These are the civil liberties issues we are currently involved in.
Please join us to hear Keith Locke speak on "The Future for Civil Liberties in New Zealand" at the NZCCL AGM on Tuesday 24 November 2009
Please join us to hear Keith Locke speak on "The Future for Civil Liberties in New Zealand" at the NZCCL AGM:
12.30-1.30
Tuesday 24 November
Lounge
St Andrews on The Terrace
ALL WELCOME
The need for a Council for Civil Liberties has never been higher. As you know, over the last few years there have been unprecedented attacks on human rights and civil liberties in New Zealand and across the western world. To respond to America’s ‘War on Terror’ we have passed many pieces of legislation that are exempt from, and contravene our Bill of Rights Act, and which have led to the abandonment of some of our long-cherished freedoms, such as the right to silence and the right not to incriminate oneself.
As a life-long campaigner for human rights in New Zealand and around the world, and a staunch critic of some of the legislation passed over the last few years, Keith Locke is in a good position to make an assessment of the current position and future trends.
NZCCL is trying to relaunch itself as a web-based national organisation that encourages debate and participation, and to develop a cluster of people who are able to provide informed comment and submissions about legislation and reports as they arise. We encourage you to come along to the AGM, and consider how you might contribute to the cause of civil liberties.
The Wanganui District Council's Prohibition of Gang Insignia Act 2009 and the subsequent WDC bylaw breaches basic liberties.
Even if the by-law is successful in stemming gang activity within the Whanganui district (and NZCCL has considerable doubt that that will be the case) the by-law itself breaches basic liberties. The argument that the end justifies the means was used by the US to justify the use of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. This legislation legalises intimidation and harassment of gangs on the grounds that gangs themselves may intimidate or harass other people.
The Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Act 2009 and the subsequent WDC bylaw are examples of a how laws should NOT be made. Because of its potential breach of the Bill of Rights Act, the Wanganui District Council needed to have an act of parliament to sanction its determination to ban gang insignia from Whanganui. However the act was passed only by 62 votes to 59, with three Act Party votes being gained through an assurance by the government that it would support Act’s three strikes legislation (already ruled out as breaching the Bill of Rights).
This means that the PGI act was passed with only a minority of actual support.
Details of the act
One can see why it was not supported. The act specifies a number of named gangs and also “any other specified organisation, association, or group of persons” identified by the Council.
There are restrictions. It must be an organisation identified by a “common name or common signs, symbols or representations” whose “members, associates or supporters individually or collectively actively promote, encourage, or engage in a pattern of criminal activity”, and only “to prevent the likelihood of intimidation or harassment of members of the public” or avoid or reduce confrontation between gangs.
The ban only affects public places as specified by the Council, but including roads even if they are not in the control of the Council. The ban must NOT mean that all public places in the district are specified places.
Bylaw imitates act
The council bylaw is in effect a copy of the act, with the addition of a map and description of the public places that needed to be specified under the act. In the rest of this discussion the arguments relate to both the act and the bylaw, except where specified.
Concerns about the legislation
1. Definitions
There are no clear guidelines as to how to determine what constitutes a “pattern of criminal activity” or “intimidation and harassment”. “Criminal activity” may include the occupation of Motua Gardens, or other protest activity. It may be an assumption that criminal activity is being conducted, but without the support of convictions. Similarly with intimidation or harassment. Some people might view a black power member taking a child to school as intimidatory. Other people might regard a police officer as being intimidatory. There is no defence for gang members to argue that intimidation or harassment was not likely to take place.
2. Separation of powers
In effect this legislation removes from the courts to the executive (the council) decisions relating to criminal activity. The legislation is based around sets of assumptions – that organisations are engaged in criminal activity (if so then they should be prosecuted) and that their members might be considered to be engaged in intimidation or harassment by virtue of the insignia they bear. These assumptions must be made not by police or by councils but by the judiciary, and should be based on evidence. This legislation therefore undermines the legal process.
3. Freedom of expression
The council believes that a dangerous precedent is set if people are restricted in their ability to wear whatever clothes they like. This rule applies equally to women wearing trousers in the Sudan, or the burqa in New Zealand, as it does to people wearing gang insignia. If people are offended or intimidated by a person’s clothes then they need to make a case for themselves. A few years ago in New Zealand the police regularly harassed gay and trans people. This legislation regarding the wearing of gang insignia legalises the same form of harassment.
4. The council’s definition of ‘specified places’
In the bylaw passed by the Wanganui District Council, the map of ‘specified places’ includes the entire urban area, as well as a number of halls, parks and reserves and other public places outside the urban area, as suggested by the police. It also includes State Highway 3 and other arterial routes.
This broad specified area would seem to be in conflict with the Act, which states that the effect of the act must not be that all the public places in the district are specified places. The council map includes all the Whanganui urban area, even though council press releases generally refer only to the CBD.
5. Freedom of passage
Because of the broad scope of the ban, it would seem to prevent freedom of passage of other gang members not related to the Whanganui region, but merely passing through on the open road. These gang members may be stopped by the police and their vehicles searched, even if they are not wearing patches at the time.
6. Potential for abuse
Because there are no clear guidelines as to who is or is not covered under the definitions of ‘gang’, ‘criminal activity’, ‘intimidation’ or ‘insignia’ it is entirely possible for the council to extend the legislation to include protest groups or other organisations it wishes to suppress. Similar legislation has been used overseas to restrict the activities of environmental and human rights groups.
The ends do not justify the means
Even if the by-law is successful in stemming gang activity within the Whanganui district (and NZCCL has considerable doubt that that will be the case) the by-law itself breaches basic liberties. The argument that the end justifies the means was used by the US to justify the use of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. This legislation legalises intimidation and harassment of gangs on the grounds that gangs themselves may intimidate or harass other people.
A number of other councils have expressed a wish to introduce a similar ban. Each of those will require the passing of a specific act of parliament. It is to be hope that, given the closeness of the vote on this act and the strong criticism of the Act Party deal by its own members, that no future act will get through the parliamentary process.
Batch Hales
On behalf of NZCCL
11 September 2009
The law on searches and surveillance is inconsistent. Over the years all kinds of agencies have acquired various powers to enter your home or other private premises to gather evidence to support legal action.
We´re not just talking about the Police and the Serious Fraud Office here; the Pork Board, the local dog catcher and scores of other agencies are authorised to put you under various forms of search or surveillance. And right now this situation is being "rationalised" with a Search and Surveillance Bill which is currently going through the parliamentary machine, pulling all the rules about different kinds of warrants into a single (though not coherent) document.
The overall effect of this Bill will be to increase police powers and give every law enforcement agency all the search and surveillance powers (with few exceptions) currently held by any one agency. What is presented as a rationalisation of the law is in truth a huge expansion of the power of the state.
This means that Pork Board inspectors and dog catchers will have a raft of new search and surveillance powers. Not only will they be able to knock on your door and come in saying they have the right to check on dogs or pig-meat, as they have been able to in the past. They´ll now be able (if they suspect a breach of the legislation they enforce) to get warrants allowing them to break down doors, covertly install bugs and cameras and so on.
Even parts of the establishment are worried about this Bill. As you might expect, the Privacy Commission and the Human Rights Commission have reservations, but even the Chief Justice was sufficiently worried to criticise the Bill.
Bell Gully, an establishment law firm, argued that the "premise that each of the government agencies to which it applies ought to share common search and surveillance powers is flawed." They note that this Bill represents a considerable expansion of surveillance powers, and is "likely to lead to circumstances in which the powers are used in unexpected ways."
Another who is worried is President of the New Zealand Law Society, John Marshall QC. Marshall said in his submission that "The proposed homogenisation of powers would result in a dramatic expansion of powers for certain agencies .... The Bill´s approach is still observably `one-size-fits-all´.... [I]t is difficult for the Society to comprehend why non-police enforcement agencies require, or are suited for, such a striking expansion of powers."
While John Marshall might be concerned about the increased power of minor law enforcement authorities who inherit the search and surveillance powers of the Police under this Bill, in fact that may be a less serious development than the increased powers of the Police themselves, who are slated to acquire the powers of the Serious Fraud Office.
The Serious Fraud Office was established in 1990 with certain powers considerably stronger than those of the Police, intended to address high-level and complex business crime. The SFO can get warrants which allow them to make you give them documents, and to interview you without your normal right to silence, both on pain of imprisonment, essentially even if this will incriminate you. So powers designed to untangle complex large-scale white-collar crime will now be available to the police if they have reasonable grounds for suspicion that you are involved with two or more others in planning any offence (past, present or future) punishable by imprisonment, which is the majority of NZ offences. This is a scary thought for many, including activists, trade unionists and journalists. Under the Bill for example, Police could force a journalist to give up their sources. They could get a warrant against an organiser of a picket (if they "reasonably suspect" the picket will involve say trespass, disorderly behaviour or unlawful assembly) which essentially says, either you give us the names of other organisers, tell us the detail of your plans, and give us any associated correspondence, or you will go to jail.
This Bill is no minor consolidation of existing powers, but a new departure.
A public meeting is organised for 8 April, 7.00 pm, in the Old Government Building Lecture Theatre 2 (VUW Law School) Wellington to discuss the Search and Surveillance Bill which is due to be reported back to Parliament on 1 May. Warren Young, deputy president of the NZ Law Commission and Michael Bott, prominent civil rights lawyer and representative of the Wellington Council for Civil Liberties, are the presenters. The moderator for the programme will be Dr. Sandra Grey, Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University
Batch Hales
06 362 6140
batch.hales@xtra.co.nz
Chairperson's Report To Members At The Annual General Meeting Of The New Zealand Council For Civil Liberties Inc Held On 10 November 2010
Another year has passed and it is time to report once again to members. This has been a busy and generally productive year for the Council. The Executive continues to meet on a monthly basis, and all 4 members have attended virtually every meeting.
Access to, and the development of, the Council's website has made us far more accessible to our members, the New Zealand public, and to the media. As a result there have been substantially more enquiries, and we have generally been able to respond effectually to requests made to us. The corollary is that there is an increased amount of time needed to be spent in dealing with these matters, and that is proving to be rather taxing for our small executive. A hint, perhaps, that there is scope for some expansion in the number on the Executive, so local members are invited to consider whether the time is now right to take on such a role.
A particular pleasing aspect of the year has been the increased liaison with the Auckland Council. Their President, Barry Wilson, has been in Wellington on business, and we have been able to meet up with him on a couple of occasions. This is proving to be a useful opportunity to share views and to discuss ways in which we can further enhance our association. Unfortunately, the Canterbury Council is in recess and their involvement with us is mainly in the realm of moral support.
Members are encouraged to visit our website on a regular basis and to look particularly at the Current Issues, Current Submissions and Blogs Sections. There have been several submissions and numerous blog items added to it during the year. The scope for blog items represents a significant opportunity for material to be harnessed and made publically available. Currently, there are a lot of issues where a civil liberty perspective is crying out for an airing. A large number of our members are learned and literate, and our website provides an opportunity to publish appropriate articles and comment. We urge you to take full advantage of it. In this regard we acknowledge the preparation of a detailed Draft about Fluoridation prepared by John Lee, a Life Member and former President of the Council during the 1980s, which is currently being considered by the Executive.
We are particularly indebted to the tireless work of Thomas Beagle, who has been on the Executive for the past year. Thomas has a significant involvement with our website, and is a prolific writer of blogs. In addition, he is the prime mover in a relatively new organisation, Tech Liberty, where the goal is to defend civil liberties in the digital age.
The Executive has considered making an application to the Charities Commission for registration as a charity, as that status would enable members to claim taxation relief for their donations. However, the legislation is so dated that there is a real question as to whether the Council would qualify, especially as there are a number of high profile organisations, which had previously been classified as charitable, now finding that that status has been withdrawn. While this matter will be considered in the High Court early next year, the more preferable approach is to update the legislation to provide a more accurate definition of what constitutes a charitable activity in the 21st century. The Green Party has endeavoured to promote an appropriate Bill but as yet there has been little buy-in from the main political parties.
We draw your attention to the recent publication of “The New Zealand Civil Rights Handbook”, which has been completely revised, updated and expanded by Tim McBride. Members are invited to obtain and peruse a copy as it is an extensive publication and reasonably priced. The Executive is looking at how the Handbook can be made more widely available, especially to young people, as there is currently a paucity of civics information delivered within the education system.
Finally, we consider that the Council is in good heart and we are looking forward to another interesting year, and to seeing some of you at the Annual General Meeting.
Some of the issues examined by NZCCL in the last year:
Batch Hales
Chairperson
On 21 October 2009 the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act came into force. This law enables the government to confiscate property and compel people to provide documents and other evidence even where there are no criminal prosecutions. This is done through the sleight of hand of pursuing the forfeitures as ‘civil’ proceedings.
This dangerous and immoral act is one of an array of intimidatory laws passed since 2002, that constitute the greatest attack on people’s rights and civil liberties ever in New Zealand’s history. The need for such legislation has not been demonstrated – it merely mirrors similar iniquitous legislation passed by Britain, Ireland and Australia.
The law moves the onus of proof from the prosecution (applicant) to the defendant (respondent) – the person whose property is being forfeited needs to prove that it is NOT from the proceeds of crime. It rides roughshod over a whole number of civil liberties, including the right to own property, the right of free speech, the right to silence, the right not to incriminate oneself, the use of confidentiality, and the burden of proof.
The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2006 replaces the Proceeds of Crimes Act 1991. In effect it extends the ability to confiscate property gained for the purpose or resulting from the proceeds of crime. It extends it in three ways:
This is how the act is explained in the Explanatory Note:
It replaces (the Proceeds of Crime Act 1991) with a conviction-based forfeiture regime limited to instruments of crime (items used to commit or facilitate the commission of criminal activity) and a non-conviction-based confiscation regime to deal with all other property representing the proceeds of crime or assessed to be the value of a person’s unlawfully derived income.
The non-conviction-based regime or civil regime will operate completely independently of any criminal proceedings that may be course or contemplated. Consequentially, the same person may be the subject of both criminal prosecution (including potential forfeiture of instruments of crime) and confiscation action under the civil process.
There has been a great deal of beat-up in New Zealand about the need to deal with gangs and the proceeds of drugs in New Zealand, as well as the huge estates owned by some of the directors of failed financial organisations. This has led to desire to ‘punish’ those people by taking away their ill-gotten gains.
However the Proceeds of Crimes Act was designed to do that. Anybody convicted of a major crime could have property confiscated if it was shown that the property was owned as a result of or in pursuit of criminal activity. There is little evidence that that act was not working or that further measures were needed. The police needed to successfully prosecute a person for the crime and then show that the property was related to the crime.
Few people would approve of property being confiscated without a conviction taking place.
The website www.businessdirectory.com defines a ‘civil case’ as a “lawsuit brought to redress private wrong, such as breach of contract, encroachment, or negligence; or to enforce civil remedies such as compensation, damages, injunctions.” Other definitions emphasis that it relates to “private rights and civil actions”, and the US courts states: “an action brought to enforce or protect private rights’.
It is hard to see how the restraining and forfeiture actions in this Act fit any of the definitions of a ‘civil’ action. In no part of the Act does it state that the State has been materially wronged or needs to be compensated in any way. And there are in the Act none of the safeguards accorded respondents in civil actions. Instead respondents are subject to the same constraints as if they were being prosecuted in criminal courts –search warrants, examination orders, production orders and seizure of property.
The concept of this process as a ‘civil action’ is no more than a convenient fiction to enable the forfeiture to take place against people who have not been charged for any crime.
The Act rides roughshod over a whole number of civil liberties, including the right to own property, the right of free speech, the right to silence, the right not to incriminate oneself, the use of confidentiality, and the burden of proof.
The Law and Order Select Committee has recommended (PDF) that the bill to strip the vote from all prisoners should be passed. The Electoral (Disqualification of Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill, a private member's bill submitted by National's Paul Quinn, takes the vote away from prisoners sentenced to less than 3 years in jail (prisoners sentenced to over 3 years have already lost the vote).
The NZ Council for Civil Liberties made a submission against the Bill, reiterating the importance of the right to vote:
...the ability to vote is of such fundamental importance in a democratic society that any move to weaken further the idea of universal suffrage by removing the vote for a certain class of person is to be strongly resisted.
The Council did support the idea of amending the Bill, but thought that it should be changed in the opposite direction so that all prisoners have the right to vote:
Most of those persons currently in prison are one day going to be released into our society when their sentences are finished, and this particular change can be a signal to them that, regardless of their past offences, they are still members of our society.
We are disappointed that a majority of the Committee have ignored our views and those of nearly all of the other submitters, preferring to support this vindictive and vengeful law change. The Labour and Green members of the Select Committee also opposed the change:
Labour: No evidence was submitted to the committee that could suggest that this bill would show any positive influence on reducing crime or recidivism. ... With no evidence of any positive change for society, there is no justification for truncating an individual right under the Bill of Rights Act.
Greens: This bill will do nothing to make our society safer; if anything it will make it more dangerous by further marginalising prisoners.
The changes also go against the law in other countries with a similar legal and political heritage to ours. As the New Zealand Law Society notes:
In comparable jurisdictions such as Canada, Ireland, South Africa, and Australia, the highest courts have in the last ten years held that blanket bans on the right of prisoners to vote are unlawful or unconstitutional. The European Court of Human Rights has held similarly in relation to a blanket ban on prisoners voting in the United Kingdom.
This law change is inconsistent with New Zealand's Bill of Rights Act and our obligations under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It reflects poorly on the committee members who supported it and, if passed, will reflect poorly on Parliament and our country. We urge Parliament to vote against it.
This article outlines instances of systemic discrimination against the Falun Dafa Association by the Wellington City Council over the last two years. This discrimination, involving refusal for the organisation to participate in various parades and other public events, appears to be motivated by the desire to maintain good relations with China, but is in effect condoning and supporting China’s repression of the organisation within China.
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Guest post by Michael Bott
An interim report on the Search and Surveillance Bill was issued by the Justice and Electoral Select Committee last week. The report is an admission that the bill will confer enormous new powers onto 70+ government agencies.
The report confirms that police will get a load of new powers: video surveillance where police trespass on private property will be legal; the circumstances in which audio bugging will be legal will dramatically increased from what it is at present. The threshold for warrantless searches is being lowered, as are the circumstances for setting up roadblocks.
Along with police, some 70 government agencies - from IRD to the Overseas Investment Office and the Pork Industry Board - will be able to apply to conduct video and audio surveillance and install as yet undeveloped surveillance devices into your home, car, community centre, church, marae, school, place of business, etc. While the report indicates that these new powers will be slightly smaller than originally envisioned in the Bill, the overall thrust is the same: a massive increase in state power to surveil ordinary New Zealanders.
One of the fundamental problems with this bill is that it makes on-going 24-hour-a- day surveillance equivalent to a one-off search. That conclusion is not accepted; the two are very different. The ability to watch and/or listen to people on a continuous basis is not the same thing as capturing evidence at a distinct moment in time.
Secondly, the bill dramatically shifts the centrality of video and audio surveillance to being the first and primary means of law enforcement and crime solving. The privacy implications for ordinary people from video and audio surveillance are profound. The current law says that audio surveillance can be utilized effectively as a last resort when other methods have not worked or are not available. We would argue that even this tight restriction is being abused by police.
Thirdly, the bill makes no differentiation between video and audio surveillance. Again, most people would not agree with that conclusion. The old adage, 'A picture speaks a thousand words' illustrates well why video surveillance is indeed a far greater invasion of privacy than audio surveillance. It is without hyperbole to say that legalising trespassory video surveillance would be ushering 'Big Brother' into people's living rooms..
The authors of the Bill seek to balance 'human rights' with the State's right to violate them. The State, however is the one making the rules, and as such, there is no 'balance'. When our 'human rights' are not convenient for the police or other enforcement agencies, they are simply and routinely ignored. We believe that the so-called 'Oversight' provided by review clauses, the Privacy Commissioner or Ombudsman are simply incapable of holding any of these agencies to account.
Warrantless Searches - Circumstances in which 'enforcement officers' can search with no warrant are being expanded, now only 'suspicion' will be required to conduct a warrantless search.
Plain view searches - Grants 'enforcement officers' the right to seize items in plain view. We believe that this will apply to computers and other data storage devices. Once seized these items can be copied in their entirety.
Remote access searches of computers - agencies will be empowered to search computers (including for things like web-based email)
Examination orders - These orders require someone to report to the police for questioning. The right against self-incrimination is totally compromised by this law. You may have to go before a judge to have them determine if you are incriminating yourself, thereby incriminating yourself...a catch-22.
Production orders - allow 'enforcement officers' to sit back and order you to produce documents on an on-going basis that you have or will have in future if they suspect that an offence has been committed
At 442 pages long, the 'interim report' does not go any way to making this complex piece of legislation easier to understand or more accessible to many New Zealanders.
Submissions can be made until 3 September 2010. We would encourage people to send a submission, regardless of how long or short it is, indicating that you do NOT support this bill.
We must take a stand against this horrific invasion into our fundamental freedoms!
Interim Report: download the PDF
Email submissions to: Justice and Electoral Select Committee Clerk james.picker@parliament.govt.nz
Contact the Campaign to Stop the Search and Surveillance Bill: stopthebillnow@gmail.com
Campaign website: http://www.stopthebillnow.blogspot.com
Round-up of civil liberty news for April 2011.
East Coast Maori plan to take a complaint to the United Nations for not being consulted over the New Zealand Government's decision to award a permit for oil and gas exploration.
Brazilian oil giant Petrobras is conducting a survey of 12,000 square kilometres of seabed off East Cape determine if oil or gas are likely to be under the ocean floor in commercial quantities.
The company has a permit to conduct the search in the Raukumara Basin and a legal obligation to continue under the terms of an agreement with the New Zealand Government.
A legal representative for Te Whanau a Apanui, Dayle Takitimu, says the iwi has decided to go to a number of United Nations committees.
Ms Takitimu says its concerns include breaches of human rights, racial discrimination in property rights for Maori land, and the rights of indigenous people.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/72941/maori-to-complain-to-un-ove...
