he gets a very long sentence.

The two children were violently thrown from the car during the crash after they had taken off their seatbelts because they were frightened of Milne and thought they might need to make a hurried exit from the car.
They landed on the road, narrowly avoiding a steep 100m deep ravine.
Despite the two children lying injured, Milne approached the car to continue his racist attack.
“Get out of the f**king car, I’m going to smash you! You f**king Asian c***! F**king Asians!” Milne yelled.

The kids are injured on the road, and he continues with his hate attack on them.

When Milne was questioned by police he said he could tell the family weren’t citizens.
He also said he presumed they were on an “illegal visa” and “Asian mafia” who had spent “two days in the country”.
Milne told police he was “at boiling point” when he saw the family drive past him at the shops and that “any Asian in general [he] wanted to hurt”.

NZ should have no place for this type of hatred and racism.

Stuff reports:

The Government’s offshore oil and gas exploration ban could force a rethink of Fonterra’s plans to switch some of its sites from coal to gas.
Several of the dairy co-op’s North Island manufacturing sites are coal-fired and planning was underway to convert them to natural gas or low carbon alternatives to coal.
However, in a submission to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Fonterra said the Government’s decision not to issue any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits meant those plans may have to be reviewed.

It takes special genius for the Government to come up with a policy that is both damaging to the environment and the economy. Normally a policy has tradeoffs – its is good for one and bad for the other.

But this policy is the Forrest Gump of policies. Damages the environment and the economy!

Theresa May is set to announce the date of her resignation tomorrow, starting off the leadership contest to replace her.

The current probabilities based on betting odds are:

1. Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson 40%
2. Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab 20%
3. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt 9%
4. Environment Secretary Michael Gove 8%
5. Former Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom 6%
6. Home Secretary Sajid Javid 6%
7. Health Secretary Matt Hancock 5%
8. Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt 5%
9. International Development Secretary Rory Stewart 5%

I have little doubt Boris would win the vote of members. But he has to finish in the top two of the caucus votes, to make the membership vote.

There are potentially three conservative or family values parties looking to fight the next election.

• The New Conservatives, the successor party to Colin Craig’s party
• The Coalition Party, led by Hannah Tamaki
• A possible Alfred Ngaro led party

Even if there was only one family values type party contesting the election, making 5% would be difficult. With two or even three parties competing, they are doomed to failure.

Their best bet would be to do what Christian Heritage and Christian Democrats did in 1996 and form the Christian Coalition with separate identities but a combined list. You get six MPs if you make 5% so each party would get two of the top six spots.

A long-awaited shared walk/cycleway between Petone and Wellington is a step closer.
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter will today unveil designs for public consultation on the Ngauranga to Petone shared walking and cycling pathway.

What I like about this cycleway is the following:

• Separate from traffic
• Spacious, so room for runners and walker also
• Doesn’t destroy car parks
• Scenic

The price is huge at $76 million, but I’d rather have an expensive well designed cycleway, that one which is dangerous and destroys local businesses.

Also this will be a major connector between Lower Hutt and Wellington. It should get a lot of use.

UMR’s Stephen Mills writes:

The re-election of the Australian Coalition government was a shock to pundits, pollsters and the parties themselves. A triumphant returning prime minister, Scott Morrison, said it was a miracle, and as a devout Christian, he may have even meant biblical.
Every reputable poll for nearly three years had Labor ahead. Not by much during the campaign but still not a single exception. One bookie (or prediction market as some like to describe them) paid out on a Labor win in the last week, losing A$1.3 million. And the one exit-poll pointed to a clear Labor victory.

And in Australia normally the polls have been incredibly accurate.

The Liberal-National Coalition victory reinforced a golden rule of politics in a modern democracy that it is almost impossible to campaign on reforms in the greater national interest if they challenge vested interests and /or result in actual losers plus voters who think they are losers or even voters who think in time they may become losers.

Or in more simple English, you lose votes when you promise to take more money off people.

