There’s a popular story from the early days of the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, the US counterpart to our own Michael Joseph Savage. As he embarked on what would be one of the most transformational presidencies in the country’s history, a group of activists — sometimes labour leaders, sometimes civil rights campaigners, sometimes nondescript “leftists,” …
As with the rest of the world, the New Zealand Police are under increased scrutiny at the moment. This played a part in Tuesday’s decision to scrap plans to arm some officers with automatic firearms. The new Police Commissioner Andrew Coster read the public mood correctly, explaining that the Armed Response Teams “do not align …
A governmental response to an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic needs flexibility, but it is also important that the rule of law is maintained, and that when public officers purport to exercise public powers, they are sure of their ability to do so. From the perspective of someone outside government, this has not always been …
There has been little real debate on an important Government announcement made last weekend. Justice Minister Andrew Little said the Government had decided to give the right to vote back to prisoners with sentences of three years or less. Perhaps it’s appropriate that there was no great reaction. After all, the change affects so few …
New Zealand takes great pride in having been the first country in the world to give women the vote. But not all New Zealand women can vote, as most prisoners are still denied that right. In 2010, the National party passed a blanket ban on prisoner voting. Until then, prisoners serving sentences of less than three years …
A thorn in the side of National, former MP Chester Borrows punctured his party’s “law and order week” before it even started, by framing its new crime and punishment stances as ignorant and dangerous. Appearing in the media early in the week, he painted National’s discussion document as populist, opportunist, and a knee-jerk response where …
This week the Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, declared that stripping all prisoners of their right to vote had occurred as part of a “fascist” political climate during the last National-led Government. Speaking on the AM Show about whether prisoners should be allowed to vote, Little explained that the 2010 blanket ban on prisoner voting …
The Labour-led Government’s decision to hold a referendum should be celebrated – even by those who wish to oppose liberalisation. It allows a societal debate on an issue of importance for many people. The Green Party should also be thanked for progressing the question. That doesn’t mean the newly-announced referendum process for next year has …
The Pike River mine disaster shook New Zealand politics and society. The circumstances that led to the preventable death of 29 men, and the denial of justice to their families, means it remains politically fraught. The government’s announcement of a new agency to deal with the unresolved issue is a big step forward and a …