The Air Force has confirmed it has sent an Orion aircraft to investigate the protest against an oil exploration project off the East Coast of the North Island. The Air Force says it is doing this on behalf of police and will do this as long as police need it.
Newszealand.blogspot.com 11/4/11
The budget airline ran foul of the Paralympic team after it said it could only take two out of eight wheelchair bound team members on a flight booked in May.
Jetstar is the only airline operating in New Zealand to restrict the number of wheelchair bound travellers.
Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said that the law in this respect is very clear, "Anyone who provides a good or service to the public in New Zealand has to do it in a way that takes account of the requirements of disabled people unless it would be unreasonable to do so, or unless there is a potential harm to the person."
Noonan said that they while every case has to be assessed on its own merits, the extra costs associated with catering for disabled passengers would not be enough for Jetstar to claim it is "unreasonable" for them to take them.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/paralympics-seek-accord-jetstar-4123130
Tanya Black and Dan Buckingham – presenters of TVNZ disability show Attitude – had been due to fly from Auckland to Wellington but were not allowed on to their aircraft after they were told they each needed to fly with their own caregiver.
Jetstar spokeswoman Andrea Wait said the airline's policy stipulated that, if a passenger needed help boarding, they were required to bring along another person as a carer. Passengers needing special assistance were required to notify the airline before flying.
The low-cost airline had fewer staff on board than other carriers, so could not necessarily assist those with disabilities, she said.
Dominion Post 13//4/11
New Zealand Copyright Law Violates Human Rights
Parliament has passed legislation dealing with online copyright infringement, which could ultimately result in people having their Internet connections cut. The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill was passed under urgency. The new law comes with a presumption of guilt, meaning that anyone accused of copyright infringement is by default presumed guilty. On the other hand, owners of copyright need do nothing more than simply accuse alleged offenders, leaving the burden (and high legal costs) of proof of innocence to hundreds of thousands of individual Internet users in New Zealand. Furthermore, it turns an ISP into unpaid police who have to do what the movie and film industry tell them. If a studio says that someone is pirating, the ISPs have to believe them and send a warning notice to those customers telling them they may have infringed copyright.
After three strikes the copyright owner can take a claim to the Copyright Tribunal who can place a $15,000 penalty on the Internet account holder.
The Commerce Minister has threatened that if his law does not work in two years he will introduce a tougher regime
http://www.techeye.net/internet/kiwi-politician-compares-internet-to-sky...
Three Strikes Law May Violate European Human Rights Law
Professor Dr Albin Eser, Emeritus Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Comparative Criminal Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Freiburg in Germany delivered a lecture titled “Human rights guarantees in criminal law and procedure from a European perspective” at the University of Auckland Law School. He said that he had been “quite amazed” to hear of New Zealand’s Three Strikes law and such legislation would probably pay insufficient heed to the individuality of each case, and might violate the principle of proportionality in European human rights law
http://www.law.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=3...
The lobby group, Rethinking Crime and Punishment, says an independent centre should be set up to look at why the rate of Maori imprisonment is so high. Forty percent of Maori men over the age of 15 have been in prison or served a community-based sentence, and Maori are imprisoned at six times the rate of non-Maori. The group's director, Kim Workman, says research is needed into what he calls the disproportionate treatment of Maori within the criminal justice system.
Newszealand.blogspot.com 24/4/11
Legislation to create a new offence for failing to protect a child or vulnerable adult has been introduced to Parliament. Justice Minister Simon Power said it had been fast-tracked and was signed off by Cabinet.
The Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) will make it an offence to not protect a child or vulnerable adult from the risk of death, grievous bodily harm or sexual assault. The maximum penalty would be 10 years imprisonment. A person can be found liable if they live in the same household as the victim, are closely connected to the household or is a staff member at a hospital, institution of residence where the victim lives. The bill will also double the penalty for cruelty to a child to 10 years and extend the legal duty for parents and caregivers to provide the necessaries of life. "It will no longer be an excuse to say you were not involved in the abuse,” Power said.
Newszealandblogspot.com 11/4/11
A shake-up of the Family Court could end counselling and mediation services, introduce more user charges and restrict cases that can come before the court.
Justice Minister Simon Power announced a review of the system yesterday, a week after he said legal aid in the Family Court would become harder to obtain and more expensive.
But one family court lawyer says the review is "frightening", and others are predicting essential services may be chopped and vulnerable parties be left without court protection.
NZ Herald 24/4/11
The 18 people arrested during the Urewera police raids have sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in an effort to have their case heard by a judge and jury.
In December, the High Court ruled that a judge alone should hear the case.
Despite opposition from lawyers for the 18 accused, who appealed to the Court of Appeal, the decision was upheld last month.
Suppression orders prevent publication of the reasons for both courts' decisions. The Crimes Act does allow trial by judge alone when cases are complex and expected to take a long time. The Urewera case is set down for 12 weeks.
NZ Herald 24/4/11
Legislation that will enhance the privacy, safety and security of jurors was introduced to Parliament. One of the proposed changes is to bar people from serving on a jury if they have, in the previous five years, been sentenced to home detention for three months or more. This puts them in the same category as those sentenced to a short term of imprisonment.
NZ Herald 24/4/11
The Human Rights Commission has slammed the Government over proposed changes in the New Zealand Security Intelligence Amendment Bill - both the way the bill is being handled and the changes themselves.
The changes will specify in greater detail some of the electronic tracking and seizure practices already being undertaken by the SIS under general authorisations - including tracking mobile text messaging and internet traffic and accounts and IP addresses.
"We are, however, apprehensive about the bill's potential to dilute the accountability elements presently in the act and so undermine fundamental human rights and protections that are an inherent part of a democratic society."
New Zealand herald 7/4/11
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) also released its submission on the bill, saying the SIS could be able to create an army of informants immune from prosecution.
"We are concerned that this bill sets up structures that will enable random surveillance without sufficient authorisation, at an extreme leading to a situation where there could be a wide network of informants throughout society," CTU president Helen Kelly said.
"While this may not be the intent, we should not set up structures that would allow such outcomes."
Ms Kelly said the CTU was also concerned the bill would have an impact on trade unionists and negatively affect free speech, political activity and privacy.
Otago Daily Times 6/4/11
Singer Tiki Taane says police arrested him for singing a popular protest song by an American rap group, which he often performs during his shows. He has been charged with disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence
Taane, was performing at a Tauranga club early Sunday when police arrived to carry out a standard inspection of the premises.
It's understood he began singing the NWA song "F**k the Police" while officers did their inspection.
NZ Herald 12/4/11
Within months police can expect an easing of restrictions for using Tasers and greater access to them, including one in every frontline vehicle, under new Police Commissioner Peter Marshall.
He also supports more access to firearms, tougher penalties for those who assault police, and a jail term for every time a driver flees police.
But Commissioner Marshall, 57, who started a three-year term this week, is against the general arming of police, even though the Police Association supports it.
Tasers were only in 26 per cent of frontline vehicles, and officers had to gain permission via the communications centre to use them.
NZ Herald 24/4/11
A penal reform group has called for an inquiry after a woman had to give birth in her jail cell because Auckland women's prison staff had to follow safety procedures before opening the door.
Ms Aitken said guards had to follow set procedures for safety reasons and that included getting approval from senior staff to unlock the door and that two staff had to be present to open the door.
NZ Herald 24/4/11
Privacy watchdogs are demanding answers from Apple about why iPhones and iPads are secretly collecting location data on users.
Much of the concern about the iPhone and iPad tracking stems from the fact the computers are logging users' physical co-ordinates without users knowing it, and that the information is then stored in an unencrypted form that would be easy for a hacker or a suspicious spouse or a law enforcement officer to find without a warrant. Privacy watchdogs note that location data opens a big window into very private details of a person's life, including the doctors they see, the friends they have and the places where they like to spend their time.
Otago Daily Times 22/4/11
Lawmakers say their hands are tied in their attempts to ban powerful synthetic cannabis products. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said he would like to have seen the substances prohibited but New Zealand's outdated drug laws prevented it.
The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs, after researching and testing the products, recommended they be classified R18.
Mr Dunne said the committee had two options – to classify the products as a restricted substance or as a controlled substance.
"They said they were dangerous but in their conclusion they were less harmful than cannabis" Mr Dunne said.
"They weren't confident they had sufficient evidence to justify them being made a controlled substance."
Mr Dunne said he had no option but to accept the recommendation.
He said the current legislation was very old and written before the substances were available and hoped a Law Commission review of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, due out in about a month, would add more teeth.
Taranaki Daily News 12/4/11
Round-up of civil liberty news for August 2011.
Parliament passed under urgency the retroactive Policing (Storage of Youth Particulars) Amendment Bill, closing a legal loophole that prevented police from keeping records of young offenders unless they had been convicted in the District Court. The Government’s decision to take the Bill under urgency has effectively silenced the voice of young people on legislation which has the potential to impact significantly on their lives, said Kim Workman, Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment.
“I can understand why government didn’t want to take this legislation through a democratic process. We are hearing a whole lot of stories from young people about abuse of Police powers, and in particular, the high incidence of ethnic profiling. The last thing government needs right now, is to call for public submissions, and have these stories in the public domain”, she added.
Scoop.co.nz 18/8/11
A coroner, Dr Bain, has called for compulsory state monitoring of all children until they are 5, with scheduled and unscheduled visits to homes. He also called for compulsory state intervention wherever there has been domestic or child violence in households, and for children living in single-parent families, as well as significant penalties for those who fail to report child abuse. Other suggestions were the creation of an anonymous 0800 number for reporting child abuse, compulsory information-sharing between Government agencies, health providers and others, with the Privacy Act over-ridden where necessary, and mandatory reporting by early childhood facilities and schools.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said many of Dr Bain's recommendations, including the mandatory monitoring of vulnerable children, mirrored ideas raised in the Government's green paper.
New Zealand Herald 26/8/11
The head of New Zealand's child death review committee is calling for blood testing adults suspected of being drunk when a child dies from an accident or assault.
Dr Nick Baker, who chairs the Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee, says parental intoxication is a factor in New Zealand having the developed world's highest rate of sudden unexplained deaths of infants (SUDI), and in many deaths in places such as driveways and swimming pools, yet police did not have powers to blood test adults who were responsible for the children when they died.
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said breath testing or blood testing parents after a child had died would imply the parent was to blame even though it may have been a genuine accident.
He said "I have attended many cot deaths in my career and I would certainly not like to be breath testing parents in those situations where it's almost apportioning blame."
New Zealand Herald 27/8/11
Teachers have been given the power to search students - including their cell phones, diaries and laptops.
The guidelines given to schools stipulate how searches should be conducted and give suggestions on when it would be appropriate to make searches - such as an imminent threat of danger or harm to other students.
New Zealand Herald 26/8/11
A book,To Train Up a Child, written by fundamentalist United States Christians Michael and Debi Pearl, teaches parents how to smack, thump and pull children's hair as a way of disciplining them, has been removed by
Whitcoulls from its website after a complaint.
The Internal Affairs Department's Censorship Compliance Unit said the book's content would be examined.
On Radio New Zealand Civil Liberties Council chairman Batch Hales said he believes the book is dangerous, as people may use it to justify abusing children and advocates a culture that New Zealand is desperately trying to get away from. A Californian couple in America were convicted of murder after following the book's instructions and subsequently beat their seven-year-old adopted daughter to death.
New Zealand Herald 24/8/11
The police's handling of a man with Asperger's syndrome caught looting after the Christchurch earthquake has been described as "cruel and obscene" after the case was dropped.
Despite being asked three times by the courts, police had denied Smith-Voorkamp diversion, which allows first offenders to escape a criminal conviction.
Police said an offender had to admit guilt before they could get diversion, and Smith-Voorkamp has pleaded not guilty.
Smith-Voorkamp was arrested for allegedly taking light fittings from a damaged Lincoln Rd, Addington, property, and possession of tools for burglary, after the February 22 quake.
The 25-year-old has said he had been obsessed with light fittings for most of his life and could not resist his urges, which were fuelled by his Asperger's syndrome.
The Press 4/8/11
A bill to change the legal aid system and save $138 million over four years has been introduced to Parliament.
The Legal Assistance (Sustainability) Amendment Bill will make 10 changes to the scheme, including tightening the merits test for family cases, adjusting the special circumstances test, re-introducing a user charge of $100 for family and civil cases and introducing compulsory repayment orders.
New Zealand herald 11/8/11
No cars have been crushed under a controversial two-year-old law that promised a crackdown on boy racers. The Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill was passed in October 2009 and it gave courts the power to send cars owned by people who committed three serious vehicle offences in four years to the crusher.
New Zealand Herald 15/8/11
The Government has declared spending at least $750,000 on the controversial Urewera raids and their long-running sequel - with some saying the final bill could be for millions.
Law Society president Jonathan Temm said by the time this trial is finished, it is likely to be the most expensive trial in our criminal history.
New Zealand Herald 20/8/11
The father of Dunedin murder victim Sophie Elliott says families should be able to say what they want in victim impact statements, and welcomes Government moves in that direction.
Justice Minister Simon Power has introduced the Victims of Crime Reform Bill to Parliament. The Bill will make a range of changes, among them clearer guidelines around victim impact statements.
"As there are currently no guidelines governing victim impact statements case law has evolved around what cannot be said, including an outline of the offence and opinions or comment on the offender," Mr Power said.
"This has lead to the unacceptable situation where a victim is effectively censored so they don't offend the offender."
Gil Elliott's statement on the impact of his daughter's death, Sophie Elliott, had entire sections crossed out at the judge's request, before it was read in court.
If passed, the bill will allow photographs and children's drawings to be submitted as part of victim impact statements. Victims of serious crime would have an automatic right to read their statement in court and also be able to attend Youth Court and submit a statement.
New Zealand Law Society family law section chairman Antony Mahon told Radio New Zealand admitting children’s’ drawings were not necessarily a positive move.
"Pictures are fraught, there is research to say that pictures can be quite misleading and even those experts don't agree about what pictures often mean," he said. "I don't personally think it's an advancement for children's rights to have them directly involved in victim impact statements like this.”
Other changes included ensuring victims got more information about offenders bail and sentences, complaint processes for victims and a Victims' Code to improve the responsiveness and accountability of justice sector agencies to victims.
The code would ensure prosecutors took reasonable steps to contact all victims of serious crime, meet family members before trial, and ensure victims were promptly informed of changes to charges.
New Zealand Herald 17/8/11
A police detective who rang his boss while being processed for drink-driving used the call to get off the charge in court - exploiting a loophole which could be used by hundreds of alcohol-impaired drivers.
A Detective Constable at Counties Manukau CIB successfully defended the charge at the Auckland District Court on the grounds that he was not given an uninterrupted 10 minutes to decide if he wanted a blood test.
His 10 minutes of think time were considered to have been interrupted after he asked - and was allowed - to ring his boss.
New Zealand Herald 21/8/11
The lack of statistics about disabled people in the workplace is a major problem, says Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor.
“It means we often cannot analyse where disabled people are working, where they get jobs, how many hours they work and which jobs they want. We also don’t know enough about employers’ attitudes.”
For this reason the Human Rights Commission has produced a new report Tracking Equality at Work for Disabled People.
The report confirms that disabled people find getting a decent job is one of their most significant challenges.
http://www.hrc.co.nz/newsletters/manahau/2011/08/lack-of-data-hinders-effective-disability-policy-delivery/
Statistic New Zealand's Quarterly Employment Survey for June shows a per hour pay gap of 13% compared to 12.6% last quarter, and an annual weekly income gap of 17.4% up from 17%.
www.voxy.co.nz 4/8/11
Innocent internet users could easily become entangled in new copyright laws even if they're not pirating movies or music, a web expert warns, but internetNZ's chief executive, Vikram Kumar, said anyone using peer-to-peer software, even for legitimate purposes, could receive warning notices.
Peer-to-peer is a method of connecting computers that lets users search for, and download, files stored on each of the individual systems that are part of the network.
The software was popular with music and movie pirates, but Kumar said it was used in a wide range of industries - such as the research and innovation sector - to distribute large amounts of information easily.
However, third parties employed by rights holders to catch internet pirates were already sending out warnings to peer-to-peer users, even if there was no real evidence they were illegally downloading.
"This is an indirect method of [copyright policing]. It's one of the low-cost methods used and it tends to throw up a lot of false accusations."
Given the burden of proof in the new law falls on those accused of copyright infringement, Kumar recommended those without a background in computing should stop using peer-to-peer software altogether.
internetNZ has set up a website - http://3strikes.net.nz/ - with information about the new law.
New Zealand Herald 6/8/11
Posting racist or xenophobic messages on the internet and Holocaust denial could be illegal if New Zealand signs up to a international cyber-crime agreement.
Justice Minister Simon Power and Police Minister Judith Collins announced a three-year plan to crack down on international organised crime. One proposal involves the Government signing the Council of Europe Cyber Crime Convention, also known as the Budapest Convention.
A protocol of the convention requires nations to make "the dissemination of racist and xenophobic material through computer systems" a crime. It also makes denial or justification of the Holocaust and other verified genocides illegal.
An omnibus bill would come before Parliament next year, if National is re-elected.
Stuff.co.nz 24/8/11
A Government ban on the sale of all synthetic cannabis products could spark legal action from the industry, a retailer says.
An urgent bill to ban synthetic cannabis such as Kronic will be considered by Parliament today.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said the law would be in place by Friday and all 43 current products on the market were expected to be out of shops just over a week later.
Cabinet has approved amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill that would take synthetic cannabis off the market for 12 months, while the Government works on its detailed response to a Law Commission report, which recommends reversing the onus of proof and require the industry to prove its products are safe.
Hemp Store co-owner Chris Fowlie said the Misuse of Drugs Act required the classification of drugs to be based on evidence and Mr Dunne was ignoring that.
Otago Daily Times 2/8/11
The SIS yesterday launched a website so the public can confidentially and anonymously pass on sensitive information.
The online form says: "As part of the community, you may have information which can contribute to defending and enhancing New Zealand's security, reputation, economic well-being and way of life."
It asks you to notify the SIS "if you believe you have: information of national security concern; or have seen or heard something suspicious that the NZSIS may be interested in". The submitter must classify information as "important and urgent", "important but not urgent", or of "general concern".
Identifying yourself and supplying contact information are optional.
The online form will work in tandem with the freephone line (0800 SIS 224), in place since 2001.
New Zealand Herald 19/8/11
High Court associate Judge David Gendall delivered his summary judgement ruling in relation to the Crown Civil suit of the three Waihopai Christian activists. In a 15 page decision Judge Gendall concluded that the defences raised by the three peacemakers fails to make the threshold for an arguable case and has awarded damages against the three men pre-emptively without allowing the case to proceed to a trial.
In contrast, after eight days of evidence at the activists’ criminal trial in March last year, a jury ruled the men not guilty of all criminal charges.
scoop.co.nz 31/8/11
The taxi cameras law change, which applies to about 6700 taxis, says each cab must have operating security camera and taxi companies must run a 24-hour call centre.
Christchurch is exempt from the change because of the earthquakes and has until May 1 to install cameras.
Those towns and cities affected are Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin, Queenstown and Invercargill.
Taxi companies have reassured passengers they would not access footage from cameras in cabs without police authority. Auckland Taxi Co-Op director Robert Van Heiningen said taxi drivers could not access footage.
The regulations required each company to appoint one person who could access footage. They had to keep a log of what footage was viewed and why.
N Z Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said police would only release footage to media if it helped with criminal investigations.
New Zealand Herald 7/8/11
he Freedom Camping Bill was passed under urgency and is expected to take effect on September 1. It was rushed through Parliament to "capture" the visitors expected to hit NZ shores for the Rugby World Cup.
Councils and the Department of Conservation will have the power to restrict freedom camping from specific areas, and fine people $200 for breaking the law; a heftier fine of up to $10,000 can be sought for more serious breaches such as dumping waste.
But concerns have been raised that the new law will capture outdoors-lovers who head away on a Friday night and camp on the roadside before a weekend of hiking, mountaineering, fishing or hunting.
The act defines freedom camping as camping within 200m of a road, road end or the low-water line of the sea or harbour.
Exemptions include "temporary and short-term parking", day-trip excursions and resting or sleeping in a car.
*Local authorities will be able to ban freedom camping, defined as camping within 200m of a road, road end or the low-water line of the sea or harbour.
*Freedom camping in these spots could lead to an instant $200 fine; more serious breaches could incur a $10,000 fine.
*Making preparations to freedom-camp where it is banned could incur a $200 fine, as could damaging any area, or dumping waste inappropriately.
New Zealand Herald 18/8/11
The Mental Health Foundation is calling for a formal review of police use of Tasers after figures released show four out of 10 of those tasered in the past year were experiencing mental health issues.
Numbers released by Police Minister Judith Collins this week showed that 37 of the 88 people tasered by police in the 11 months to August were "judged to be experiencing a mental health issue".
Mental Health Foundation chief executive Judi Clements, "We were concerned from the beginning it would not be used as a last resort, it would become something that was normal in use.
New Zealand Herald 26/8/11
he Corrections Department is about introduce new rules to stop prisoners running businesses after a murderer was able to run help run an imports business from behind bars.
The new rules require all sentenced prisoners to declare any self-employment activities, which will then be assessed for approval, which would only be granted in "exceptional circumstances".
New Zealand Herald 27/8/11
The Law Commission is recommending a massive overhaul of the Privacy Act providing stronger enforcement measures and changes that alternately offer better protection of individual privacy and make it easier for government agencies to bulk share private information.
Changes protecting individuals include a statutory "Do Not Call Register" which would allow New Zealanders to register their choice not to receive telephone-marketing calls.
The Commission also recommends the current exemption for personal or domestic information should not apply if the collection or disclosure of the information would be highly offensive. The change would deal with situations such as when a person posts naked photographs of their ex-partner online without consent.
A key change, if the Commission's recommendations are accepted, would see agencies - which have lost personal data, or had it stolen through hacking or other means - required to notify victims of the data breach.