Former Liberal leader Tony Abbott, suggested a climate change driven realignment was underway with his party in trouble in wealthy urban seats but benefitting in suburban “battler” seats. He was dispatched by an independent, campaigning on climate change, and other Liberal blue ribbon seats in the wealthiest parts of Sydney and Melbourne wobbled but held.
But in regional Queensland there was carnage for Labor. Their one regional seat in North Queensland, Herbert, centred on Townsville, was lost and other regional seats held by small margins by Liberal and Nationals MPs registered huge pro-government swings and are now held by large margins. A critical election issue in these seats was on whether a large coal mining development by the Indian company Adani should go ahead.
The message was that jobs were more important in these seats than climate change.

For some reason people like the idea of being able to feed their family, through having a job.

Another clear lesson was reinforcing the long held dictum on consistency of political messaging. Basically, when you are about at the point of vomiting from having said the same thing thousands of times, voters are just picking it up.

This result rewarded an almost entirely negative campaign. The Coalition focussed exclusively on doubts about Labor’s capacity to manage the economy. This was dumbed down to Labor can’t manage money, which Scott Morrison must have said 10,000 times. The Coalition did not even try to make the case they deserved to win. They barely mentioned any policies.

And in NZ the Government has just said they may need to borrow an extra $15 billion!

Soft and undecided voters in focus groups in Australia and also in New Zealand have for years complained bitterly that political parties in campaigns just bag each other and they often declare they are so upset by this that they would vote for any party which just sets out its positive policies.
This result says that is nonsense.
Labour in New Zealand is somewhat constrained on this front by Jacinda Ardern’s branding as “relentlessly positive”. National Party strategists are not and may well run a similar negative campaign on economic management credibility in 2020, especially if the New Zealand economy has weakened.

A lot will depend on the economy.

Stuff reports:

In question time on Wednesday, Bishop claimed police recovered eight stolen guns by paying for them. Nash refused to answer questions relating to the topic, saying it was an open investigation before the court.
Bishop kept up the pressure up on Thursday, asking if it was correct the thief moved a skip bin next to a gate at the back of the station, jumped the fence, walked in an open garage door, stole the guns from a “poorly secured” exhibit room, then loaded the guns into his car.
He also asked why the guns were in an exhibit room instead of a firearms safe and if Nash had asked police if they paid for the return of some firearms.
Once again, Nash said he could not answer questions about an open investigation before the court.

If this version of events is correct, this looks like Keystone Cops.

Stuff asked police if Bishop’s claim about buying guns was correct and, if so, how much police paid.
Police were also asked what policy existed about recovering stolen goods by buying them, if the final three guns were still missing, if anyone else was being sought in relation to the burglary, if an internal inquiry was under way and when it may be finished, and if there was any more information to share with the public to help find the last few missing guns.
Stuff is yet to get a response.

The refusal to deny makes you suspect it is true.

Stuff reports:

The Opposition has claimed guns stolen from a Palmerston North police station were bought back by police.
National MP and the party’s police spokesman Chris Bishop made the claim on Wednesday but offered no evidence.
Police would not confirm or deny the allegation, saying they would not discuss specific matters relating to the ongoing investigation.

During Question Time, Bishop asked Police Minister Stuart Nash if he stood by statements of police in relation to the theft of 11 guns from the Palmerston North police station and if police paid for the return for some or all the guns that were stolen.

Surely this can’t be true? You steal guns from a police station, and Police pay you to get them back?

As various media outlets have refused to run an op ed from David Seymour defending himself, I have agreed to run it here.

“Let it be known, the public beating has not gone out of fashion.” So goes the quote from the movie Thank You for Smoking, as politicians attack the wildly unpopular protagonist, a tobacco lobbyist.
 
I’ve found those words to be true over the past week and it has strengthened my belief in the importance of freedom of expression.
 
To recap, I was asked about Green MP Golriz Ghahraman’s stance on free speech. In her own words “it is vital that the public is involved in a conversation about what speech meets the threshold for being regulated, and what mix of enforcement tools should be used.”
 
