I'm going to break a cardinal rule of campaigning today... 

I have always been told that I can only ever ask one thing from you at a time. Campaigners believe that their supporters are too easily distracted, and if I ask you to do two things, you'll probably do neither. 

But I know this one is important to you, and the work we're doing to counter a truly troubling shift in Police culture is too important. So, today, I'm asking if you'll take a few steps with us.  

As you know, last week, I met with Andrew Coster, the Commissioner of Police. It was a combative meeting, and I walked away with our Senior In-House Counsel feeling bruised. But we have no choice but to ensure there is public awareness and pressure on the changes Police are making to how they view the basic right to speak.

I presented the public letter that you signed (with over 12,000 Kiwis, in just a handful of days).

In response, the Commissioner has instructed a review of the training and told me that supposed examples of 'hate speech' like 'there are only two genders' and 'Kiwi, not Iwi' will be removed.

These are not insignificant victories, but now is not the time to let up.  

We are your voice in these rooms, because you continue to step up and stand with us. We're humbled to fight alongside you, and today there are three things I need from you. 

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My Board probably wont like me asking you for three things, but I think you care about this issue enough to press in.

1. First, we need to expose what Police are recording, and the best way to do that is through Privacy Requests.

You have a right to know what information the Government holds on you. This is kind of like an Official Information Request (OIA) on yourself.

On our website, we've list how to make a privacy request to Police. This way, you'll will be able to see what information Police are recording and what speech they are concerned by.

My staff have a bet going amongst themselves on whether Police have a file on me. What do you think? I certainly hope not. Police should take no issue with advocates for free speech- if I (or my staff, or you!) are recorded because of that, things are worse than we feared.

Through lodging these requests, we'll be able to find out. 

<<See how to submit a Privacy Request to Police>>

I think I can anticipate a concern some of our supporters might have in asking us to lodge these requests. Is flooding Police with this work really what we want to see law enforcement time spent on? Isn't this keeping them from real crime?

I agree. That's why I wish they weren't being trained to 'Recognise', 'Record', and 'Respond' to 'hate speech' and why I wish they weren't attending to non-criminal hate incidents. 

There is real, serious crime they should be attending to. So the moment the Commissioner calls off this training and we're confident Kiwis aren't being tracked by Police on the basis of perfectly legal speech, we'll stop this work entirely.  

2. Second, we need to increase pressure on our politicians who are just letting this happen.

This Police training was signed off by the Cabinet in 2020, even before the 'Hate Speech' law reform proposals were released. It has been underway for some time, but only now (and only thanks to the Free Speech Union and the brave officers who approached us) is the public more fully aware.

The ACT Party has already called for Police to "explain 'hate speech' training. The Minister of Justice was shocked when he learned about what Police were implementing, saying 'but why? We don't have 'hate crime' laws'.

But surprisingly (and concerningly), New Zealand First hasn't said 'boo' on this issue. And we think it's not good enough. If this Government is going to continue along with anti-speech policies from the previous Government, we're going to have something to say about it. 

In addition to submitting a privacy request to Police to see what information they are holding on you, we need you to contact your local MP and tell them that the Police's new training threatens to undermine Kiwis' basic rights. With the Free Speech Union managing three cases of wrongful arrest already from just the past nine months, we're deeply concerned this training will prime officers to abuse more basic rights.  

You can see a list here of every Member of Parliament, along with their contact information. We don't need you to flood every MP's inbox; just contact your local MP. If each of our supporters contacted their local MP, that will leave a significant impression (MPs are also much more concerned about the views of their local voters than random citizens). Even better, you'd ask to meet with them, to discuss how concerned you are about this training.

I've included a few talking points below:

- Te Raranga (The Weave) is the name of the Police training programme that instructs officers to 'Recognise, Record, and Respond' to 'hate speech, 'hate crime', and 'non-criminal hate incidences;

- New Zealand has very narrow 'hate speech' laws that have only been used once. We have no law for 'hate crimes', and certainly nothing that mandates Police to keep records of legal activity they think might be hateful.

- This training was implemented as a result of Recommendation 42 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque Attack, but Police have gone even further beyond what the recommendation included.  

- It is not Police's job to police 'hate'. While 'hate' may be an issue in some communities, trying to criminalise thoughts and beliefs, not simply actions, is a fool's errand. 

- The result of the review of the training must be that this training is canned. 

3. Third, we need you to join the Free Speech Union. By joining, you provide resources to our team so that we can continue this work (and as you know, this is hardly the only fight we have on- Law Commission proposing making misgendering illegal, anyone?). 

But more than simply providing us with the resources we need to keep up the fight, by joining the Union you are putting your name alongside thousands of other Kiwis' saying that the fight for basic rights and free speech is a priority for you.

You're standing with those who say 'enough with talking about free speech, I'm going to do something about it.'

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Easy as 1. 2. 3.

Let's reject a Police culture that busies itself with our opinions. Call on them to simply enforce the law.  

Jonathan Ayling Chief Executive Free Speech Union www.fsu.nz

Don't prove me wrong in believing that our supporters are invested in this fight enough to handle more than one action point. Take all three steps now to defend free speech: 

1. Submit a Privacy Request to Police.

2. Contact your local MP with the talking points above.

3. Join the Free Speech Union.