"People have a right to know if their information has been compromised in a serious way," said Law Commissioner Professor John Burrows.
The commission has also grappled with how the internet changes notions of privacy and recommends clarifying the Act so that "publication" of personal information includes the internet.
It also addresses concerns about the flow of information across country borders and how information can now be held in a nebulous "cloud" of computers located overseas.
The Commission points out protection other countries may not meet New Zealand standards and recommends putting new obligations on agencies to check before they send or store information overseas that privacy will be protected.
On the issue of data matching across government agencies which some see as creeping Big Brother government and ways to monitor citizens' every move, the commission argues there are many good reasons for government departments to share personal information.
Examples cited include collaboration to provide one-stop-shops and "smarter" services, plus working across agencies to tackle social problems such as child abuse.
At the moment such sharing is not always possible under the Privacy Act and the government has had to pass legislation to specifically override the Act.
New Zealand Herald 2/8/11
No-turbans-allowed email racist, says Sikh job hunter
A leading security company has apologised for saying in a job recruitment email that staff are not allowed to wear turbans. General manager Mike Rutherford told the Herald there was no turban ban at First Security and the email "was the result of a misunderstanding by the person who authored the correspondence".
The Human Rights Commission said banning turbans would be potentially unlawful.
New Zealand Herald 8/8/11
Its alright to be WHITE, Be Proud" pamphlets which have been dropped through mail boxes and doors, in Blenheim. Right wing organizer Kyle Chapman said the messages were not racist and should not be viewed that way. "It is simply a recruitment drive and we are targeting like-minded people, it is not malicious" he said.
Mr Chapman said the messages were posted in random mail boxes during the weekend recruitment drive. He estimated thousands had gone out across the country.
Marlborough Express 16/8/11
IRD can recall student loans under new law
The Inland Revenue Department will now be able to recall student loans in full under legislation passed by Parliament.
Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said the vast majority of borrowers met their repayment requirements and had no reason to worry, but serious defaulters would be dealt with.
New Zealand Herald 20/8/11
Round-up of civil liberty news for February 2012.
Hampstead School principal Peter Melrose had said that barring disabled kids from schools is inexcusable in reaction to news that disabled services provider IHC has collected statements from families to back up a case to go before the Human Rights Review Tribunal against schools who have turned away disabled children.
Mr. Melrose said every school should be well equipped to handle students with disabilities and there were very few grounds to decline enrolments at any school.
Ashburton Guardian 21/2/12
In 2010 the Government followed advice from the Human Rights Commission that for New Zealand to meet its international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children, whatever their legal status as residents, should be able to attend school. However, significant policy related hurdles meant it remained difficult for these children to attend school despite the funding. The criteria said a child had to be in New Zealand unlawfully for six months before they could enroll. Furthermore, depending on where the family was in the appeal process, a child’s immigration status could suddenly change. This could mean a child, who was attending school, could suddenly be unable to do so because under the previous policy the child would need to be “unlawful” for six months.
The change in policy means that the criteria are no longer based on the period of time that the child has been living unlawfully in New Zealand.
http://www.hrc.co.nz/2012/policy-changes-allow-undocumented-children-to-go-to-school
The Law Commission has proposed ditching trials by a full jury of 12 in favour of trials by a judge and two semi-professional jurors to allow more evidence, such as previous convictions, to be used. Other proposals include, Judges, rather than lawyers, control trials including calling witnesses; Victims being able to request review of decisions to drop or amend charges; fast-tracking cases with vulnerable witnesses; and defendants' evidence given at the start of a trial instead of after the prosecution.
New Zealand Herald 14/3/12
The body charged with investigating complaints about judges has accidentally released personal details about those who had sought its help. The documentation contained complainants' names and addresses, and the progress of inquiries into the complaints
There were 181 complaints about judges last year. The details show that complaints were lodged against judges at the Family, District and High Courts. The complaints contained allegations ranging from judges being "bored", to "not interested in hearing defence" and "not interested in the truth". There was also an allegation that a judge had not taken seriously a claim that two young men had died as a result of serious offending by senior politicians and commercial leaders.
Herald on Sunday 19/2/12
The New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) has expressed support with the Chief Ombudsman's criticism of the Department of Corrections saying that policies in New Zealand prisons put transgender prisoners at risk of HIV.
Shaun Robinson, NZAF Executive Director, says that one effect of the policy is that transgender women who may not have completed gender reassignment surgery and therefore have not changed their birth certificates are housed in male prisons and treated as male prisoners. "Yet these women identify as women, dress as women, receive female hormones and live their day-to-day lives as women."
Robinson argues that trampling on the human rights of people on the basis of sexual and gender identity is fundamentally unjust. "This is a human rights issue at a base level; the policy is transphobic and places transgender people at severe risk of violence in prisons.
"This decision flies in the face of the recommendations of the 2007 Human Rights Commission Report 'To Be Who I Am' on the rights of transgender people," says Robinson. "The report notes that 'protection from discrimination under the Human Rights Act 1993 requires policies and practices to be inclusive of transgender people, whatever their sex or gender identity' - something the Department of Corrections does not appear to have considered."
Voxy.co.nz 17/2/12
An ad for a job selling ice-cream in Mangere required applicants to be fast and hard working but also indicated looks were important. Posted on backpackers.co.nz, the ad invited "girls" to text in a photo with their age and nationality.
"Those who do not send photo will be not selected. Good looks will be an advantage," the advertisement, listed by Rob Galsavo, read.
The Human Rights Act 1993 protects New Zealanders from discrimination based on gender, nationality and age. However appearance-based discrimination is not covered.
New Zealand Herald 26/2/12
An Invercargill retailer, who was selling hooded tops with the words "Jesus is a c..." emblazoned on the back was fined $500 in Invercargill District Court and an order was made for the destruction of the garments.
The charge was laid by the Internal Affairs Department under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act.
Southland Times 15/2/12
Bloody Mama, the banned booked seized from a Newtown bookseller by government officials, has been reclassified unrestricted by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
The decision said readers drawn to the book were likely to be mature enough to handle its adult content, which is restricted to ''one or two sentences'' in the 132-page novel. ''Unlike a film, a book does not make a sudden, colourful impression, and requires a level of engagement with the text that would make it of little interest to children.''
The now defunct Indecent Publications Tribunal banned the novel in 1971.
The office's decision is open to for review from the public or interested parties for a month from March 10.
Dominion Post 17/2/12
An Electoral Commission ruling has found the Radio Live show hosted by John Key last September was an election programme and therefore a prohibited broadcast.
The commission's found the broadcast was an election programme and a breach of the Broadcasting Act.
The Electoral Commission will now see the police to decide whether to prosecute the broadcaster, which could be fined up to $100,000.
Otago Daily Times 9/2/12
The Human Rights Commission has released the country's first guide to religion at work.
The Human Rights Commission received 55 complaints last year in relation to religious discrimination, of which 16 were employment related. It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of religion, although there can be exceptions if there is a health and safety issue at work.
The Press 19/2/12
New Zealanders could participate in health research without the chance to give informed consent if draft procedures for health and disability ethics committees are adopted, the New Zealand Law Society has said in its submission on the Draft Standard Operating Procedures for Health and Disability Ethics Committees.
The submission says the proposed changes are a significant departure from the current standards for ethics committees and from international standards for the protection of human participants in research, and If implemented they will have significant human rights implications.
Section 10 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 provides that every person has the right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation. “The Law Society is concerned that the proposed changes, together with reducing the membership and numbers of ethics committees, will not provide adequate protection for participants of health and disability research. This particularly applies to the right of patients or participants to give informed consent or refusal to participate in research,” Health Law Committee convener Alison Douglass said.
Scoop.co.nz 23/2/12
Police and immigration officials exceeded their legal powers by forcing an Indian woman to put her fingerprints on deportation documents, two separate inquiries have found.
Seperate police and immigration investigations concluded that police, acting on behalf of immigration officers, exceeded their powers by using force to prise open the woman’s clenched fist in order to obtain her fingerprints for deportation travel documents.
As a result of the investigation, Immigration New Zealand has agreed to enter a process whereby the woman and her family can lodge an appeal on humanitarian grounds to be allowed to stay in New Zealand.
New Zealand Herald 3/2/12
Instructions to immigration officials not to record information to avoid judicial reviews and extra paperwork have outraged civil libertarians, who are calling it a deliberate attempt to avoid accountability.
The Immigration New Zealand directive to staff concerns section 61 of the Immigration Act, which empowers the Immigration Minister to grant a visa to a person who is unlawfully in New Zealand and not subject to a deportation order.
This power is delegated to Immigration NZ officials and decisions are open to review by the Ombudsman.
In November last year Immigration NZ issued instructions to staff not to "record any reasons or rationale" in all cases involving section 61, including those that are thrown out without being considered, and those that are considered and are accepted or declined.
Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Thomas Beagle said the instructions could violate the Public Records Act, which requires that "every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice".
Failure to comply with the act regarding an individual could see a $5000 fine.
Mr. Beagle said hiding under a complete lack of documentation was against the way a transparent and accountable Government should operate.
New Zealand Herald 27/2/12
A number of changes to the way Parliament is run will help ensure more integrity from MPs, less use of urgency and greater public.
One change gives the House an option to sit for longer and progress bills without resorting to urgency. Under urgency, a bill can pass all its stages and bypass select committee scrutiny, where the public has a chance for a say. Additionally, a minister calling for urgency will have to say why urgency is needed.
Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith said he did not think urgency had been abused in the last term. "But the problem is that it gives the public the impression that stuff is being rammed through without proper scrutiny” he has said. A study by Victoria University's Faculty of Law found that during the MMP era, urgency was used the most in the 1996 to 1999 term and the 2008 to 2011 term.
New Zealand Herald 6/2/12
The National Foundation for the Deaf has said a decision not to give special funding for deaf MP Mojo Mathers in Parliament is ''disgraceful and appalling.''
Spokeswoman Louise Carroll urged Mathers to take the matter up with the Human Rights Commissioner and to look closely at employment laws.
Carroll said, ''I'm hearing impaired. I spend my whole life trying to access information that other people who can hear normally take for granted…. This is just a gross example of it.''
Carroll agreed with Green Party leader Metiria Turei that disabled candidates would be dissuaded from standing for Parliament, adding ''It would seem to me that this is a straightforward issue of access for a person who is disabled, whether that be a wheelchair or a communication equipment is irrelevant” and she questioned Parliament's commitment to signing as New Zealand's third language.
Stuff.co.nz 14/2/12
Police investigating a Wellington murder enlisted the help of the United States Government to order Facebook to hand over the personal pages of suspects.
They also contacted internet giant Microsoft to gain access to Hotmail email accounts and tracked down those who had contacted a suspect on internet dating sites.
Dominion Post 11/2/12
People injured in car accidents should be tested for the presence of alcohol in their blood before receiving treatment, Otago Southland Coroner David Crerar has said.
He has asked the Southern District Health Board to institute a protocol requiring, where possible, that a blood sample be taken from patients involved in car accidents as soon as they are admitted to hospital.
Southern District Health Board acting chief executive Lexie O'Shea said, "This is a complex issue and there are a number of ethical and national policy issues which need to be considered."
At present, the board would take a sample from a driver, in the circumstances outlined by the coroner, when requested by the police and as required by the Land Transport Act 1998.
Otago Daily Times 17/2/12
Seven people have been Tasered by police in Manawatu in less than two years, amid fears officers are using them as "a weapon of first resort".
Figures released to the Manawatu Standard under the Official Information Act show that since Tasers were issued to the region's police officers in March 2010, they have pulled them on members of the public 32 times.
Last year not a single Taser was fired in Palmerston North, but three people were Tasered in the rural areas surrounding the city. In 2010 four offenders were Tasered by police in the city. Figures for 2012 were not available.
Tasers were introduced to frontline police in Wellington, Auckland City, Counties Manukau and Waitemata in 2008. Since the national rollout to all other districts in March 2010, Tasers have been presented on 890 occasions and fired 136 times.
All of those shot by Tasers in Manawatu were men aged between 18 and 40. Of the 136 people shot nationwide, only five were women.
New Zealand Civil Liberties Council spokesman Kevin McCormack said the use of Tasers was inhumane.
Nationally, police fired their guns at three people last year – including in Otaki in March, when a 28-year-old man was shot in the arm by police. The man was wanted by police for assault and driving while disqualified. The man was taken to Palmerston North Hospital in a stable condition. From the beginning of 2008 until September 2011, police drew their firearms 872 times throughout the country.
Manawatu Standard 15/2/12
A 56 year old retired civil engineer and university lecturer from China who came to New Zealand to visit her niece in Hamilton found her visit soured by alleged police brutality.
Ms Li went to Countdown Hamilton and parked her car in the Countdown car park. When she returned her car was gone. Not able to speak any English, she was given body gestures that her car might have been towed away by the towing company.
Spotting a tow truck in the car park, she went to see if the driver could take her to her car. She attempted to explain her situation to the driver and tried to sit in the passenger’s seat of the tow truck as a means of explanation; however, due to the language barrier, the driver misunderstood and instead called the police.
A total of 4 police officers arrived at the scene. After speaking to the tow truck operator, the officers gestured to Ms Li to move away from the tow truck and she obeyed. However, believing that the officers would help her, Ms Li then tried to explain her situation to them through hand gestures. The police officers however did not understand her and they gestured to her that she must move away from the police car. Ms Li followed their instructions and feeling exhausted from her ordeal began to walk back to Countdown to find somewhere to sit down.
In what was described as similar to a “rugby tackle”, the officers then jumped on Ms Li from behind, twisting her arms behind her back and forcing her to the ground.
Ms Li was then yanked to her feet and shoved into the backseat of the police car. During the trip back to the Hamilton police station, Ms Li was groaning with pain, and tried to get the attention of the officer beside her by using her leg and indicating that her right elbow was extremely sore. The officer did not help her, but rather laughed at her and mimicked her groans of pain. It wasn’t until they arrived at the Police station and after the handcuffs were removed that Ms Li was finally able to point her obviously deformed right elbow and was then taken by an ambulance to Waikato Hospital’s Emergency Department.
Upon examination, it was discovered that Ms Li had a dislocated right elbow, which took three attempts to reset and a laceration to her left cheek that required stitches.
A friend showed up in the hospital and was told by the same police officers that Ms Li was “biting and assaulting police officers which was the reason for her arrest, and that she would later be charged by the police and prosecuted in court.”
It is understood that next to the Countdown supermarket there are a few Chinese supermarkets and a transportation centre, where there would have been at least one Chinese speaking person who the police could have asked to act as an interpreter and helped to resolve the situation.
Press Release: Amicus Barristers Chambers
Scoop.co.nz 9/2/12
Personal information from tens of thousands of Aucklanders has been given to a private company by council authorities, with the details then used in a marketing blitz.
Auckland Transport gave the information held on users of the "Hop card" - which are used to pay fares on buses - to a third party, Snapper Services, which embeds electronic chips in the cards so they can also be used to pay for items in affiliated shops. Snapper then used the email addresses contained in the personal information to launch a campaign advertising its retail services.
Although only names and email addresses are required to register a Hop card, users are also invited to supply phone numbers and street addresses. Although cardholders could elect not to register them, they would be unable to seek credit refunds if they were lost or stolen.
A spokeswoman for the Privacy Commissioner, Marie Shroff, provided a statement of concern it issued in 2008, soon after Snapper cards were introduced to Wellington, about the amount of information asked of registered users.
New Zealand herald 13/2/12
Asians are the most discriminated against group in New Zealand, according to a new survey conducted for the Human Rights Commission, and attitudes towards them have changed little in the past five years.
A Human Rights Commission review of discrimination and harassment found that the number of media reports of racially motivated crime dropped in the past year, but still included a number of serious assaults.
Two Thai women were abused both physically and verbally in Nelson, a couple set their dogs on a Filipino man and Japanese student in Christchurch, a man in New Plymouth attacked his Indian neighbours' car with a machete, and a Chinese student was assaulted at an Invercargill petrol station.
The Race Relations Commissioner, Joris de Bres, told the New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils in Wellington that an active focus on inclusion of Asian New Zealanders in all aspects of New Zealand life was required to break down discrimination. Asians are now one of our four largest population groups, and one of the fastest growing. Yet the only publicly funded television programme, Asia Downunder, was discontinued last year," he said. Auckland University, has rightly provided a space for Maori and Pacific students with the marae and the Fale Pasifika, could be thinking how they can similarly provide a space for Asian students who comprise a significant proportion of the student body, he said.
“There are very few Asians on the boards of District Health Boards, not enough Asian teachers in New Zealand schools, not enough Asian local councillors or community board members and Asian migrants continue to face discrimination in applying for jobs”, he added.
De Bres said that one of the organisations that have strongly focused on Asian recruitment in recent years is the New Zealand Police, and that meant they were able to deal effectively with Asian communities after the Canterbury earthquake, as well as being accessible to Asian communities elsewhere, he said.
To view the full review of discrimination and harassment in 2011 visit the Human Rights Commission website.
TVNZ.co.nz 11/2/12
Christy Parker, Policy Analyst at Women’s Health Action has responded to the welfare reforms announced by Social Development Minister Paula Bennet which target single and teen mums, and disputed the idea that the current structure of the Domestic Purposes Benefit provides an incentive to have additional children, an idea put forward by the Welfare Working Group and the driver for these reforms.
“This is not supported by international evidence which shows that women’s decisions regarding children are much more likely to be based on their personal and relationship circumstances than on government policy,” stated Ms Parker. “What we do know however is that women who can’t, or don’t, control their fertility whilst receiving welfare support, end up subject to disproportionate levels of poverty and hardship resulting from welfare sanctions such as these. This results in poorer health and greater social and economic marginalisation for both them and their children."
She further added, “That women bearing the burden of these reforms is a human rights issue. Women’s right to the freedom to decide whether or not to have children, and to control their reproductive capacity free of coercion has been affirmed in international human rights agreements which New Zealand has ratified. On this basis alone the reforms cannot be justified, let alone the likely health impacts on women and their children."
Scoop.co.nz 29/2/12
Round-up of civil liberty news for January 2012.
Prime Minister John Key has been in talk with his Australian counterpart Julia Gillard about the disclosure of criminal records. Key said further work was needed to improve the exchange of information, and indicated the present system of voluntary disclosure of criminal records on immigration cards could be reviewed.
New Zealand and Australia will carry out a six-month trial in Queensland to investigate ways of disclosing the records of convicted criminals.
New Zealand Herald 30/1/12
The numbers of New Zealand criminals being locked up in their homes rather than jailed is increasing rapidly. There was a 34.5 per cent jump in home detention sentences between 2009 and 2010 and a 52 per cent increase in people sentenced to community detention.
Taranaki Daily News 30/1/12
Human rights concerns raised after family barred from flat
A dispute between an apartment owner and a body corporate has led to a complaint being laid with the Human Rights Commission after the owner was denied permission to rent his flat to parents with young children.
The dispute has raised questions about the strengths of body corporates, and the rights of parents and their dependent children.
The apartment owner complained to the commission on the grounds of discrimination against family status, and Human Rights Commission mediator Pele Walker said
"On the face of it, if the prospective tenants are two adults who have responsibility for a child/children, for them to be denied the tenancy because of that responsibility would likely amount to the adults being discriminated against on the grounds of their family status [that of responsible parents].
"While there may be a body corporate rule that no more than two adults can occupy one apartment, that rule, in itself, would not override the unlawful discrimination provisions of the Human Rights Act."
Stuff.co.nz 7/1/12
When a woman tried to enter her home brew in a competition at Lake Hayes A&P Show in Queenstown, she was told it was a "blokes only" contest.
A Human Rights Commission representative said: "On the face of it, the competition may be breaching the Human Rights Act, but in the absence of a complaint and full details of the competition, the commission is unable to comment any further."
The lady involved said she had no intention of complaining to the commission.
New Zealand Herald 13/1/12
The Recording Industry Association (Rianz) began asking internet providers to issue infringement notices to people it believed were illegally downloading music through peer-to-peer file sharing sites in November.
The law gives the Copyright Tribunal the power to fine internet pirates up to $15,000 after they have received three written warnings.
However, an infringement notice issued by state-owned internet provider Orcon and was posted online by lobby group Tech Liberty is missing information required by the act.
The legislation stipulates warnings must set out the time each infringement occurred, down to the second, and name the file-sharing application or network used to pirate the work, as well describe the nature of the work and type of breach alleged to have occurred.
None of that information was included in the notice issued by Orcon.
Dominion Post 10/1/12
In a break from its usual hands-off approach, NZ on Air wants to stop broadcasters screening documentaries on political issues in the lead-up to an election.
The broadcasting funding agency has obtained legal advice on whether it can include a condition for broadcasters “not to screen programmes discussing topics likely to be an election issue” before an election.
The step was prompted by TV3 screening a child poverty documentary four days before the November election, and has been described by commentators as “heavy-handed” and worrying.
Bryan Bruce the programme maker said, “I think we are on very dangerous ground if New Zealand on Air takes the view that some people ought not to be heard because it would be inconvenient or embarrassing or it might actually just make people think in a different way. I think that would be not just sad but quite dangerous, we would be on a slippery slope to a very controlled environment.”
New Zealand Herald 18/1/12
In its annual press freedom index, advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranked New Zealand 13th in the world for media freedom last year - down five places from eighth in 2010.
The report did not say what was behind the fall, but it comes after a year in which newsrooms were searched by police, the New Zealand Herald was temporarily banned from the parliamentary press gallery, and a proposed new law sought to give police greater powers to enter newsrooms.
Otago Daily Times 26/1/12
There has been growing unease over the contents of the Food Bill, which updates the Food Act 1981. Its main purpose is to ensure that the food people buy is safe to eat, but a Facebook petition that says the bill “will seriously impede initiatives like community gardens, food co-ops, heritage seed banks, farmers markets, bake sales, and roadside fruit & vegetable stalls” had attracted more than 27,000 signatures in the past four months.