I believe that such an idea, and by extension politicians who promote it, is a danger to our free society. When asked about Ghahraman’s position, in the middle of a 15-minute radio interview, I responded that I thought she was a ‘menace to freedom.’
 
What has followed has been extraordinary. It has been a lesson in how beat-ups and witch-hunts occur, and why it’s so important that we retain laws that allow us to express ourselves freely. By Tuesday afternoon, I was being asked by media if I was responsible for Ghahraman requiring a security detail. It was clearly a rhetorical question.
 
Politicians, journalists and other establishment figures have lined up to denounce my comment.
 
National’s position is that being nice to people who threaten free speech is more important than defending freedom itself. The Greens have said it’s my fault that a few nutcases are threatening an MP. The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians wrote, asking me to apologise for my comment. I should have known it was not a sincere gesture because the letter was duly released to the media who happily published it with barely a response from me. Other women MPs told me they’d known nothing about it. Surprisingly, Trevor Mallard went on TV and said I was a bully. The Speaker is supposed to be Parliament’s neutral referee.
 
A number of journalists have attacked me. The media should be the loudest cheerleaders for freedom of expression. Their job relies on freedom of expression, and freedom and democracy rely on the media doing their job.
 
Were it not for ACT, Parliament would be sleepwalking towards tighter speech laws. The media wouldn’t bat an eyelid. Only a few brave academics might raise their heads above the parapet.
 
There is something not right about this situation. If my comment endangered Ghahraman, then the response of media and politicians has multiplied its airplay exponentially. That response has been driven by the very people accusing me of endangering Ghahraman.
 
Because I do not think anyone should be endangered for engaging in political debate, I am reluctant to respond any further, but it’s difficult when the very people who say they’re concerned are using the situation to attack me politically. After all, the media cited a ‘source,’ then Ghahraman herself, when reporting the new security arrangements and attributing them to me.
 
My detractors believe that expressing a genuinely held view on an important issue makes me responsible for threats of violence. They are wrong. My comments do not come close to giving me such responsibility. And the current law is easily on my side.
 
This belief absolves the real perpetrators – those making the threats – of responsibility. It also introduces the worrying implication that some MPs are unable to fully participate or be criticised because there are violent threats. It’s a belief that allows violent thugs to set the agenda.
 
The response to my comment proves we cannot trust government to enforce hate speech laws. Imagine if the state had even greater powers to punish speech at its disposal. Some state agency would now be using that power to investigate and punish a sitting MP’s genuinely-held views.
 
Hate speech laws turn debate into a popularity contest where the winners get to silence views they don’t like by using the power of the state. Tighter restrictions on speech can only mean giving some agency the power to punish people for saying things that do not incite harm but are merely offensive or distasteful. In other words, what you can think is determined by what is popular.
 
ACT will continue to defend the critical principle that nobody should ever be punished by the power of the state on the basis of opinion.

Seymour used strong language about a political opponent (and they are not words I would use) but compare that to this tweet this morning:

Joking about running someone over because you don’t like their politics.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with Williams’ tweet by itself. But I ask people to imagine this.

Think if the partner of a National MP tweeted about whether they should run over a Green MP. The media would be denouncing it as hate speech and inciting violence.

Ghahraman does have legitimate security concerns, based on the vile messages about lynching her on a private Facebook group. The people responsible should be held accountable.

The Herald reports:

The Government this morning announced that it will shift its debt target from a single figure to a percentage range.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson explained the Government is looking at a range of around 15 to 25 per cent of the GDP.
“Essentially, our current 20 per cent target falls in the middle of the new range that will exist from 2021/22 onwards,” Robertson said in a speech this morning to the Craigs Investment Partners investor conference.
The move potentially gives the Government more scope for spending in its second term – and policy promises in the 2020 campaign.

This would give the Government wriggle room to spend more – potentially up to $15 billion – based on the additional 5 per cent of GDP available to them.

Calling Steven Joyce, Calling Steven Joyce – I think we’ve found your $11 billion hole!