Aside from the legitimate concerns over ways in which the bill makes it easier for food conglomerates to increase their control over the industry, risks to propagation seeds and, there are concerns around civil liberties. Specifically the bill empowers food-safety officers to enter any premises without a search warrant and use “any force that is reasonable” if they fear an offence is being committed. They do have to give oral or written notice, but not if that “would defeat the purpose of the exercise”, a determination that appears to be left to their discretion.
The bill also has an extraordinary clause regarding how the food-safety officer will decide whether food on premises is for sale or for an individual’s own use. The food will presumed to be in the person’s possession for the purpose of sale for human consumption until the contrary is proved.
New Zealand Herald 9/1/12
A law amendment will make it easier for police to lock up online sexual predators.
From March, police can pretend to be a person under the age of 16 in order to arrest older people grooming them. Previously, if a police officer was impersonating an underage child, it might not have been an offence for someone else to make sexual advances on them.
The Crimes Amendment Act (No 3) was passed last year to strengthen the ability of agencies to “hold individuals to account for harming the most vulnerable in our community”. As well as making it easier to prosecute people grooming underage girls and boys, it will also allow police to charge everyone in a household with failing to protect a child.
Otago Daily Times 25/1/12
Police have admitted there was a serious risk of explosion when a man wielding an LPG cylinder leaking flammable gas was pepper-sprayed, Tasered and shot by police.
Guidelines issued by Taser International explicitly warn not to use Tasers when flammable substances are present because of a risk of explosion.
LPG and pepper spray are both flammable. In British tests, two of seven mannequins that had been sprayed with pepper spray caught fire when Tasered, and in both cases, the flames produced were severe and engulfed the entire top half of the mannequin.
New Zealand Herald 23/1/12
Police officers arresting Occupy protesters in Auckland this were wearing identical badge numbers, leading to claims from protesters that it was a deliberate attempt to ensure they couldn't be identified.
Protesters claimed this morning that up to four officers in Aotea Square were wearing the same badge number - Z557. Photographic evidence backs those claims, with one photograph showing two officers wearing the same number.
Officers must wear identification badges to help be identified by members of the public complaining about or praising police actions.
Police confirmed three officers will be investigated for an alleged breach of a policy which requires each officer to wear their own identification number.
Otago Daily Times 23/1/12
A euthanasia campaigner is furious the court published his home detention address online, opening him up to an attack from vigilantes.
Scientist Sean Davison was sentenced to five months' home detention after he had helped his terminally ill mother kill herself by helping her to drink water containing crushed morphine tablets.
Last weekend, a brick with a death threat attached was hurled through his window.
He sought the court's approval to move to another friend's house, but that friend has backed out after probation officers said they couldn't guarantee that her address would be kept private.
Davison said anyone with internet access could have found his address, after a detailed Dunedin High Court judgment containing his address was published online.
New Zealand Council of Civil Liberties spokesman Batch Hales said courts had no right to publish home addresses in general, and not in contentious cases like Davison's.
New Zealand Herald 22/1/12
Hundreds of teenagers, questioned in a recent survey, said they felt they had been unfairly treated by police and health professionals because of their ethnicity.
The questions, part of a nationwide survey of more than 9000 high school pupils, found that more than 400 Maori, Pacific and Asian pupils felt they had been discriminated against by the professionals. Another 900 were unsure whether they had been treated unfairly by either police or health professionals. Europeans of high school age reported very little discrimination by either profession.
The findings were consistent with another survey taken five years earlier.
stuff.co.nz 29/1/12
Auckland Council violated bill of rights claim protestors
Auckland Council violated the bill of rights in a bid to side-step the due process of the courts, when they hired contractors to illegally confiscate the possessions of protestors occupying areas of central Auckland, advises legal council for Occupy Auckland. Protestors were being required to sign agreements restricting their future right to assemble before their property will be released to them.
The Bill of Rights guarantees all New Zealand citizens the right to peaceful assembly and the right to protest. Auckland Council and Occupy Auckland protestors were still awaiting a decision from the court regarding Occupy Auckland’s appeal of the initial court decision in late 2011 that the protestors must decamp, but footage posted on Youtube and the Occupy Auckland website appears to show that the police and agents appointed by the Council violated due process on Monday 23 January and again on Thursday 26 January. Protestors were seen being dragged out of the occupation, handcuffed and detained without being read their rights or told why they are being restrained.
scoop.co.nz 26/1/12
Round-up of civil liberty news for July 2011.
An adoption advocacy group has filed a claim with The Human Rights Review Tribunal stating that New Zealand's adoption law is out of date and discriminatory.
Same-sex and de-facto couples weren't able to adopt, birth mothers weren't fully informed of their rights and people up to the age of 20 could be adopted without their consent under the current law, the group claimed.
Adoption Action said the adoption law, which had not been changed in 56 years, was inconsistent with the anti-discrimination provisions of The Human Rights Act 1993 and The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act in 15 different respects.
stuff.co.nz 28/7/11
Eroding the legal principle of the right to silence, narrowing the scope of offences that can go before a jury, and ending celebrity name suppression are all now one-step closer to becoming law.
The recommendations are included in a report from the Justice and Electoral select committee on the controversial Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill.
Aspects of the Bill have been strongly opposed by all levels of the judiciary - including the Chief Justice Sian Elias and Chief District Court Judge Russell Johnson.
NZ Herald 14/7/11
A PRISONER who took offence when he found a government department had incorrectly listed him as having a domestic violence conviction has won a compensation payout for breach of privacy and hurt feelings.
The man, who has convictions for attacking a police officer, unlawful possession of firearms, aggravated robbery, theft, burglary and trying to escape from custody, complained to the Privacy Commissioner and then to the Human Rights Review Tribunal about a Ministry of Social Development's (MSD) file note,
After hearing evidence the tribunal ruled the inmate's privacy had been breached, he had suffered emotional harm and that he was entitled to NZ$3,500 in compensation.
New Zealand herald 17/7/11
A woman has been given the go-ahead to sue the corrections department for refusing to employ her as a guard in the prison in which her husband was remanded. It is understood the foundation of the case against the department is that Lydia Butcher should not be discriminated against because of her husband's criminal behaviour.
The employment application form used by the department specifically urges applicants to declare connections to anyone involved in criminal activity. The form also stated a failure to declare potential conflicts could result in being turned down for a job.
New Zealand Herald 3/7/11
Male and female colleagues would know each other's salaries under a proposed pay equality bill that would remove an employer's ability to keep them secret. Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor said that the number of women who did not know if they were receiving equal pay was disturbing.
She has drafted a bill that would mean a woman doing the same work as a man would be entitled to know what he was paid.
New Zealand Herald 2/7/11
A law that would restrict freedom camping could threaten hikers and mountaineers who sleep on roadsides before an early morning start parliament has been told.
The Local Government sub-committee heard submissions on the Freedom Camping Bill, which would empower local authorities to declare certain areas off-limits to freedom camping and allow them to issue $200 fines.
Local authorities or the Department of Conservation could also take offenders to court for a maximum fine of $10,000.
The bill's explanatory note says that the bill "does not target back country campers, or motorists who need to pull over to the side of the road to rest", but these activities are all captured by the bill, which defines Freedom Camping as camping within 1km of a road or vehicle accessible area in a tent, caravan, campervan or other vehicle or temporary structure
New Zealand Herald 4/7/11
Whitcoulls, New Zealand biggest book retailer, says it will make a decision on whether to stock an upcoming book about the deaths of the Kahui twins after it is finished and the company has a chance to read it.
Two major book retailers, Paper Plus and the Warehouse, have already announced they will not stock the book.
The book, Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case, was written by journalist Ian Wishart and the twins' mother Macsyna King.
New Zealand Herald 1/7/11
Councils are being formally asked if they would support a ban on gang patches at hospitals, schools and local government-controlled buildings.
Under a draft private member's bill, gang insignia would be forbidden in all public service departments and other Crown property, with the exception of Housing New Zealand homes and Department of Conservation land.
But the bill's author, Rotorua MP Todd McClay, is writing to all mayors for their thoughts on extending the ban to all public buildings.
New Zealand Herald 14/7/11
An alcohol advisory group wants everyone who visits their GP to be screened for harmful alcohol use, following a report by Royal College Psychiatrists in Britain that is calling for everyone over the age of 65 to be screened for abuse of drugs including alcohol. Research from the College has stated that older people are less able to process alcohol, recommending that the government lower the recommended drinking limit for older people to just 1.5 units per day.
The group’s early intervention manager, Sue Paton, wants that in New Zealand as well, but not just for older people.
"We would take that further, we would say that all of the population should be screened for alcohol abuse," says Ms Paton.
New Zealand Herald 3/7/11
Nelson's alcohol outlets are being asked to pull all party pills and cannabinoids from their shelves or risk having their licences suspended.
Police Alcohol Harm Reduction Sergeant Mike Fitzsimons said since the synthetic cannabis product Kronic Pineapple Express had been banned, he'd told licensed premises that they shouldn't be selling any similar substances or party pills
It's not illegal for licensed premises to sell such substances but the Liquor Licensing Authority has discretion to decide whether someone is "fit and proper" to hold a liquor licence. Police would argue they weren't if they sold these products, Mr Fitzsimons said.
Nelson Mail 8/7/11
A civil liberties lawyer says police went too far over the weekend when checking residents in an Auckland street where a Hells Angels gathering was being held. Brentwood Avenue residents say they were photographed and asked for their address, name, date of birth and job.
Mr Bott says police have the power to ask your name and address but to go beyond that and ask about your occupation and the purpose of your visit is disgusting
New Zealand Herald 4/7/11
Police are contacting known protesters to ask if they are planning any protest action during the month-long Rugby World Cup.
Veteran protesters Sue Bradford and John Minto have both had visits from police officers.
Police have confirmed they are talking to "a number of people".
Dominion Post 5/7/11
A 14-year-old boy and a 70-year-old man are among the New Zealanders stunned by police Tasers since their introduction last year.
Figures show police have "presented" Tasers to offenders 797 times since March 2010 and, of these, they were fired 102 times. However, the police's Tactical Options Research database shows the weapons were ineffective on 36 of those 102 occasions,
More worryingly, the stun guns have been fired more times by accident than in the line of duty, with concerns over officers' ineptitude with the weapons borne out by the statistic that Tasers have been "unintentionally discharged" 108 times.
Sunday Star Times 17/7/11
Wainuiomata High School will install cameras in toilets, despite a Privacy Commission warning it could breach pupils' privacy.
The cameras would not be in cubicles but in the main washroom, principal Martin Isberg said. They were to stop vandalism, deter smoking and allow the reintroduction of soap, absent for several years because it was used to plug sinks and flood them.
However, a Privacy Commissioner's Office spokeswoman said schools needed to be very careful with the placement of cameras, and recommended positioning them outside the toilet block entrance.
"Our advice is that there would need to be a fairly extraordinary set of circumstances to justify putting up cameras looking into toilet cubicles or in areas where people might be changing clothes."
Schools needed to have signs up that camera were in use.
Dominion Post 27/7/11
The Kaikoura District Council has made huge savings since it installed surveillance cameras in the town's public toilets, asset manager Gallo Saidy says.
The cameras were installed in the West End toilets in Kaikoura in 2007 and have been the subject of much debate since, with one journalist even taking the matter to Parliament over privacy concerns. But the Kaikoura council always maintained there is no breach of privacy, because the cameras do not show people in the cubicles.
Marlborough Express 29/7/11
A tracking device that allows parents to monitor their teens' driving habits has been slammed as "a step too far".
The Trackstick Mini GPS keep track of a vehicle's speed and location history when plugged in, including the date and time.
When the device is plugged into a computer it shows where a vehicle has been via a red line across Google Earth satellite photos.
Legally you're not allowed to use a tracking device on anyone unless they know about it or it's in your vehicle,
Stuff.co.nz 21/7/11
The Consulate-General of Saudi Arabia has written to the New Zealand Government to complain after a Saudi Arabian student was told she couldn’t board an Auckland bus because of her Muslim veil.
Two days earlier another driver from the same company, NZ Bus, told another woman to remove her veil.
However, both bus drivers suffer from “maskophobia” and weren’t discriminating on religious or cultural grounds, NZ Bus general manager Jon Calder said, and neither has been dismissed.
Mr Calder said both drivers had been sent on counselling programmes, and NZ Bus has no policy on clothing. Both men have received final warnings and will be monitored.
A Human Rights Commission spokesman said the incidents appeared to amount to discrimination on religious grounds
3 News 5/7/11
The Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has been given stronger surveillance powers under legislation passed by Parliament.
Attorney-General Chris Finlayson said the changes would ensure the SIS was equipped to deal with the now widespread use of computers, mobile phones and internet technologies, and take advantage of new surveillance technologies.
"Changes must be made to enable the SIS to regain its full functionality before New Zealand hosts an important event like the Rugby World Cup," he said.
The Green Party MP Keith Locke said it was unnecessary and inappropriate. "We shouldn't be giving more surveillance powers to such an unaccountable government agency with a history of using these powers to spy on critics of the Government," he said.
New Zealand Herald 5/7/11
One of New Zealand's major employers is looking at refusing to hire smokers, and Auckland Council bosses will consider banning smoking in central-city streets and at bus stops.
The Auckland District Health Board, which employs more than 10,000 people, is developing the controversial but lawful hiring plan. Nursing representatives say it's unfair.
The Human Rights Commission said the DHB would be within its rights not to hire smokers.
"Although this may not be considered fair or reasonable, it is not unlawful," a spokesman said.
This is because smoking is not specified in legislation as a banned reason for discrimination.
The Auckland District Health Board is also considering topermit security guards to take photos of staff who smoke in the grounds and refuse to identify themselves, and building a wall with sharp stones on top to discourage people from smoking near the entrance to Auckland City Hospital.
New Zealand Herald 14/7/11
The Waikato District Health Board is seeking the support of Hamilton City Council in imposing a ban on smoking on Selwyn St and Pembroke St. Hospital staff, patients, and visitors, leaving the hospital grounds for a smoke, frequent the roads.
The DHB has suggested that the council pass a bylaw outlawing smoking on the two streets, which could be enforced by instant fines, as is the practice in Queensland, Australia where security guards can issue infringement notices.
New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties spokesperson Batch Hales said current measures to stop smoking were working and introducing things like street bans would be counter-productive.
Waikato Times 16/7/11
Round-up of civil liberty news for June 2011.
AGE DISCRIMINATION
The Human Rights Commission says allowing people older than 65 to permanently opt out of jury service could be age discrimination.
A bill before Parliament would allow 65-year-olds to apply to exclude themselves from jury selection permanently, based solely on their age.
Human Rights Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor says the legislation supports a view that elderly people are not up to contributing to the wider community.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/77327/jury-exemption-at-65-%27could-be-ageism%27
GISBORNE high schools, like other schools across New Zealand, are cracking down on alcohol in the 2011 ball season and have upped their security measures by having alcohol breathalysers at the ready and increasing staff patrol at venues.
Principals of Gisborne Girls’ High, Lytton High and Campion College have confirmed they will have alcohol breathalysers on hand to test anyone they suspect has been drinking before the ball.
Gisborne herald 24/6/11
A high school is employing sniffer dogs to check students for drugs
Along with the sniffer dogs, St Kentigern College has also hired security guards to search students at the door and they will be forced to blow into a breathalyser if suspected of drinking.
The country's leading authority on child protection has questioned the right to silence for defendants in some child-abuse cases.
Starship hospital's director of child protection, Dr Patrick Kelly, told the inquest into the death of the Kahui twins yesterday that he was disappointed new legislation from the Government did not include some limitations on the right to silence.
Dr Kelly said the Law Commission in Britain had recommended that the right to silence be removed in child-abuse cases where the accused is a caregiver of the child.
NZ Herald 29/6/11
A Wellington boys' college has banned a student from bringing his male date to this weekend's school ball.
A St. Patrick's College student wanted to bring his male friend, but said rector Father Paul Martin told him that he had to bring a girl.
The Human Rights Commission said that they receive a few complaints about pupils not being allowed to bring same-sex partners to school balls each year, but said the St Patrick's case had not been brought to its notice.
NZ Herald 15/6/11
The New Zealand Law Society have questioned a proposed law change to disqualify from jury service people who have served sentences of home detention within the preceding five years.
Because people on home detention had all received sentences of imprisonment, they were excluded from jury service for five years. However, since home detention was created as a stand-alone sentencing option, Parliament has failed to address whether home detention was akin to prison (which involves a five-year disqualification from jury service), or to other community sentences (which do not).
scoop.co.nz 15/6/11
Auckland prisoners have been told they are no longer entitled to read New Zealand's oldest weekly newspaper. NZ Truth, a decision that will now go to the high court.
Corrections bosses notified the Auckland-based publishers of Truth Weekender that their tabloid paper was banned from the maximum security Auckland Prison east division.
The paper has an extensive advertising section for prostitutes with photographs of near-naked females, but this was not what sparked the decision, rather the paper's journalism was what upset authorities.
Corrections' media advisor, Rebecca Powell, defended the ban, saying prisoners' rights to access to news were not affected.
''Prisoners continue to have access to local and world news via all other newspapers, radio stations and free-to-air television.''
Stuff.co.nz 29/6/11
Air New Zealand has been ordered for the third time to reinstate a flight attendant who was sacked for sitting down during turbulence.
The case of a man who was a flight attendant for 14 years and a former union representative, has gone through the Employment Relations Authority, the Employment Court and finally the Court of Appeal, where a judge has again ruled in his favour.
He was dismissed three years ago for "serious misconduct" after he sat down on a flight to Vancouver during moderate turbulence.
The Employment Court later ruled that Air New Zealand had punished him for views expressed in his union role, and said his dismissal was unfair.
New Zealand Herald 30/6/11
The Council of Trade Unions says the head of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) should resign, after he suggested one reason women are paid less than men is because they take "sick days" once a month.
Responding to a Green Party bill seeking to require employers to record the gender of their employees along with pay levels, EMA chief executive Alasdair Thompson today admitted there was a gender pay gap - 12 percent according to figures - but said women took the most sick days.
"Why? Because once a month they have sick problems. Not all women, but some do, they have children they have to take time off to go home and take leave," he told NewstalkZB, therefore their productivity was lower.
"I don't like saying these things because it sounds like I'm sexist, but it's a fact of life."
Otago Daily Times 23/6/11
The Director of Civil Aviation wants to resume secretly searching for convictions commercial pilots may have.
If a High Court ruling goes in its favour, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) intends to seek any incriminating information from the Ministry of Justice several times a year.
At a judicial review hearing in the High Court at Wellington it emerged that the CAA planned to regularly forward the names of 100 pilots, selected randomly and without their knowledge, for scrutiny.
Otago daily Times 20/6/11
A law change has made it legal to install secret cameras to spy on workers, and companies are employing private detectives to do so.
Recently Wellington International Airport has fallen foul of the Employment Relations Authority for using a private investigator to install cameras to spy on the activities of a manager before the law was changed.
The airport recordings caught the duty manager engaged in "sexual activity" with a woman in an emergency management room and he was dismissed for serious misconduct.
The cameras were installed by private investigator Cedric Hardiman, who also managed the airport's taxi and parking facilities.
At the time, the Private Investigators and Security Guards Act prohibited investigators from making recordings without the consent of the person recorded. However, a law change that came into effect on April 1 has removed that part of the law and it is now legal for private investigators to make recordings.
Sunday Star Times 26/6/11
THE Government is backing a nationwide ban on gang patches at all buildings and property its departments own or rent.
National MP Todd McClay, who is behind the private members' bill, said his legislation had been in written in a way where it could not be the subject of legal challenges, clearly stating which government-run buildings and property, including car parks, it would apply to.
That includes all the country's state-funded schools, hospitals, airports and government departments such as Winz, ACC, Housing New Zealand, Sport and Recreation NZ, the IRD and the Ministry of Maori Development. It would not apply to the 66,000 state houses owned or managed by Housing New Zealand.
Stuff.co.nz 5/6/11
Housing New Zealand unfairly targeted three Lower Hutt women with eviction to get at their partners, a Human Rights Tribunal has been told. The three women, who have partners with gang links, are being threatened with eviction from Farmer Crescent in Pomare.
Dominion Post 20/6/11
The Housing Minister, Phil Heatley has confirmed tighter rules for people seeking a place on waiting lists for state houses. Under the changes, which come into force on 1 July, only the most urgent priority A and B cases will be eligible for state house waiting lists. Those rated a C or D will not qualify, although those already on the list will be allowed to stay there. Also from 1 July, all new tenancies will be reviewable once every three years, with tenants moved out of state housing if their circumstances improve significantly. Mr Heatley says elderly tenants and those with disabilities will undergo an office review only and are unlikely to be moved on. In another change, tenants issued with 90-day notices for destructive or abusive behaviour will face a year-long ban from re-applying for a state house tenancy.
Newszealand.blogspot.com 29/6/11
New Zealand was ranked the least-corrupt nation of 66 examined by the World Justice Project. The results are based on about 1,000 assessments from members of the general public in each country, as well as contributions from local legal experts.
New Zealand topped the “absence of corruption” list and placed in the top five in the world in seven of the eight categories of the Index.
http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2011/06/13/index-burnishes-new-zealands-reputation-as-least-corrupt/
The UN has recently come out against Britain, France, and New Zealand’s three strike laws that have been put in place to stop file sharing of copyrighted files. In all three of these countries if you are caught illegally sharing files on three occasions, you can be barred from internet access. The UN deemed this a human right abuse stating that cutting someone off from having internet access for a copyright infringement is “disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right.”
While several submissions on the law in New Zealand argued internet access was now a right, Commerce Minister Simon Power yesterday said he hadn't given that a great deal of thought. "But the legislation that we passed ... was thoroughly consulted over a two-year period. I'm confident that it's been through just about every test and every forum it could have been to get to where it is today."
The Government had no intention of altering it, he added.
New Zealand Herald 8/6/11
New Zealand has backed a statement made at the United Nations that the termination of an internet account is "generally not a proportionate sanction", despite introducing legislation that will eventually allow such a punishment.
Delivered by Sweden on behalf of New Zealand and 40 other countries at the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva, the statement endorsed a UN report that called the termination of internet access for alleged copyright infringement a violation of human rights.
http://www.3news.co.nz/NZ-backs-statement-opposing-Skynet-law/tabid/412/articleID/215282/Default.aspx
A planned crackdown on "cannabinoid" substances will severely curtail the use of controversial synthetic cannabis product Kronic, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has said.
Mr Dunne said an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 2005 targeting "Kronic", along with other widely available products such as "Spice" Aroma" and "Dream", was set to be passed by parliament within weeks.
It would restrict where the products could be advertised and sold, along with strengthening laws making them illegal to under-18s.
NZ Herald 17/6/11
A Judge in New Plymouth District Court discharged a police officer without conviction for assault.
The officer punched a prisoner, who was in a waist restraint, as two prison officers were forcing him into a police van.
The officer's counsel, Patrick Mooney, argued that a conviction for the police officer would have effects out of all proportion to the lower-grade assault. He also asked for continued name suppression arguing that it could adversely affect the officer when dealing with the public and criminals in future.
Judge Courtney agreed with Mr. Mooney, discharging the officer without conviction and ordering permanent name suppression.
NZ Herald 16/6/11
An international trade agreement that targets intellectual property (IP) rights infringers has been finalized. ACTA was negotiated by, amongst others, Australia, Canada, the US, Japan, Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Mexico, Singapore and, on behalf of EU countries, the European Commission.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a voluntary international treaty that seeks to provide standardised international enforcement of intellectual property rights. ACTA was negotiated in secret by the Governments of a collection of countries over the past three years.
The treaty has been controversial because of this secrecy surrounding its negotiation. The ACTA encourages customs officers to help identify intellectual property right violators and share the details with other countries.
"ACTA has several features that raise significant potential concerns for consumers’ privacy and civil liberties, for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet, legitimate commerce, and for developing countries’ ability to choose policy options that best suit their domestic priorities and level of economic development," the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties campaign group, said.
http://www.out-law.com/page-11970
Legal action is about to begin against hundreds of New Zealand expats who have not made any effort to repay millions of dollars in outstanding student loans. From today, authorities will start sending letters to Australia-based defaulters warning that legal action is being taken as a result of their ongoing refusal to pay up. The letters will be the first step in what will eventually end in court proceedings - and a possible bad credit rating - if repayments are not made. Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce told the Herald authorities would be targeting expats who are "seen to be deliberately flouting their opportunities to pay back" their loans. People who have "significant sums of money" owing will also be targeted.
Newszealand.blogspot.com 1/6/11
A new law that could demand immediate repayment of a student loan may be in place before the election. The Student Loan Scheme Bill, which Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says is designed to target the worst loan defaulters, would grant the Inland Revenue commissioner the power to recall entire loan balances, as well as give the courts power to prosecute anyone who did not comply. That would largely apply to those overseas, who were the worst defaulters, he said.
Newszealand.blogspot.com 6/6/11
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is "a big fan" of long acting contraception for solo mums but says her Government is "not quite" at the stage of making it compulsory.
NZ Herald 5/6/11
Round-up of civil liberty news for March 2011 (final version updated on 3/4/2011).
The Law Society’s concerns include the powers to arrest for an infringement offence and to demand information from individuals in an alcohol ban area. The Bill’s reverse onus provisions, which require people to prove their innocence if charged with a number of alcohol-related offences, are also a concern.
The Convenor of the Society’s Human Rights and Privacy Committee, Dr Andrew Butler, said the Bill proposed to make the breach of an alcohol ban an infringement offence with the power of arrest. This would make it the first infringement offence to carry a power of arrest. “The power of arrest should not lightly be used to detain people whose behaviour merely has the potential to escalate,” he said. The Law Society believes that setting such a precedent deserves more consideration, and agreed with the Law Commission’s conclusion that there were already ample powers of arrest where behaviour is objectionable.
Giving police officers the power to demand the name and address of people in an alcohol ban area also appeared to be inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act rights to silence, to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and also of freedom of expression.
Dr Butler said the Law Society also objected to provisions that did not appear to be compatible with the presumption of innocence protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Both provisions required the accused to prove that an element of the alleged offence did not exist. The Law Society recommended that these provisions be removed from the Bill.
The Human Rights Commission's annual Review of Race Relations in New Zealand - Tūi Tūi Tuituiā highlights some crucial priorities for race relations.
The media continue to report sporadic incidents of racially motivated violence, ranging from verbal abuse to severe physical assault. There is no way to establish the actual extent of racially motivated crime, because the Government has not yet honoured its commitment to the United Nations Human Rights council to introduce a system of data collection to capture this information.
Positives in New Zealand's race relations include the growth of te reo Māori and the Māori economy; Parliament reflecting the cultural diversity of the country; and the settling of historical claims for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. However, the report notes that last year's 'three strikes' legislation and the removal of prisoners' right to vote are in breach of human rights and will impact disproportionately on Māori.
Link: http://www.hrc.co.nz/race-relations/annual-review-of-race-relations/
Smith v Air New Zealand Ltd [2011] NZCA 20
In a decision released in February the Court of Appeal has found that Air New Zealand had discriminated against a disabled passenger but it wasn’t unlawful as it fell within the exception provided by Section 52 of the Human Rights. S52 states that providers must accommodate the needs of the disabled unless it would impose an “undue burden or hardship” on the provider. After considering the costs involved to Air New Zealand in providing extra oxygen for disabled passengers such as Smith, the Court held at that the airline couldn’t “reasonably be expected to provide supplementary oxygen without the imposition of a charge”.
In 2002 Valerie Smith complained to the Commission that Air New Zealand charged her extra for oxygen when she flew and she regarded this as discriminatory.
Link: http://www.hrc.co.nz/news-and-issues/disability/human-rights-case-update/
Justice Clifford ruled the Wanganui District Council exceeded its powers when it created the bylaw in 2009. A special act of Parliament allowed the council to control gang insignia, but not to ban it completely.
The judge ruled that was what the council effectively did by applying the restrictions to such a large area. The judge also ruled the council had not fully considered the effect such a wide-ranging ban would have on freedoms of expression guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.
Manawatu Standard 9/03/11
Banning patches will do nothing to affect Wanganui's gang membership, according to an expert in crime prevention.
Kim Workman believes that a ban could instead make the situation worse, by driving gang activity underground and creating a stand-off with police that cuts off information flow.
"All the evidence would suggest that suppression actually produces crime, because you are setting up a challenge, which is what the mob thrive on," he said.
Mr Workman is the director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment, a group that aims to inform the public about crime and get people talking about solutions.
Wanganui Chronicle 15/3/11
GISBORNE District Council will not follow in the footsteps of Wanganui by banning gang patches in the CBD. The matter came up at a Community Development Committee meeting yesterday, as councillors discussed a report on the council’s role in relation to gangs.
In her report, community development team leader Judy Livingston presented two possible responses to gang concerns — zero tolerance or prevention. The zero tolerance policy would mean banning gang patches in the CDB and seeing that gang members were sent to prison for a long time.
“The flipside is prevention. If we can reduce the number of young people joining gangs, it will benefit all of us. Young people who would have joined gangs can become productive members of society. It’s a win-win situation,” she said.
Gisborne Herald 17/3/11
A gang member has successfully overturned a landmark court order to have his gang patch destroyed.
Mongrel Mob member Rawiri Mana Tehau, 30, a patched member of the Central Hawke's Bay chapter, said he was still celebrating after the decision last month.
"The patch is my life, I'm pretty happy," Mr. Tehau said.
Mr. Tehau's patch was ordered to be destroyed on January 14 after his conviction in Hastings District Court on a charge of disorderly behaviour.
"The defendant's patch was not seized pursuant to a search warrant, it was seized at the time of his arrest," the judge wrote. He vacated the order and asked the patch be returned to Mr. Tehau.
Hawkes Bay Today 18/3/11
Prime Minister John Key yesterday announced the appointment yesterday of Lieutenant General Mateparae as Governor-General. He will take over Sir Anand Satyanand in August.
Lt Gen Mateparae was chief of the Defence Force until he retired in January and took over as head of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) the country's top spy agency. He will step down from this post when he becomes Governor-General.
Although Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae has only recently taken the reins of the spy agency GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau) he is currently involved in overseeing two controversial pieces of legislation he Search and Surveillance Bill and the SIS Amendment Bill., which it is alleged will seriously encroach on the civil liberties and freedoms of New Zealanders.
Global Peace And Justice Auckland spokesperson, John Minto claims that Mateparae's political views and instinctive interests lie outside what many New Zealanders feel is appropriate for this country.
Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00061/spymaster-not-good-choice-as-governor-general.htm
Awareness of Crimestoppers is growing with the past two months producing the highest call rates since the service was set up in New Zealand, chief executive Lou Gardiner said today.
Crimestoppers is an independent organisation that allowed people to phone in anonymously to provide information on crime.
In January, it took 982 calls, an average of 32 a day. In February, it received 840, an average of 30 a day. Mr Gardiner said those monthly figures were the two highest since Crimestoppers was launched in October 2009. The target of 10,000 calls for this year, an increase off 30 percent on the first 12 months of operation, was looking likely to be achieved, he said.
Drugs remained the crime that attracted calls and accounted for 60 percent of information received.
The next biggest categories were dishonesty (12 percent) and wanted persons (7 percent).
Otago Daily Times 15/3/11
Restrictions on the media’s right to be heard in respect of court name suppression orders under the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill appear arbitrary and should be changed, the New Zealand Law Society said
Speaking about the Society’s submission on the Bill to Parliament’s Justice and Electoral committee, the convenor of its criminal law committee, Jonathan Krebs, says the Bill currently restricts the right to be heard to official members of the media who are subject to the jurisdiction of either the Press Council or the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
“This seems an arbitrary basis on which to deny a right to be heard in respect of a suppression order,” Mr Krebs says. “Media who are not subject to the jurisdiction of one of the two complaints bodies may still have a proper interest in being heard.”
The Law Society’s submission states that the test of “extreme” hardship proposed for name suppression was pitched too high.
“We believe this is particularly so where the defendant still enjoys a presumption of innocence or has been acquitted, or where the hardship would be suffered by a person connected with the defendant,” Mr. Krebs says.
The Law Society’s submission also argues against raising the age at which victims can apply for publication to be permitted of identifying information about the person who has offended against them or about themselves, from the current 16 to 18.
“Because the Judge must be satisfied that the victim knows the nature and effect of the decision to apply for such an order, there seems to be no basis for increasing the age at which victims can apply for publication to be permitted,” Mr Krebs says.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00083/changes-to-proposed-name-suppression-rules-urged.htm
The Law Society’s written submission to the committee also highlighted its concern that measures in the Bill may threaten some of the long-established rights at the heart of this country’s justice system. It said the select committee should consider whether changes proposed by the Bill were a proportionate response to the drive for greater efficiencies in the criminal trial process.
“Efficiency gains should not be at the expense of rights such as the right to a fair trial, the Bill is proposing to amend the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 to restrict the right to trial by jury contained in clause 24(e). This is the first time ever that there has been an amendment to such a right as contained in that Act.”
The Law Society’s submission stated that there was no clear evidence of significant cost savings from raising the threshold for the right to trial by jury from offences carrying a maximum penalty of more than three months’ imprisonment, to more than three years.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00082/debate-needed-on-criminal-justice-system-goals.htm
Criminal barrister Patrick Winkler appeared before Parliament's justice and electoral committee today to make a submission on the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill.
The Bill required a criminal defendant disclose their case to the prosecution before trial, a move that would take away an extremely important right of silence, Mr Winkler said.
Barrister Roderick Mulgan appeared with Mr Winkler and said the Bill failed to identify any significant benefit from the proposed change.
Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias has also criticised the reform. In a written submission she said the "provisions are contrary to long-standing principle, being inconsistent with a defendant's right to have the prosecution prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, not being obliged to assist the prosecution by volunteering information".
Otago Daily Times 20/3/11
New Zealand is the best country in the Commonwealth to be born a girl, research released today has found. The study used eight indicators including life expectancy at birth, pay equality, expected number of years in school, political participation and the number of teen pregnancies.
New Zealand received an "A" in five out of eight indicators and was the "star performer" in terms of pay equality, with women earning 72 per cent of what men earn.
However, the study was not all-good news for New Zealand. New Zealand's Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Judy McGregor, said the research results were "wonderful" news for the country but added there was still room for improvement. "We are leaders in gender equality but we can't sit on our laurels," Dr McGregor said. “There was still a lot to be done in areas such as women's income compared to men's and the number of women in Parliament.”
New Zealand Herald 14/3/11
Rainbow Wellington says there are a number of areas where civil and human rights advances are stalling, whilst homophobic bullying in schools continues to happen unhindered.
Rainbow Wellington also rounded off 2010 with an open letter to Prime Minister John Key, where the organisation expressed its disappointment at the record of the National-led government regarding civil and human rights in this country.
Among these concerns was the lack of any progress on the issue of the extension of rights of adoption by same sex couples, or any indication that the current government has an interest in pursuing this issue at all, let alone giving it any priority.
Rainbow Wellington chair Tony Simpson says the same applies for same sex marriage, which he says is a necessity for New Zealand. “Only a few scant years ago we could be said to be leading the world in the introduction of civil unions, we are now being surpassed in this regard by many other developed countries who have taken the further step in the direction of same sex marriage.”
Almost 2000 prisoners nationwide have taken steps to quit smoking in the lead up to this year's prison smoking ban, the Corrections Department says. Free nicotine replacement therapy patches (NRT) and lozenges are being provided to prisoners in the lead-up to the smoking ban, which will begin on July 1. "Since the ban was announced, NRT uptake has increased steadily over the last seven months," assistant general manager of Prison Services Brendan Anstiss said. "This is a good sign that prisoners are aware of the ban and are taking a proactive step to give up smoking." Corrections is also working with The Quit Group and the Ministry of Health. Other support initiatives include distribution of fact sheets, posters and pamphlets about the ban.
Source: http://newszealand.blogspot.com/2011/03/prisoners-give-up-smoking-ahead-of-ban.html
Police Minister Judith Collins is taking a firm stand on police pursuits, saying those who flee are usually dangerous and have something to hide.
More fleeing drivers were killed in police pursuits last year than the previous four years combined. Collins said police policies were "absolutely in accordance with international best practice" and every time someone was killed the Independent Police Conduct Authority held an inquiry.
Ms Collins' office provided NZPA further statistics showing that in 2010 there were 2211 fleeing driver incidents with 354 crashes (16 percent), in 2009 it was 2349 with 388 crashes (16.5 percent), 2155 with 505 crashes in 2008 (23.4 percent), 2435 and 584 crashes in 2007 (24 percent) and 2234 and 546 crashes in 2006 (24.4 percent).
Ms Collins office said analysis of the licence status of fleeing drivers showed 50.6 percent were disqualified, suspended, unlicensed or otherwise prohibited from driving. Research showed they were a high crash risk regardless of whether they try to flee from Police.
Around 30 percent of cars involved in fleeing driver incidents had been stolen.
Otago Daily Times 20/3/11
Pro-cannabis activists staged a protest outside Timaru Courthouse to support a cancer sufferer facing jail time for cannabis charges.
Peter John Frances Davy, 51, is threatening to go on a hunger strike if he is jailed for possession of cannabis, cultivating cannabis, and importing cannabis seed.
Dakta Green, who founded The Daktory, which promotes the medical use of cannabis, said NORML (National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Law) supporters left Auckland last Friday and arrived in Timaru to stage a peaceful protest on Tuesday night, The Timaru Herald reported.
Davy admitted the charges in February and was due to be sentenced yesterday in Timaru District Court but the case was adjourned to April 20 so that new counsel could receive disclosure.
Otago Daily Times 17/3/11
A levy on convicted offenders is budgeted to cost taxpayers almost half a million dollars more than it would raise in its first year.
The $50 levy on every offender, which came into effect last July, was expected to raise $2 million in its first year - less than the $2.4m it would cost to set up and administer.
A total of $1.3m was spent on setting up the scheme while $1.1m would be spent on collecting payments in the first year.
Otago Daily Times 16/3/11
A Bill that aims to provide greater transparency and accountability for the quality of laws and regulations has been introduced to Parliament.
Regulatory Reform Minister Rodney Hide said today his Regulatory Standards Bill would require all proposed new laws and regulations to be assessed against a set of accepted principles.
"The bill forces ministers and MPs to be more honest and clear about how their laws and rules will affect New Zealanders," Mr Hide said.
"It will make law-making transparent and our lawmakers accountable."
However, the Bill could significantly change the relationship between Parliament and the courts. It would give unelected judges the sorts of powers that courts are not well equipped to exercise, and that should instead belong to democratically elected MPs," says Alex Penk, Policy and Research Manager at Maxim Institute. The Bill would allow courts to issue declarations that a particular law does not meet the Bill's principles of good law-making if they think the inconsistency can't be justified. But this means asking courts to get involved in political value judgements. The courts would also be empowered to reinterpret provisions in other laws to make them more consistent with the Bill's principles. A re-interpreted provision could end up looking quite different to what Parliament originally intended."
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00151/regulatory-standards-bill-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing.htm
Efforts to get a legal crackdown on forced marriages appear to have made an impact on Parliament. The Government is responding favourably to a petition opposing the forced marriage of underage women. The petitioners are calling for new laws to allow intervention and prevention of what they see as a major human rights abuse. Forced marriage is illegal and the Government considers further legislation would be unlikely to have a significant impact on it. However it says it takes the petitioners' concerns very seriously and will review existing law to see if it can be strengthened to introduce extra protections for those at risk.
http://newszealand.blogspot.com/2011/03/
Lawyers are expressing concern about changes to the system of allocating legal-aid lawyers, which they say are causing disruptions and delays for clients, lawyers and courts. Since November 29, legal-aid lawyers have been allocated on a roster basis to clients facing lower level charges. Neither clients nor lawyers have any choice of assignment and there is a waiting period while lawyers are assigned.
Previously, people could choose their own lawyer and potentially get their case under way immediately.
Lawyers have said the new system was resulting in legal-aid clients appearing in court unrepresented, being assigned multiple lawyers, being remanded in custody unnecessarily and not getting the best representation because the lawyer they were assigned might not know their history.
The New Zealand Law Society says it agrees with some of those concerns and had raised several issues with the LSA.
It was particularly concerned that some legal-aid clients who should get bail straight away had, since the new system started, been remanded in custody three or four times before a lawyer was assigned, identified and then became available.
Otago Daily Times 21/3/11
New Zealand has joined the ranks of an increasing number of governments that have issued warnings for businesses thinking about cloud computing.
The NZ Inland Revenue Department, which is responsible for taxation, issued an alert earlier this week reminding businesses that by law, the agency must keep tax records in the country. With cloud computing, however, the data might be stored just about anywhere on the planet. There's no issue with keeping backups of records overseas, the alert continued; yet the law says primary copies of accounts need to be kept in New Zealand, seemingly so they are instantly accessible to tax inspectors.
In New Zealand, a group of Pacific Islands’ parents are taking the Ministry of Education to court over its decision to suspend the production of Pacific language books indefinitely. They say that losing Pacific language educational material breaches human rights of their children.
The Ministry of Education says it has paused production while it researches the best way to meet Pacific students' needs.
Shirley Maihi, the principal of Finlayson Park Primary School in Auckland, where many of the students are of Pacific Island origin, stated, “many of our students are now being born in New Zealand, so they don't have the elders of their home country to tutor them in their own language. A lot of our parents have been born in New Zealand, so it won't be very long, in a couple of generations that their language will be lost, unless in schools like ours we support them to continue their learning in their own language. So without that, yes they will lose their own identity, their cultural background and so on.
We want to be noticed, the outcome we want probably most of all would be that it is the right of these children to be educated in their own language, as well as in English. This is a bilingual situation, but we want all rights of all of these ethnicities to be recognised.”
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201103/s3172197.htm
The trend of installing security cameras in Waikato schools has civil libertarians worried, despite claims that the cameras are in the war against vandals and thieves.
Most cameras in Waikato schools have been installed during the past three or four years and the principals using them are enthusiastic about the benefits.
Cambridge High School principal Phil McCreery said the 26 cameras around the school, which were installed in 2009, had cut theft by more than 50 per cent and recently helped police identify and arrest a weekend trespasser.
But that security came at a significant cost.
Kitting out the new technology block cost about $10,000 and upgrading a couple of other areas will cost the school $15,000 to $20,000, which will come from the annual operations grant.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/4809342/Alarm-at-high-school-security-cameras
New software is now available for New Zealand parents so they can monitor their children's mobile phone use and location.
The developers of Myfone say it is aimed at helping parents protect their children from sexual predators and bullies.
The software requires the permission of the mobile phone user once it is downloaded.
Police plan to start targeting nudists at a Kapiti Coast beach after repeated complaints from residents.
Sergeant Noel Bigwood, of Otaki, met about 16 residents of Te Hapua Rd, Te Horo, last week after hearing complaints about blatantly offensive sexual behaviour. He urged them to report such behaviour and write down descriptions and car registration numbers.
"One or two people need to be made an example of so the sunlovers can get on with their discreet sunloving, the gay community can get on with being a discreet gay community and other beach users can use the beach without anything being shoved in their face," he said.
"If we make an example of one or two, the rest will fall off the line and people will be able to go about their lawful business undisturbed," Mr Bigwood said.
Dominion post 29/3/11
Legal products that mimic cannabis won't be able to be sold to children in future, but adults will still be able to buy them.
The Government is to limit sales of synthetic cannabinoid substances (synthetic substances producing similar effects to cannabis) to those under 18 under the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 , Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said.
Matt Bowden, co-founder of Stargate International, a company promoting thedevelopment of safer, legal alternatives to addictive and dangerous drugs, was delighted by the announcement. “Minister Dunne has made the right call by moving to prevent the sale of cannabinomimetics to those under 18. I am also pleased to see that the advertisement, packaging and sale of cannabinomimetics will be regulated to protect the public…This is a move away from prohibition, and towards an evidence-based drug policy.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00305/dunne-makes-right-decision-on-synthetic-cannabis.htm
New laws that allow employers to sack any worker in their first 90 days in a job, without any reason and without the right of appeal, and limit union access to worksites come into force on April 1st. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and Service and Food Workers Union: Ngā Ringa Tota (SFWU) urge employers to follow the example of aged care providers Oceania, BUPA and Metlifecare who will not use the new provisions.
NZNO Industrial adviser, Rob Haultain says an important reason these three employers have agreed to maintain existing rights is because they are run by practical people who understand and accept the role unions play in the employment relationship.
The Out@Work Council says that the new workplace laws will make it easier for employers to discriminate against workers based on their gender identity or sexuality. The extension of the 90-day fire at will legislation means that an employer can sack any worker in the first 90 days of their employment without having to give a reason. Sacked workers will have no right of appeal.
Also, from April 1, employers will be able to request staff provide a medical certificate after only one day off work. Previously a worker had to have had three days off work before employees could be requested to prove they were sick.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00317/work-is-less-fair-from-tomorrow.htm
Before the employment law changes come into effect on April 1st, PSA union officials were already being denied access to union members working at the Affco Imlay meat plant in Wanganui.
Under a collective agreement between the public sector union and the meat inspectors’ employer AsureQuality, the PSA must give reasonable notice of any meetings with its members. Despite doing so, PSA union organiser Mike Farrell was denied access when he gave timely notice of his intention to meet with meat inspector union members working at the Affco Imlay plant.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1103/S00227/a-taste-of-things-to-come-union-denied-access.htm
Round up of civil liberty news for March 2012.
A 39-year-old company director said he is shocked and insulted after being turned away from a bar for being "too old". When the age issue has arisen in the past, including at a hen party in Hamilton two years ago and a Wellington student bar in 2008, the Human Rights Commission said bars could not exclude people on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, political or religious beliefs.
Bay of Plenty Times 19/3/12
Human Rights Commission lawyers have agreed to take up a complaint alleging that state schools are discriminating against thousands of disabled pupils.
IHC claims the state education system is failing pupils with special needs and illegally denying them the right to an education at their local schools. Discrimination included conditions limiting the hours disabled children could attend class, or pupils being sent home when teacher aides were sick: access to extracurricular activities such as school plays or camps denied because of disabilities; parents asked to contribute financially to keep their disabled children in mainstream classrooms; and suspension for disability-related behaviour, not misconduct.
Stuff.co.nz 12/3/12
“The failure of Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier to stand down at the end of his eight-year term has raised constitutional issues according to Bruce Tichbon, spokesperson for Families Apart Require Equality (FARE).
“The Family Courts Act states that Principle Family Court Judges can only serve for eight years without reappointment. Judge Boshier was appointed on 12 March 2004. Claims that he is exempt because he was appointed before the Act came into force simply do not wash...At very least, the public are entitled to an explanation of this constitutional state of affairs, and some indication of when Judge Boshiers term will actually expire now that the law restricting him to an eight-year term is to be ignored”, said Tichbon
scoop.co.nz 12/3/12
Flaws in prison health systems are revealed in a report entitled Investigation of the Department of Corrections in relation to the Provision, Access and Availability of Prisoner Health Services. Areas of concern highlighted by Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem and David McGee include unused medication wasting taxpayer money; a lack of resources to provide adequate dental services; poor management of mentally unwell prisoners; prisoners being denied prescribed medication; and paracetamol being "dished out like lollies".
The ombudsman's investigation found there was only one medical officer at a prison with 666 inmates who was contracted to work four hours a week. Another officer worked three hours at a different prison with 112 inmates, while a third officer worked 20 hours a week at another prison with 280 inmates.
New Zealand Herald 4/3/12
The Corrections Amendment Bill aims to reform prison management systems, and includes a provision to stop prisoners from deliberately watering down urine samples for drug tests. Under the proposed change, it would be an offence for a prisoner to consume "any substance with intent to dilute or contaminate the sample''.
Mr Brooking, who is the clinical manager for Alcohol and Drug Assessment and Counselling, said, "Prisoners are now facing a kind of double jeopardy whereby they can be charged if they don't produce a sample, and if they drink water to help them produce a sample, which is not an unreasonable thing to do, they can get charged for that as well''.
Otago Daily Times 26/3/12
According to an international report undertaken by the British Audit Office New Zealand has the second highest imprisonment rate among comparable countries. Jarrod Gilbert, Howard League advocate, said that international comparisons showed that New Zealand’s prison population was growing at the fastest rate – 17 percent over four years. He further highlighted that Māori imprisonment rates are enormous – 700 per 100,000 of the population compared with199 overall.
Scoop.co.nz 25/3/12
Criminal lawyers are suing to have the Government's new legal aid payment scheme declared unlawful.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) have sought interim relief and a judicial review of the decision to establish fixed fees for criminal legal aid. Lawyers will now be paid a set fee based on the seriousness of their client's charges, not how much work they actually do on it. They were previously paid an hourly rate.
The change was made to satisfy a Government directive of making a 10 per cent cut to the legal aid scheme, the CBA says.
Stuff.co.nz 6/3/12
The Office of the Judicial Conduct Commissioner which investigates claims of improper behaviour by judges is floundering under a rising tide of complaints. Commissioner Sir David Gascoigne said, "The present level of resources - especially people, but also premises and equipment - is increasingly inadequate for the task in hand. This is a serious issue, detrimentally affecting the effectiveness of the office."
High Court's Justice Tim Brewer said it was clear the legislation that established the commission was not working as intended, as "The purpose of the act is, in part, to enhance public confidence in the judicial system”, Justice Brewer said.
New Zealand Herald 13/3/12
Figures released by the New Zealand Drug Detection Agency (NZDDA) showed 52,124 tests were carried out last year – a 77 per cent increase from 2010. New Zealand Drug Detection Agency (NZDDA) Gisborne general manager Steven Trafford said, “Last year we drug-tested new industries such as seasonal staff, which has never really happened before. The whole process is ‘becoming the norm’”.
Gisborne Herald 17/3/12
Despite making up half of the population, as of last year women occupied just 9.3% of the board seats on the NZX's 100 biggest companies.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, Port of Tauranga, Cavalier Corporation, New Zealand Oil and Gas, Infratil and GPG are some of the listed firms that have never had so much as a single female director.
The NZX aim to launch requirements this year to force companies to disclose exactly how diverse boards and management teams are. NZX chief executive Mark Weldon said a consultation document that included its proposed rules on diversity disclosure would be sent to listed firms on March 29.
Some European countries have taken aggressive steps to tackle the issue, for example, in 2003, Norway introduced a 40% quota for women on corporate boards. Listed companies not complying were threatened with exclusion from the stock exchange. France and Spain introduced similar laws and the European Union has been moving towards an EU-wide quota.
Shareholders' Association Spokesperson Des Hunt said, “there is a lot of information that suggests if you can get more women on boards, with the right skill level, then companies perform better".
Otago Daily Times 13/3/12
Parliament has passed the Government's controversial Search and Surveillance Bill by 61 votes to 57.
Justice Minister Judith Collins said the new law brought "order, certainty, clarity and consistency" to "messy, unclear and outdated" laws, adding that there were a number of safeguards in the legislation to balance law enforcement and investigation powers with human rights values.
Critics of the Bill have claimed that it fundamentally alters the balance of powers between the State and individuals in this country at the cost of some core concepts of justice. Some of its clauses include the removal of both the right to silence, and the right not to incriminate oneself (right not to participate in one's own prosecution). The Bill also allows warrant-less surveillance, it equates 24-hour surveillance with a one-off search, it allows computers to be remote-accessed and gives police, Customs and Internal Affairs the right to break into homes to bug and film people. It also allows judges to decide whether journalists can protect their sources or not.
Thomas Beagle from the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties told TV ONE's Breakfast the changes represent a dangerous invasion of privacy. The full interview can be seen here:http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/fears-new-surveillance-law-too-powerful-4793546/videostuff.co.nz
A Tuhoe leader Tamati Kruger says a commission of inquiry is needed on police tactics during Operation 8. The tribe gathered affidavits from Ruatoki residents immediately after the 2007 raids when armed, balaclava-wearing police sealed off the settlement at checkpoints. Those affidavits describe experiences where police detained people for hours without food or water, without formally arresting them; subjected women to intimate body searches; herded people into sheds while property searches were under way; and photographed residents at the roadblock at the valley entrance.
Police Minister Anne Tolley rejected the call stating, "While it isn't appropriate for me to talk about something that is before the courts, I can say I don't believe there should be an inquiry".
New Zealand Herald 22/3/12
Deaf MP Mojo Mathers has been granted funding for support in the House to be paid by Parliamentary Services. She said the decision was a "very positive result" for the disability community and for herself as an MP. She added that, “This decision provides genuine equity for treatment for people with disability who get elected in to Parliament."
The move to introduce captioning on Parliament TV was particularly welcome, she said. It would greatly increase access to the political debate and Parliament to the 700,000 New Zealanders with a hearing impairment.
Dominion Post 9/3/12
Nelson Bays area commander Inspector Steve Greally has admitted some of his officers have violated traffic laws and operating procedures while on patrol in Takaka. He has opened an investigation into charges that police were entrapping motorists by driving without headlights.
The Press 9/3/12
Plans have been confirmed about the phasing in of an updated taser model that fires two high-powered charges. The existing Taser X26s will be replaced with Taser X2, that can fire a back-up shot removing the need to reload after the first shot.
Campaign Against the Taser representative Marie Dyhrberg said there needed to be more publication and debate before introducing the new technology, adding that "If police were working at improving de-escalation skills then that would bring more confidence that the instances of any abuse would be greatly minimised.''
New Zealand Herald 28/3/12
Private details of more than 9000 ACC claims – some featuring well-known people – have been emailed to a person who should not have received them, in what has been described as one of the worst privacy breaches in New Zealand history.
The details included personal information on nearly 250 clients from ACC's most secure unit – the sensitive claims unit. The sensitive claims unit is a special unit containing ACC's most sensitive claimants, including sexual abuse and rape victims. Full names, the nature of each claim and dispute, and individual claim numbers were among the information revealed.
Senior management at ACC were told three months ago but made no effort to investigate or contain the breach with the recipient.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said New Zealand laws are behind other jurisdictions in not providing for mandatory reporting of data privacy breaches and her office is developing a view on the need for there to be consequences for data breaches.
Waikato Times 13/3/12
New Zealand has made "solid progress" in improving race relations in the past five years but still suffers from continuing racial prejudice and inequality, the race relations commissioner says.
The Human Rights Commission's annual review of race relations notes several achievements, including the introduction of a new school curriculum emphasising the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi, and a wider appreciation for the increasing religious diversity in New Zealand, but it also highlights problems such as the continuing discrimination and harassment experienced by Asian New Zealanders and the continuing disadvantage experienced by Maori and Pacific people.
Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said barriers continuing to undermine positive race relations included racial prejudice, and entrenched views and negative attitudes towards migrants, refugees, the Treaty and indigenous rights.
Dominion Post 8/3/12
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act show some of the council's $126,673 security costs at Aotea Square and other sites included a payment to private investigators and security firm Thompson & Clark. The company was one of three security firms the council hired to manage and evict the protest.
In 2007, investigative journalist Nicky Hager found that the Auckland company had paid a student to infiltrate environmental group Save Happy Valley for state-owned enterprise Solid Energy. Last year it was caught out attaching a tracking device to an animal rights campaigner's car.
New Zealand Herald 1/3/12
Round-up of civil liberty news for November and December 2011. There is also our yearly review.
UNICEF NZ is launching a new children's picture book, 'For Each and Every Child'/ He Taonga Tonu te Tamariki', to celebrate and champion the rights of children in New Zealand. The book's launch coincides with the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC).
The book will be launched at libraries, schools and early childhood centres across New Zealand. The 'Read & Rights' events will introduce the book to children in their local communities so that children can learn about and discover the relevance of their own set of human rights. The book features Maori text alongside the English, with a foreword written by Chief Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft.
voxy.co.nz 9/11/11
Child advocates are hailing new laws giving wide-sweeping power to prosecute all those turning a blind eye to assaults on the very young.
The Crimes Amendment Act (No3) becomes law on March 19 and will allow police to charge everyone in a household with failing to protect a child.
Waikato Times 7/12/11
An Ethiopian man who appealed against his conviction for a Wellington rape, claiming the quality of interpreting provided during his trial was inadequate, has failed to have the conviction overturned. However, the Supreme Court recognised that the trial "did not at times reflect best practice''.
In it’s ruling, the Supreme Court said Abdula's appeal raised an issue that was central to fairness in the administration of criminal justice, which concerned the right of accused people who did not speak English to hear and understand the case being presented against them.
Defendants were dependant on effective interpretation of what was said in court if they were to understand proceedings and have a real opportunity to present a full defence to the criminal charges they faced, the judgement reads.
In future cases, the judgment said, interpretation should not become simultaneous with the giving of evidence. This would give accused time to react appropriately and would avoid the risk of the interpreter missing passages of evidence.
The interpreter should also speak in a voice loud enough for all in the courtroom to hear, plus an audio recording should be made of all criminal trials in which interpretation was required.
While the standard of interpreters in court proceedings was high, "it is not one of perfection'', the Supreme Court said.
Otago Daily Times 1/11/11
Two new drug courts planned for Auckland will follow the American model and feature random compulsory drug and alcohol tests for offenders enrolled in the programme. Courts currently relied on offenders self-reporting about their drug and alcohol use.
The Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Courts would be targeted at the highest-risk offenders and addicts and rely on abstinence that would be regularly checked, and have been funded for a two court pilot that will probably begin in about July next year.
Offenders who are identified as having offended due to their addiction would have to plead guilty early on but would enter the AOD court system before sentencing. They would have regular appearances before the same judge, undergo rehabilitation, do community work and pay reparation on average for 15 to 18 months.
Stuff.co.nz 3/11/11
A bill that would deny prisoners compensation for ill-treatment breaches the Bill of Rights Act, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has said. Former justice minister Simon Power introduced the bill in October.
Under current law victims can claim compensation awarded to prisoners and Mr. Power wants to make sure anything left over goes to the victim support fund he set up which pays for counselling and support services.
Mr. Finlayson said "Prisoners are especially vulnerable to misuse of state power...denying them an effective remedy is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act." If the bill is passed, it would be likely to "draw negative attention" from the UN Human Rights Committee.
An adverse report from Mr Finlayson doesn't prevent Parliament passing a bill.
Yahoo.nz news 23/12/11
Prime Minister, John Key, has proposed keeping criminals at high risk of re-offending behind bars even after they've finished their sentences. Offenders would remain at a secure facility under a new "civil detention order" until the Parole Board was convinced they were safe for release.
Law and order spokeswoman Judith Collins said applications would be made to the High Court for offenders to be held in custody after finishing their jail sentence.
The new proposals were expected to apply to between five and 12 offenders over a 10-year period.
New Zealand Herald 7/11/11
The Employment Court has found an employer can't introduce a 90-day trial period into an employment contract after an employment contract has already begun. The court also found that if a 90-day trial period is to be included in an employment contract, it must be bargained for fairly.
In his decision, Judge Graeme Colgan said the 90-day trial period must be in writing in the employment agreement and the employee must be given time to seek independent advice on the employment contract before agreeing to it.
Waikato Times 6/12/11
Dunedin police have said removing the Occupy Dunedin protesters from the Octagon "is not a straightforward matter' and any action must be both reasonable and lawful. In a statement released this afternoon, Dunedin/Clutha Area Commander, Inspector Greg Sparrow, said the power to trespass people protesting in a public space "must be exercised reasonably and balance rights and freedoms…This is a public space and legally, it is not simply a straightforward matter of police visiting the site and removing people from it". The police claimed that they had no reason to believe that the activities of the protestors could justify intervention.
Otago Daily Times 2/11/11
Veteran protester John Minto won a High Court victory with a judge ruling that his megaphone protest against an Israeli tennis player was not disorderly behaviour. "It goes without saying that a verbalised protest may offend or disturb a member of the public who either disagrees with what is said or takes umbrage at the disruption of his or her own legitimate activities," the judgment says. "But disruption to an individual's enjoyment of a sporting event is not the same thing as disruption of public order."
Stuff.co.nz 12/11/11
Government officials seized an “indecent” book, Bloody Mama by Robert Thom, which was banned in 1971, from a Wellington bookstore. The book was deemed indecent and banned by the now defunct Indecent Publications Tribunal 40 years ago, however the ruling still stands.
A person can be fined up to $50,000 or sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison if they possess a banned book under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993.
An organisation can be fined up to $200,000 for distributing a banned book and an individual can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.
There are 1319 books banned in New Zealand and a further 728 restricted in some way.
Decisions on more than two-thirds of the restricted or banned books were made before 1987.
Dominion Post 23/11/11
A new version of Whanganui's gang patch ban will have insignia outlawed at parks, sports grounds and shopping centres, rather than the entire city.
Mayor Annette Main said it would home in on specific points in the city where large groups of people gathered or there was a history of "incidents" taking place. "It's mostly our parks, sports grounds and shopping centres, both urban and central. It's quite similar to our liquor ban areas.
Waikato Times 28/11/11
A caregiver who left a severely disabled man alone in a hot van until he wet himself has been ordered to face a Human Rights Tribunal hearing.
The tribunal has the power to award compensation or order exemplary damages payments.
New Zealand Herald 12/12/11
Nazima Khatun left her South Taranaki home earlier this year to escape what she says was a decade of being treating like a domestic slave. However, when she finally plucked the courage to leave her husband, who had been convicted and discharged for common assault against her, she effectively became an illegal immigrant, as she and her three children are tied to her estranged husband's work visa.
Hawera Rape Crisis manager Pam Bassett said that women who leave their partners were potentially deporting themselves while the men, in most cases, continued to live and work in the country.
Immigration New Zealand Visa Services general manager Nicola Hogg acknowledged the "difficult" situation and said support could be provided under a "victims of domestic violence" category. Under that category, applicants who met set requirements could be granted a work visa and later apply for residence in New Zealand. However, Ms Khatun does not qualify for this because her husband was not a New Zealand citizen or resident.
Stuff.co.nz 17/12/11
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned actions by the New Zealand police against news organisations over the “tea pot” tapes, whereby a journalist inadvertently recorded the prime ministers conversation while having tea in a publicity stunt with ACT member John Banks.
Jacqueline Park, Asia-Pacific director of the IFJ, said police demands on media outlets were "alarming'', warning it could be interpreted as an attempt to suppress media freedom.
New Zealand Herald 18/11/11
The Attorney General is seeking almost $14,000 in costs from Bradley Ambrose, who made the recording and had sought a declaration from the High Court at Auckland over the recording's legality. The court declined his request.
The decision to seek court costs has been slammed as part of a dangerous government attack on the media. Otago University politics lecturer Bryce Edwards in expressing concern that the decision signalled a warning to the media from the Government, said,
“You have to be careful, you have to not challenge the powers that be, not take too strong a role in keeping the Government of the day and other politicians held to account.
"That's just incredibly dangerous. This is the kind of thing we expect in more authoritarian countries than New Zealand.''
Dr Edwards noted other freelance journalists had been singled out by the Government, including Jon Stephenson and Nicky Hager, who came under fire this year for their reporting on New Zealand's involvement in Afghanistan.
Mainstream media outlets had also been subjected to the Government's "extraordinarily aggressive and hostile'' approach, he said citing Speaker Lockwood Smith's decision to ban the New Zealand Herald from the parliamentary press gallery for 10 days after a reporter took a photo of a protester in the public gallery in the House.
Otago Daily Times 28/12/11
Facebook and Twitter users were warned to be careful what they posted online on the day of the General Election or they could face hefty fines for breaching election rules.
On Election Day it is an offence to publish anything intended or likely to influence people before they vote. Political parties must remove all billboards, and media must not publish anything about the election before 7pm. Fines for breaching the rules are up to $20,000..
Stuff.co.nz 25/11/11
Police have declined to reveal further information about how they thwarted Greenpeace plans to protest at Port Taranaki.
Greenpeace raised concerns at the level of police scrutiny waiting for activists as they arrived in New Plymouth to demonstrate over the arrival of the seismic survey ship Polarcus Alima in October.
Five police cars and 10 officers met the group just south of New Plymouth and a police launch had been brought in with the expectation of a protest on the water.
At the time Simon Boxer, of Auckland, said the level of police presence and readiness raised questions about how they got their information.
The Taranaki Daily News requested further details about the police operation, under the Official Information Act, including where the police launch came from, when it arrived at Port Taranaki, how police were aware of the plans to protest at the ship's arrival, whether Greenpeace members were under surveillance, what surveillance methods were used and whether other government agencies were involved in the operation.
Inspector David White, of Central District police headquarters, turned down the request.
"Police are withholding this information ... in that to release that information would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of law, including the prevention, investigation and detection of offences," Mr White said.
The only information Mr White would provide was that New Plymouth police were in charge of the operation run by area commander Inspector Blair Telford.
Taranaki Daily News 10/11/11
Almost 40 police officers have been investigated for using the police national database to spy on New Zealanders for no valid reason during the last four years.
Since February 2008, police have investigated 38 staff for accessing the police National Intelligence Application (NIA) for non-work related purposes, according to figures released under the Official Information Act.
Earlier this year it was revealed that North Shore Senior Constable Terry Beatson accessed the NIA more than a dozen times over a four year period to leak information to his wife to help her in a custody battle with her ex-husband.
The ex-husband reportedly uncovered the leak when he noticed private information about him was contained in an affidavit his wife filed with the Family Court.
It's understood Beatson was disciplined but not fired over the incident.
Police refused to release details on the investigations to ''protect the privacy'' of those involved.
Stuff.co.nz 23/11/11
Palmerston North residents are being urged to consult police before holding parties after 13 people were arrested at a drunken gathering in the city.
People organising parties in the Christmas and New Year period were advised to register any upcoming festivities with police.
The police party register, located at the Palmerston North police station, provides police with information about parties, and allows them to offer hosts safety tips.
Manawatu Standard 20/12/11
A Pakistani man has been charged after he rang police communications and told them he "loves the New Zealand police".
The police charged him with using a telecommunications device to knowingly give a fictitious message.
The man is due to reappear in court on January 13.
Stuff.co.nz 20/12/11
Gisborne Lawyer Allan Hall has pointed out that Maori, as an official language of New Zealand, and because of the Maori Language Act, banks accept cheques written in Maori, and so too should a cheque recipient.
He spoke up after a cheque written in Maori, at the Gisborne McDonald’s Restaurant, was questioned because it was written in Maori.
Gisborne Herald 10/12/11
Round-up of civil liberty news for October 2011.
“Claims that the drop in reported offending is the result of ‘tough on crime’ policies, including increased Police powers, tazers, three strikes and increased policing numbers, are not borne out by the facts” says Kim Workman, of Rethinking Crime and Punishment, adding that “we should start talking about the Police being ‘smart on crime’ rather than ‘tough on crime’.”
Crime has been dropping in New Zealand since the mid –1990’s, but recent dramatic drops in the reporting of low-level offending, is due in part to the intelligent use of Police diversion and alternative action, argues Workman.
“If the Police can continue to defer the prosecution of low level offenders, it reduces the likelihood that they will eventually be imprisoned. It is low-level offenders who if imprisoned, are the most likely to reoffend on leaving. Alternative disposition is therefore likely to have a positive effect in reducing the imprisonment rate.”
scoop.co.nz 10/4/11
A bill that re-directs to victims of crime all compensation paid to prisoners was introduced to Parliament Justice Minister Simon Power.
The Prisoners' and Victims' Claims (Redirecting Prisoner Compensation) Amendment Bill provides that any compensation awarded to a prisoner and not paid to the direct victims must be used to fund general services for victims of crime.
Otago daily Times 13/10/11
The Sentencing and Parole Reform Act, which established the system of ‘three strikes’ for repeat offenders, came into effect last June. Since then only one prisoner, a recidivist robber, has earned a second “strike” to, but 574 others have earned a first strike.
New Zealand Herald 16/10/11
The Sensible Sentencing Trust is setting up a website listing teachers, including ones still at schools, who have convictions.
The Trust had recently completed a dossier of convicted teachers, who had not received name suppression. Several were still teaching.
The Teacher’s Council already has an online database where parents or prospective employers can check on the status of a teacher, but it does not stipulate if they have criminal convictions. Council director Peter Lind has said that the processes for dealing with teachers with criminal convictions are very robust.
Stuff.co.nz 15/10/11
Manawatu schools will continue to use sniffer dogs despite a move by police to stop random drug-dog searches in schools.
After changes to the Education Ministry’s search and seizure of drugs and weapons guidelines in August, police have been legally advised to stop carrying out random sniffer-dog drug searches in schools.
A police spokeswoman said the advice from lawyers was that a “generalised search for the purposes of gathering evidence for prosecution is unlawful”, which meant unless police had sufficient evidence to gain a search warrant from the courts they would not take sniffer-dogs into schools for random searches.
Palmerston North Boys’ High School rector Tim O’Connor said it would not be an issue for his school because a drug-testing company was used each year to conduct random searches. “We would only use the police to search the premises here if we had a serious cause for concern.”
Manawatu Standard 1/10/11
In a move believed to be without precedent, Speaker Lockwood Smith imposed a 10-day ban on the New Zealand Herald from covering politics from its press gallery office within the parliamentary complex.
The Speaker handed down the punishment after the Herald published a photograph on its website on Wednesday of guards and members of the public restraining a man who was trying to jump from the public gallery into the debating chamber.
Dr Smith said the photograph was a breach of Standing Orders that prohibit any filming of protests and other disruptions in the public gallery.
New Zealand Herald 6/10/11
Police in Christchurch are using high-tech lasers and army night-vision gear to hunt nighttime intruders inside the city centre’s red zone. Over 100 people have been arrested for illegally entering the red zone at night since cordons were erected after the February earthquake.
During daylight hours, the CBD red zone is only open for authorised demolition work and official Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) business, but during the night the CBD is “effectively in lockdown”,
All those arrested for breaching the cordon, which is an offence under the CERA Act, face a maximum penalty of a fine of $5000 and/or up to three months’ imprisonment.
Otago Daily Times 20/10/11
Police Minister Judith Collins disputed suggestions by Greenpeace activists in New Plymouth this week that authorities tracked their movements.
Auckland-based Greenpeace activist Simon Boxer raised questions about a large police presence and their high-level readiness when a group of Greenpeace supporters descended on Port Taranaki in protest against the survey ship Polarcus Alima, and were stopped by a large police contingent near New Plymouth.
Taranaki Daily News 24/10/11
Police are using a new camera with a powerful lens to covertly photograph drivers up to 400 metres away. Western Bay officers started using the Canon camera to catch motorists breaking the law and committing offences such as cutting corners or following too closely.
Sergeant Lester Polglase “If it saves one life then it’s worth it. If people don’t like this covert activity then too bad”
The camera is one of several issued to police districts around New Zealand New Zealand Council of Civil Liberties secretary Kevin McCormack said he had a number of reservations about the camera, including how much consultation with the public, if any, had been carried out prior to its implementation.
Bay of Plenty Times 29/10/11
A new review of human rights and prisons for the Human Rights Commission reveals that human rights values have a key role in the rehabilitation of prisoners. The review points to a number of improvements relating to human rights in prisons since 2004, such as an expansion of drug and alcohol programmes, and increased access to education and employment opportunities. This has resulted in increased numbers of prisoners involved in employment activities, vocational training and literacy or educational courses. According to Department of Correction figures, more than 70 per cent of sentenced prisoners are now engaged in some form of employment or training.
The same report however identified a number of concerns about long lock-down periods, prisoner health and access to mental health services.
scoop.co.nz 4/10/11
Prisoners who earn income while behind bars may have their pay deducted to pay for their board and other bills such as child support, under a new Government bill. Currently Corrections can take 30 per cent of a paycheck from a prisoner’s work-to-release programme, up to $269 a week.
The Corrections Amendment Bill is a response to convicted murderer Phillip John Smith, who has been operating a company selling electronics since 2008 from inside Auckland’s Paremoremo Prison.
Under the Bill the Inland Revenue Department will also be able to deduct money from prisoners’ wages for child support bills.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins said Ms Collins said she was not against prisoners working because it helped rehabilitation.
New Zealand Herald 14/10/11
People with overdue court fines may find it harder to get loans under credit-checking changes from next year.
Courts Minister Georgina te Heuheu announced that the Government had approved an initiative allowing information about overdue fines and reparation to be released to credit agencies such as banks and hire purchase providers.
New Zealand Herald 31/10/11
A Christchurch bar says it will keep its policy to refuse entry to people with facial tattoos. Tunahau Kohu was drinking at The Turf in Parklands on Saturday when staff asked him to leave because of a tribal tattoo covering his entire face. He said the policy was unfair as a staff member had a tattoo on her neck.
The Turf owner Louis Vieceli said the tattoo policy was about improving standards, and was still in place although the bar signage has been altered to say the bar reserves the right of admission.
“The premises will ensure that its staff are properly trained and hoped not to have a repeat of the matter. Whilst the tavern does have standards, these are not intended to be discriminatory in any way,” he said.
Otago Daily Times 4/10/11
Angst amongst older Ports of Auckland workers about the employment of Tuvaluan workers has seen the Employment Court recommend the group seeks help from the Human Rights Commission to deal with racism in its workforce.
Two dockworkers have been fired from the port for alleged racism after one wrote a column in a union magazine about the employment of workers from ”one of the island nations”.
The other former employee slipped an anonymous note under the door of an administrator saying he wanted to apply for a job and ”if it helps I can do a month or two on the sun beds”.
Stuff.co.nz 29/10/11
The parties have apparently agreed that all documents except the final text will be kept secret for four years after the agreement comes into force or the negotiations collapse. This reverses the trend in many recent negotiations to release draft texts and related documents. The existence of agreement was only discovered through a cover note to the leaked text of the intellectual property chapter. “The secrecy that shrouds the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations just got even more outrageous”, said Professor Jane Kelsey, who monitors the negotiations.
Helen Kelly, President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions stated “We want to see the terms that the government agreed to that stop us from seeing what they have done in our name until it is too late to hold them accountable”.
Scoop.co.nz 16/10/11
Round-up of civil liberty news for September 2011.
A package to make it easier for teachers to contact Child Youth and Family including a dedicated phone line has been announced by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett today.
CYF received 8300 notifications of possible abuse or neglect from teachers and school social workers in the past year, Ms Bennett said.
The education assist package has been established after Ms Bennett asked CYF to strengthen processes to respond better to school reports of abuse.
Parliament has recently passed a bill making it a criminal offence to turn a blind eye to child abuse.
New Zealand Herald 18/9/11
Over the period 22 December 2010 to 21 June 2011, police attended 456 child assault events, 18 of these events involved ‘smacking’ and 58 involved ‘minor acts of physical discipline’.
Of the 18 ‘smacking’ events, one resulted in prosecution, 12 resulted in a warning and 5 resulted in other / no further action being taken. Of the 58 ‘minor acts of physical discipline’ events, 9 resulted in prosecution, 38 resulted in warnings and 11 resulted in other / no further action being taken.
The smacking event prosecution involved a child being smacked at least five times on the buttocks with an open hand. The smacking was witnessed and reported to police by a neighbour. The offender had a prior history of assaults and police laid a charge of Common Assault (Domestic). The defendant was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon by the Court over a one-year period.
There have now been 5 prosecutions for a ‘smacking’ event since enactment of the Amendment in June 2007.
The Press 30/9/11
Police are refusing to carry out random sniffer-dog drug searches at schools amid claims they are breaching pupils’ civil rights.
The move follows legal advice from police lawyers, but principals say they have lost a vital tool in the fight against drugs.
Although schools admit the random searches may be illegal if they cannot show just cause, they want the practice to continue until the legality is tested in court.
Education Minister Anne Tolley said a law change might be needed, because it was wrong for the rights of one or two pupils to take precedence over the rights of the whole school community. Police, meanwhile, are drafting a new national policy detailing when they can assist schools, but they also appear to have stopped offering breathalysing services before school balls.
They will still help schools with searches but only when there is evidence of pupils carrying weapons or illicit drugs
Conducting blanket drug searches of schoolchildren without reasonable cause is discriminatory and a breach of the Bill of Rights Act, a civil liberties lawyer says.
“No other New Zealand citizens are subject to the same intrusive search criteria,” lawyer Michael Bott said.
Mr Bott said innocent pupils were routinely singled out for random drug searches, which were “deemed OK by virtue of their age and the fact that they’re compelled to attend the school”.
Dominion Post 30/9/11
The Crown has dropped charges against 11 of the 15 people charged after the nationwide raids, but said four would still face trial for participation in a criminal group and firearm charges.
The group facing charges began as 17 but has dwindled to four in the four years since the arrests.
Police originally sought prosecution under Terrorism Suppression laws, but the solicitor-general rejected this.
Crown Solicitor Simon Moore said that there was no longer enough evidence to continue against some and the others would have to be tried separately after the main trial.
That would be 4 1/2 years after they were charged, and the main trial would have to be subject to wide-ranging suppressions, and so was not practical or in the public interest.
The larger group was going to be tried before a judge-alone but now that it is only four they will be tried before a jury in February 2012. An amended indictment was presented in the High Court at Auckland specifying that the objectives of the group were one or more of: murder, arson, intentional damage, endangering transport, wounding with intent, aggravated wounding, discharging a firearm, using a firearm against a law enforcement officer, or kidnapping.
Crown prosecutor Ross Burns said the Crown case relied heavily on video footage taken in the Urewera Ranges. The exercises are alleged to have taken place on private Maori-owned land. Police went onto the land after getting search warrants and installed motion-sensor cameras. A High Court ruling found that putting the cameras on private land was illegal and so the evidence could not be used.
New Zealand Herald 7/9/11, 17/9/11.
Justice Minister Simon Power has made some changes to the controversial criminal justice reforms, committing to preserving the right to silence and substantially watering down other aspects to pass the bill with cross-party support.
The proposed changes now:
*Drop the pre-trial disclosure regime - described as an erosion of the accused’s right to remain silent and not having that held against them - from the bill altogether
*Allowing a defendant to choose a trial by jury if they are charged with an offence carrying a maximum penalty of more than two years’ jail, with no “exceptional circumstances” clause; the bill originally proposed a three-year threshold
*Allowing a trial to proceed in the absence of the accused for procedural hearings such as initial appearances, and preventing trials from proceeding if the defendant is absent and has a reasonable excuse, unless it would not prejudice the case; the bill originally required trials to proceed if the accused was unreasonably absent.
*Further restricting the ability of courts to impose fines for non-compliance in court procedure, by clarifying that this can only be done rarely and for significant non-compliance
*Remove the word “substantial” from the “miscarriage of justice” test.
New Zealand Herald 15/9/11
Internal Affairs has warned that office sweepstakes may be illegal.
Under the Gambling Act 2003, sweepstakes are considered a form of illegal gambling if the total value of all the prizes offered is more than $500, if someone is paid to run the sweepstake, or if some of the money is kept as profit.
Each sweepstake must pay its own prizes and the total value of all prizes in each sweepstake must not exceed $500.”
If the prize money goes over this, or the sweepstake organiser gets a cut, they are considered an illegal bookmaker.
Dominion post 9/9/11
A patient in a psychiatric ward smashed his way through two windows to regain his freedom.
About 7.30am on August 1, Palmerston North Hospital staff put a patient in a “secure room” by himself because he had tuberculosis and there were concerns it could spread to other patients. But, as defence lawyer Alan Knowsley told Palmerston North Court that under the Mental Health Act this was effectively unlawful imprisonment.
Community and justice liaison nurse Grahame Stillwell confirmed this.
The patient appeared in court on two charges of wilful damage resulting from his reaction to twice being put into a room by himself, and was convicted and discharged on both charges.
There was no order for reparation for the damage caused.
Manawatu Standard 16/9/11
A New Zealand man alleged to have links with al-Qaeda says his life has been ruined because of an innocent mistake.
Mark Taylor was among 23 Australian-based people of security interest listed in a secret diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.
He had been arrested trying to enter an al-Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan, claiming he was there only to find a Muslim wife.
He said he was arrested and tortured by the Pakistani military, who accused him of being a spy. During the torture he said he was working for “jihad” (holy war) due to the pressure he was under.
Mr Taylor has said, “I haven’t been taken to court, I haven’t been charged or anything. It’s all just basically a completely made up story to make me look bad.”
Prime Minister John Key said earlier this month that he was aware of Mr Taylor, and that “he’s someone that has quite a number of restrictions on him for very good reasons, without stating what the reservations where.
Otago Daily Times 12/9/11
An armed man who was gassed during a stand off with the Hamilton Armed Offenders’ Squad this afternoon was hospitalized.
An eye witness described how “The armed defenders were trying to coax him out for about 45 minutes. And then they shot with shot guns, a sleepy gas into the bedroom windows.”
Officers wearing gas masks cleared the house.
Otago daily Times 14/9/11
A man who flashed his headlights to warn another driver of a speed camera was pulled over by police
“I can’t remember the exact words; it was either inappropriate or excessive use of headlights,” he said.
It is against the law - with a penalty of $150 - to flash dazzling, confusing or distracting vehicle lights, although police say the law is used sparingly.
New Zealand herald 15/9/11
Following the judgment in the Urewera raids case, the government is to pass temporary legislation suspending the judgment of the Supreme Court that covert surveillance on private property by the police is illegal. The government expressed concern that it could impact on 40 trials and 50 police operations currently underway
New Zealand Herald 15/9/11
Women in prison will now be able to keep their babies with them for longer, as the age limit for infants living in prison has been extended from nine months to two years. Plunket says the change is a step in the right direction, but says it should go further because international evidence shows the first three years of a child’s development are crucial.
newszealand.blogspot.com 18/9/11
Over two million blood-spot samples collected from newborn babies are to be kept indefinitely. ”Guthrie” cards have been collected from every baby born in New Zealand as part of a screening programme to identify and treat those born with serious metabolic disorders, such as cystic fibrosis. There has been mounting concern over access by researchers and others, and, in response, new governance arrangements were issued. Under these, individual written consent will be required for population research on samples collected before June this year. ”Guthrie” cards were used to identify victims of the Christchurch earthquakes.
newszealand.blogspot.com 17/9/11
The reality programmePolicetwice showed a man being arrested and taken to the police station to “detox” after solvent abuse. The complainant’s first name was disclosed and his house was shown, in breach of privacy and fairness standards.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority held that the although the complainant’s face had been blurred he was identifiable due to use of his first name, full length shots of his body and clothing, footage of his property and street, recordings of his voice. Furthermore, the complainant’s solvent abuse was a private fact, and disclosure of complainant’s solvent abuse in the late 1990s would be highly offensive to an objective reasonable person, and it was unfair to re-broadcast footage more than 10 years after filming. Public interest did not outweigh the complainant’s right to privacy.
The complainant said that his main concerns were that, first, he had not consented to the broadcast, and second, that the filming had taken place in the mid to late 1990s, and he had since “gotten on with my life”, but TVNZ had broadcast the footage two or three times.
scoop.co.nz 19/9/11
Addiction treatment services are raising the alarm about a proposal to penalise welfare beneficiaries who refuse to undergo drug tests or addiction treatment.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has backed drug testing.
"We expect it for people who're in work so why shouldn't we expect it for people who're looking for work? Frankly, I don't think that's too much to ask," she says.
Dr Paul Fitzmaurice of the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) says drug tests have increased from 30,000 to 40,000 a year three years ago to well over 100,000 a year. Paul Jarvie of the Employers and Manufacturers Association says testing now covers 40 to 50 per cent of the workforce.
New Zealand Herald 24/9/11
The past year has seen continuing challenges to the values of privacy, not just from the state, but employers, teachers, and even parents seem to be increasingly disregarding the notion of a right to privacy. It was reported in May that the Government was considering using bracelets for monitoring home detention that could detect the presence of alcohol use through secretions in the sweat, and in a trial of a scheme in the Bay of Plenty police officers were paying visits to known recidivist drunk drivers, even though no complaints had been made just to let them know that police are “keeping an eye on them”.
In the same month it was also reported that the Secondary Schools Principals Association President announced that most schools now used network managers and teachers to monitor their pupils’ social network sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, for evidence of misbehaviour. Schools were increasingly using other ways of monitoring their pupils outside school activities. Breathalysers and sniffer dogs were increasingly being used by schools to check people for alcohol and drug use at school balls. The teachers, seemingly being increasingly encouraged to see pupils as potential criminals and themselves as acting in the role of police, were given more powers to search students and their belongings, including cell phones, diaries and laptops, and issued with guidelines on how and when to carry out these searches.
The police were concerned about some of these increasing intrusive developments when in September they refused to carry out random sniffer dog searches claiming that they were in danger of breaching the children’s civil rights. The police stated that they were happy to assist principals, but only where there was reasonable suspicion that pupils were carrying weapons or illegal drugs.
Employers at Wellington International Airport were found to be using a private investigator to secretly filming employers in their coffee room. One employee who was sacked after being accused of misconduct was given a chance to get his job back after the Employment Court ruled that evidence gathered in such a way was illegal. A law change under the Private Investigators and Security Guards Act has now made such activity legal. The covert use of surveillance by police officers was also bought into question when a ruling in the case of those arrested in the Urewera Raids went against the police and their use of evidence that had been collected through the use of devices placed illegally on private land. The government later passed legislation to suspend the judgment’s applicability to 40 trials and 50 police operations that were already underway.
Apparently, no space is too private to be considered open for surveillance. Wainuiomata High School was just one school that was reported to installing cameras in toilets. The Kaikoura District Council was also reported to be doing the same thing.
There is a seemingly growing desire to screen everyone’s behaviour. The alcohol advisory group of New Zealand (ALAC) wanted to extend the British Royal College of Psychiatrists advice, that all those aged over 65 visiting a G.P. should be screened for alcohol use, to cover the whole population. In a similar move the Social Development Minister Paula Bennett backed drug testing of welfare beneficiaries, amidst claims from the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) that up to 50% of the workforce were now routinely screened for drug use.
The state and employers cannot always observe our behaviour, so individuals are being encouraged to act and think as spies. Software was made available in New Zealand called MyFone, which lets parents remotely see all the numbers called and answered on their children's phones, and the content of all texts. A device was also made for sale and marketed for parents to track their children’s use of a car including its speed and location history.
We were all encouraged to spy on our neighbours when the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) announced the launch of a website where it asked the public to confidentially and anonymously pass on any information that may pertain to threats on New Zealand’s security and way of life. The online form states that “as part of the community you may have information which can contribute to defending and enhancing New Zealand’s security…”. The Security Intelligence Service was also given stronger powers in new legislation passed in July, which led to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) expressing concern about the Act’s diluting the accountability of the already often secretive SIS.
The appointment of a new Police Commissioner, Peter Marshall, saw the relaxation of the rules surrounding the police and their access to firearms. In May it was announced that every frontline police car was to carry semi-automatic rifles and pistols. Similarly, the access to tasers was relaxed. Police were now able to routinely carry a taser if they felt they were heading into danger whereas previously they had to get permission from a superior. In July, The Sunday Star Times reported that Tasers had been used 102 times in dealing with suspects since their introduction in March 2010. Somewhat concerningly, they also noted that they had been accidently discharged 108 times in the same period.
The issue of race continued to bubble away under the surface of New Zealand society. July saw reports that two bus drivers had refused to allow two Muslim women, who were wearing a veil, admission onto their bus. The bus company claimed the men weren’t racist but merely suffered from “maskophobia” and had been sent for counselling. Nevertheless the HRC said that the incidents appeared to amount to racial discrimination.
The Human Rights Annual Review of Race relations published in March noted that 2010 had seen an increase in the number of complaints made to the HRC about racial discrimination, mostly because of the response to broadcaster Paul Henry’s controversial comments about the Governor General. The report, however, expressed positive comments about the growth of Te Reo Maori, the cultural diversity of Parliament, and the settling of historic Treaty of Waitangi claims, although it voiced concern that stricter laws surrounding the punishment of criminals, such as the three strikes law and the removal of the prisoners’ right to vote, would disproportionately affect Maori. On a similar line, the lobby group, Rethinking Crime and Punishment, called for an inquiry into why the rate of imprisonment of Maori is so disproportionately high. They pointed out that over 40 per cent of adult male Maori have received a prison or community based sentence, at some time in their life, and that this is six times the rate of non-Maori.
Research by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) described New Zealand as the best place to be born female in the Commonwealth, but it noted that women earn 72 per cent of the wages of men. The Greens raised the profile of the issue of gender inequality of pay with a bill that proposed that a woman doing the same work as a man should have the right to know his pay. The Equal Opportunities described it as disturbing that a large number of women did not know if they were receiving equal pay. In a response to the Green’s proposal, the head of EMA, Alasdair Thompson, found himself dismissed from his position for his suggestion that women got paid less because their productivity was lower as many of them “took sick days once a month”.
The notion of Internet access being a human right came under the microscope with the passing of a law that aimed to prevent the illegal sharing of copyrighted files. Under the new law, anyone accused of letting their Internet connection be used to share such files could be fined with very little opportunity to defend themselves.
It has to be noted thought that a succession of reports throughout 2011 gave New Zealand positive ratings in comparison with the situation in other countries. The most recent, The Democracy Index, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, listed New Zealand as fifth in a table of 165 nations measured across five categories, namely, electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, how government functions, political participation by the public, and political culture. However despite the good reputation New Zealand enjoys, there is no room for resting on laurels, and the eternal vigilance of a civil liberties group such as the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties is always necessary if we are to protect the rights we have.
The Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties will be at 12:30pm on Wednesday the 10th of November.
It will be held in the upstairs seminar rooms at St Andrews on The Terrace, Wellington. Access is through the church office on the North side of the building.
All members are welcome. It is possible to join on the spot at the AGM.
Following the AGM (approximately 1pm) Andrew Butler will give a presentation - "The Not Quite Right Bill of Rights".
Andrew is a partner at Russell McVeagh since 2007 after being a Crown Counsel for siz years. Andrew previously lectured in a number of subjects at Victoria University of Wellington. He is general editor of Brooker's Equity and Trusts in New Zealand (2003) and a co-author (with his wife, Petra) of LexisNexis' New Zealand Bill of Rights Act: A Commentary (2005).
All are welcome.
The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties will be holding its AGM followed by a public lecture.
The Importance of Protest by Steven Price
A look behind the scenes of the Valerie Morse flag-burning case - how the law in NZ and elsewhere protects protesters and whether it goes far enough.
Steven Price is a Wellington barrister and law lecturer specialising in media law and member of the Supreme Court defence team for flag-burner Valerie Morse.
6:30pm
Thursday November 3rd
Mezzanine Meeting Room
Wellington Public Library
All welcome. Free entry.
The lecture will be followed by tea and biscuits.
The lecture will be preceded by the NZCCL's AGM at 6pm. Visitors and new members are welcome.
Cynthia Laberge was the 2008-2009 InternetNZ Senior Research Fellow in Cyberlaw at Victoria University of Wellington.
The Introduction to her research on the topic of To What Extent Should National Security Interests Override Privacy in a Post 9/11 World? (published December 2010) follows. This paper uses international discussion of these issues to inform the New Zealand position. It discusses how the balance might be found between security and privacy. This is a complex question and this paper provides a comprehensive guide to what needs to be considered in that balance.
Is this where we are headed? In the name of stopping terrorists are we compiling data on innocent people who share a similar profile as those on our "most wanted" lists, and treating them the same?
Since 9/11, the world has become obsessed with terrorism. Understandably so. We expect our governments to protect us, at a minimum from foreseeable acts of violence. It is an onerous commission. But in its zeal to do the right thing, are governments actually doing more harm than good? And in the name of security, are we complicit in sacrificing liberty?
The security/liberty debate is not new. It has been ongoing since the time of Cicero at least 3:
Though liberty is established by law, we must be vigilant, for liberty to enslave us is always present under that very liberty. Our Constitution speaks of the 'general welfare of the people.' Under that phrase all sorts of excesses can be employed by lusting tyrants to make us bondsmen.
But with the law unable to keep pace with technological advances, are we letting technology determine how best to protect us? With oversight and accountability at an alltime low, are the technological programmes that are being put in place to combat terrorism effective? And if so, at what cost?
Regional, national and global databases, containing records on everything from finances and vehicle ownership, to DNA records, are booming. Investment in technologies to analyse and crossreference data in those databases is also booming. The securityrelated goal: to stop the next terrorist attack. Governments justify this previously unprecedented accumulation of data on the grounds that they are faced with an unprecedented threat. If this is true, does it also justify the unprecedented secrecy surrounding our governments' activities?
This paper is an attempt to chart the path we are currently on in balancing national security with privacy and, ultimately, liberty by giving an overview of the cooperative efforts, privacy and counterterrorism laws of four countries (the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand) and four international institutions (the United Nations, the OECD, the Council of Europe, and the European Union), and the technologies employed in the fight against terrorism (used predominantly in the United States). It makes no predictions, nor does it presume to present an indepth analysis of privacy or counterterrorism laws, which have already been covered in depth elsewhere by experts.
What this paper attempts to do is provoke thought and stimulate discussion on the direction that the West (primarily) is taking to fight the "scourge of international terrorism." 4 And to posit what role we can play in holding government accountable for protecting our security, without unduly sacrificing our privacy, and thereby our liberty.
Read the full article.
Footnotes
1.Professor John Haven Mental Philosophy: Including the Intellect, Sensibilities and Will (Sheldon and Company, New York, 1862) at <www.archive.org>. The original quote reads "All birds are bipeds, no man is a bird; therefore no man is a biped."
2. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of the Secretary, Privacy Act of 1974 (US) 5 USC § 552a Public Law No 93579; Customs and Border Protection Advanced Passenger Information System Systems of Records (23 August 2007) 72 Federal Register 163 4834948353 <www.edocket.access.gpo.gov>.
3. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator – 106 - 43 BC
4. Resolution on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts UNSC Res 1377 (2001) <www.un.org>.
As discussed on the telephone a short time ago, this is a request from the New Zealand Police to close down the website greencross.org.nz which is hosted by your company.
Why are the NZ Police calling a web-hosting company in order to try to get a website closed down? The email continues:
On Friday 8 July 2011, Mr. McKee was arrested by police and charged with drug dealing offences relating to the sale of cannabis. ... Mr. McKee has used the website to facilitate committing these offences against the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.
These quotes are excerpted from an email sent by Detective Sergeant Sam Paroli to Openhost, the company that provided hosting for the Greencross domain name. Openhost then instructed the site administrator to stop the service "as soon as possible".
So the Police were successful, they managed to get the website taken down as the result of a phone call and an email.
However, the site administrators then moved the domain name and site to a US-based hosting company and the Greencross website is still available. (Note that while this means that the Police can't strong-arm the hosting company, there is nothing stopping them from charging the site owners if they truly are breaking NZ law.)
The Greencross website is the online presence of the Medicinal Cannabis Support Group of New Zealand Inc. We have examined the site, which contains:
We cannot see anything on the site to indicate that it was being used to facilitate crime. There is nothing on the site that would enable anyone to supply or obtain marijuana. There appear to be no forums where members could arrange their own private deals. Rather, the site is calling for a change in the law to make marijuana available for medical purposes.
To be sure that nothing dodgy was going on, we asked Mr McKee if any changes have recently been made to the website. His response: "No I did not make any changes to the content of the web site."
We also asked Detective Sergeant Sam Paroli in what way the site was illegal, but he refused to answer on the grounds that the matter was before the courts. This would appear to be incorrect as, to the best of our knowledge, no charges have been laid over the website.
FInally we asked the Minister of Police, Judith Collins, whether she thought that the Police should be involved in trying to censor political websites. She refused to comment, claiming that it was an operational matter and that any questions should be directed to the Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner of Police has not responded to our queries.
Whatever your opinion about using marijuana for medicinal purposes, it seems clear to us that there is nothing illegal about calling for a change in NZ's marijuana laws and that there is nothing illegal about the Greencross website.
We are disturbed that the Police believe they have the power to shutdown a political website. Political speech, like that on the Greencross website, is generally agreed to be so important to our democracy that it is one of the most protected forms of freedom of expression. The actions of the Police are in contravention of the NZ Bill of Rights Act, that guarantees the right to freedom of expression and freedom of association.
We hope that this overreach by the Police is an aberration committed by an over zealous police officer and that it will not be repeated.
Back in August 2011 we wrote about the New Zealand Police censoring the Greencross site - a website arguing for the legalisation of marijuana for medical uses. The police claimed that the censorship was because the website was breaking the law, but refused to identify any law that was broken and have not laid any charges or applied for a court order to get the site closed. We said:
Whatever your opinion about using marijuana for medicinal purposes, it seems clear to us that there is nothing illegal about calling for a change in NZ's marijuana laws and that there is nothing illegal about the Greencross website. We are disturbed that the Police believe they have the power to shutdown a political website.
We followed up with the Police Commissioner, who forwarded our letter to Russell Gibson, District Commander of the Central District. His response is bizarre:
My responsibility is to enforce the law as devised by Parliament. It is neither appropriate nor helpful for me to become involved in a debate regarding political issues.
From my perspective I am satisfied that Detective Sergeant Paroli was working within the boundaries of the law and his motivation was simply to close down a site which assisted/encouraged offending against the Misuse of Drugs Act.
The District Commander starts by saying he doesn't want to get involved in political issues - but that's exactly what his staff member has done by shutting down a political website.
He then tries to defend the action taken by his staff member by making a very weak link to the Misuse of Drugs Act. (We note, for the record, that the Act does not make it illegal to call for changes in New Zealand's drug laws). By doing so he completely ignores the fact that the police are not the right people to be making censorship decisions and trying to shut down freedom of expression in New Zealand.
If District Commander Russell Gibson doesn't want to get involved in political issues he should make it clear to this staff that censorship of political views is not part of their job description.
We stand by our original position that the police's attempt to get the Greencross website shut down was an inappropriate use of powers that they do not and should not have. We are disappointed that police leadership do not recognise this and have defended the actions of the officer involved.
“...the concentration of power and the subjection of individuals will increase...in the same proportion as their ignorance.”
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Part II, Book IV
The complaint about Immigration New Zealand from the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties to the Chief Archivist, which is posted on this website, has highlighted the importance of being vigilant about the activities of government to ensure full records are created and maintained. The complaint stems from the recent news story about Immigration New Zealand issuing a directive to its workers not to record (i.e. omit) any information or rationale that may lead to extra paperwork and be subject to scrutiny in judicial review or complaint to the Ombudsman.
Limited access to information helps to breed corruption in a government, and laws giving access to information are designed to counter this. These laws promote honesty in government through accountability and transparency by providing the citizens with a legal right to obtain full and accurate information about the activities and decisions of their government. This in turn increases democracy, and confidence in the governmental process. The right to information is a fundamental requirement for citizens to be able to fully understand government policies, which in turn can help to create a more informed public who can then more ably take part in the democratic process and, ultimately, can better hold a government to account.
The importance of freedom to information is recognised internationally. The Law Ministers of the Commonwealth declared in 1980 “public participation in the democratic and governmental process was at its most meaningful when citizens had adequate access to official information”.[1] In 1995 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression noted that “the right to seek or have access to information is one of the most essential elements of freedom...”.[2] In 1999 the Law Ministers of the Commonwealth adopted principles that considered the right to know and freedom of information to be a human right.
Here in New Zealand the Official Information Act (OIA)(1982) states that one of its purposes is to encourage the more effective participation of people in the making and administration of laws and policies, and promoting the accountability of Ministers and officials.[3] The Bill of Rights affirms the right to seek, and receive information.[4] The Declaration on Open and Transparent Government, which was approved by Cabinet on 8 August 2011, stated, “building on New Zealand’s democratic tradition, the government commits to actively releasing...data”. In noting that access to information is a right not a privilege, the declaration recognised that the government holds data on behalf of the New Zealand public, and that releasing it encourages more involvement in government decision-making.[5]
However without the government creating and maintaining full and accurate records regarding their activities and decision-making, any law guaranteeing access to information is worthless. An accountable and effective record-keeping programme is essential to the provision of access of information to the public. In the Declaration of Open and Transparent Government it was recognised that the data and information that the government holds on behalf of the public must be open, trusted and authoritative, and well managed. This has been highlighted by the case of the Immigration New Zealand directive not to record information. This directive directly contradicts the Public Records Act 2005, which states that one of its purposes is to enable the Government to be held accountable by “ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained”.[6]
Even with strong legislation in place that guarantees the public access to information, if there is no proper creation and management of records then government simply cannot provide access to the information that citizens may request. If governments do not maintain these records then they cannot be transparent in their actions or held accountable for those actions, in effect rendering any freedom to information acts toothless.
[1]Promoting Open Government: Commonwealth Principles and Guidelines on the Right to Know’ background paper for the Commonwealth Expert Group Meeting on the Right to Know and the Promotion of Democracy and Development, London, 30-31 March 1999.
[2]Report of the Special Rapporteur, Promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/31, 14 December 1995, para. 35.
[3]OIA Part 1, Section 4
[4]Part 2, Section 14
[5]http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1108/S00202/open-and-transparent-government-declaration.htm
[6]Part 1, Section 3
A round-up of what people are saying about the latest version of the Search & Surveillance Bill.
The report of the Justice & Electoral Select Committee claims that major changes have been made to the Bill since the poorly received earlier versions:
When the bill was referred to us, we noted there was considerable disquiet from the public about the powers it would confer on enforcement officers, particularly those working for non-police agencies.
The overwhelming message we received was that the bill as introduced did not strike the correct balance between the competing values of law enforcement and human rights and that greater protection of civil liberties was needed. Therefore we have significantly redrafted this bill.
The report includes a minority view by Keith Locke of the Green Party, who while supporting the amendments don't believe they go far enough:
The Green Party is worried about moves in the direction of a surveillance State contained in this bill, with all its provisions for visual and audio surveillance, tracking people, and intercepting their communications. ... The advance of digital technology means that all the mentioned forms of surveillance are now cheaper and easier for the agencies to use, and the targets of surveillance are less likely to find out.
Perhaps the most offensive surveillance warrant is the one allowing State agents to trespass a home and install a covert video camera in a family's private space. Serious criminality is not so rampant in this country as to justify such an extreme intrusion on people's privacy.
In summary, the Green Party does not believe the supporters of this bill have explained why, at this point in our nation's history, we need to give such extra powers to Police and other State agencies, and in the process erode hard-won civil liberties.
Labour also include a minority view in the Select Committee's report, agreeing with most of the Bill but opposing extending production and examination orders from the SFO to the rest of the Police:
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is currently the only State agency with the power to issue examination orders and production orders. The SFO has taken to using those powers too frequently, rather than relying upon conventional investigation techniques and warranted searches in all but exceptional cases where the use of these orders is justified. This is an example of how when extra powers are given to an arm of the State that agency can utilise them more frequently than Parliament intended.
Unless further restrictions on the use of such power for both the SFO and the police are agreed by the Government, we will oppose this extension of powers to the police.
A NZ Herald editorial points out that the Search & Surveillance Bill takes away hard-won freedoms:
No changes this important should be made simply to make the state's job easier. Any assumption that authorities know best and the innocent have nothing to fear have a fug of authoritarianism about them. They sit poorly with a Justice Minister and Government nominally in favour of the rights of the individual.
Jonathan Temm, President of the Law Society is also concerned about the removal of the right to silence:
We believe the right to silence is an important fundamental legal right, and any time there is an erosion of that right, it has to be on very strict and balanced terms. You need to do that in a controlled and balanced way and not just part of a kneejerk populist reaction because you think it's worth votes.
Michael Bott, human rights lawyer points out the downside of removing the right to silence:
The right to silence exists because historically the state abused its coercive power to extract information, which was often unreliable. (paraphrase)
The EPMU argues against provisions forcing journalists to hand over documents and reveal the identity of sources. These powers are currently only available to the Serious Fraud Office and were recently used against the National Business Review and are extended to all Police by the Search & Surveillance Bill.
If we don't protect the freedom and independence of the media from state agencies then we are no better than dictatorships and other abusers of citizens' democratic freedoms.
Have we missed your article? Send your submission to thomas@nzccl.org.nz
The Law Commission is working on a review of the Official Information Act. They have just released the first Issues Paper, representing their initial thinking on the matter.
In general they believe that the Official Information Act and Local Govt Official Information and Meetings Act are working well and do not need any major revisions. They suggest:
The Law Commission has asked for submissions before Friday 10th December 2010.
In March 2009, NZCCL former President, Tony Ellis lodged a Shadow Report, below, with the United Nations Committee Against Torture for their formal consideration of New Zealand's Fifth Periodic Report under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The Committee Against Torture considered the Reports in May 2009, and in its Concluding Comments, below, made numerous recommendations which have wide-ranging implications for the New Zealand Government.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| CAT_Shadow_Report.doc | 265 KB |
| Concluding Comments CAT-C-NZL-CO-5.pdf | 43.3 KB |
In April 2009, NZCCL former President, Tony Ellis lodged a Shadow Report, below, with the United Nations Human Rights Committee for their formal consideration of New Zealand's Fifth Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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| ICCPR_Shadow_Report.doc | 364 KB |
In 2008, the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties and its former President, Tony Ellis lodged a complaint with the United Nations Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers against Elias CJ, Tipping J and Blanchard J and the New Zealand Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
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| United Nations Special Rapporteur.doc | 251 KB |
As the agency responsible for upholding the law it is obvious that the police have a duty to operate within the law.
It is now public knowledge that the police in New Zealand have been illegally using video surveillance for some years.
The Supreme Court's decision in the Hamed case is fairly scathing of the police's deliberate flouting of the law. The Chief Justice wrote:
In circumstances where the police officer in charge of the inquiry knew that there was no authority to be obtained for such filmed surveillance, the deliberate unlawfulness of the police conduct in the covert filming, maintained over many entries and over a period of some 10 months, is destructive of an effective and credible system of justice.
However, even after writing these stern words the Supreme Court's decision went on to say that this illegally obtained evidence could still be used in court if the alleged crime was sufficiently serious.
The Government's reaction was to propose a law that would not only allow the police to keep using video surveillance, but would also retrospectively grant them permission, legitimising their past illegal behaviour. The outcry against this led to the law being watered down somewhat, but it still gave the police the power to legally do what they had been doing illegally.
The question has to be - why should the police follow the laws around search and surveillance when:
Isn't this missing the point of having limitations in the first place? Aren't we just saying that the police can do whatever they like unless it is expressly prohibited?
In our society it is the people, through Parliament, who get to decide the law and not the police. If the police set themselves up as superior to Parliament and Parliament acquiesces we risk the slow slide into becoming a police state.
The police probably don't think they're bad people for breaking the law - after all, they're trying to catch criminals. Indeed they see themselves as the good guys, doing what has to be done to keep people safe. The fact that the courts can accept the evidence provides tacit permission for the police to continue with their illegal behaviour. Catching and convicting criminals is incentive enough.
If the courts rejected this evidence this would remove the incentive for the police to break the law. This is the actual situation in the USA where all illegally obtained evidence is excluded under the "fruit of a poisonous tree" doctrine.
Of course this can lead to the situation where police misconduct can end up in a criminal escaping conviction. However, we already accept this in New Zealand. The main difference here is that instead of a hard and fast rule we leave it up to the judge to decide based on section 30 of the Evidence Act. This already says that the judges should consider "the nature of the impropriety, in particular, whether it was deliberate, reckless, or done in bad faith" but it seems clear that they are not giving sufficient weight to it.
We believe that this law should be changed so that deliberate police misconduct leads to the evidence being excluded. Anything else will just encourage the police to keep operating outside of the law.
If the police have been engaging in wilfully breaking the law - why have the police officers involved not been charged or punished? If the courts accepting illegally obtained evidence is an incentive, the lack of any punishment when caught means that there is no reason not to break the law.
The police have legal powers that other people do not. This surely means that are to be held to a higher standard of behaviour, to ensure that these powers are not abused. When they are abused there needs to be repercussions that will discourage others from doing the same. Moreover, it is unacceptable for people with this lax attitude towards obeying the law to continue working in the police force. The proper
The current situation is unacceptable in a democracy. The police are tasked with upholding the law and shouldn't be breaking it instead. We need to remove the incentives to them breaking the law and ensure that they are punished when they do.
We believe that the law be changed so that evidence is automatically excluded where the police have deliberately flouted the laws in the collection of that evidence.
We further believe that members of the police who deliberately break the law should be charged and, if convicted, lose their jobs. Criminals, even though well intentioned, have no place in the New Zealand police force.
The Sentencing and Law Reform Bill 2009 advocates that a ’Three Strikes’ policy is introduced in New Zealand. This policy would provide an automatic prison term of 25 years without parole for a third offence (excluding minor offences). The Bill advocates sentences out of proportion than the crime committed and focuses on punishment rather than rehabilitation. The policy advocated in the Bill has only little potential effect in protecting the community, and would lead to many people being constrained in prison to no good effect either to them or to the community.
Kim Workman QSO, Director of the "Rethinking Crime and Punishment" project describes the Bill as having 'the effect of de facto life imprisonment for three serious offences," according to the article published in a 2009 issue of the LawTalk below.
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| Kim Workman on 3-Strikes.pdf | 54.2 KB |