Our team is constantly working across a variety of fights - defending individual cases, working with decision-makers, providing training that expands our speech rights. 

But I think one specific fight we're facing right now is the most important we've taken on, and we need your help.

The Free Speech Union spent the last three years fighting the introduction of new 'hate speech' laws. And we were successful.

The Government put a stop to these changes, and for good reason: ‘Hate speech’ laws are unworkable and are a legal nightmare.

But not everyone has stopped.

In short we're at a crossroads. Police have implemented new training requirements that massively expand how they will respond to 'hate speech' and 'hate crimes' (remember, officers are being told that 'there are only two genders' is an example of 'hate speech.')  

In essence, Police have gone ahead and created their own ‘hate speech’ laws. They have even created 'non-criminal hate incidences' (you didn't break any laws, but we didn't like your opinions). 

Practices like this are antithetical to a free society. 

Tomorrow, Jonathan and I are meeting with the Police Commissioner and we will hand him a copy of every signature on our public letter, so he knows just how many of us are outraged by this training.

We're almost at 10,000 signatures, and we know there are thousands more who care about this.

We need your name on the letter.

Sign our public letter now.

I include more information below. Our team have been working overtime to understand the system in place, and the incredible abuse of power that is occurring. But the details aside, it's simple. If you stand with us now, we'll be able to push back against the Commissioner from using the Police force to silence Kiwis.

If we ignore this now, our speech rights will become much harder to defend. 

Are you with us?

Hannah Clow Senior In-House Legal Counsel  Free Speech Union www.fsu.nz

Here's the background:

Recommendation 42 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque Terrorist Attack gave some directions to the Police in December 2020:

In mid-2021, Police received funding from the previous Government to establish a training and resource programme for Police and the public to “recognise and report hate-motivated events”.

But what does that look like?

Well, in late-2021 two reports were prepared: Improving our Response to Hate Crime and Action Plan: Improving our Response to Hate Crime.

It’s only been in the past few weeks several Police officers informed us of the Police’s compulsory ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crime’ training.

The reports and the training wouldn’t be so surprising if we actually had ‘hate crimes’ in New Zealand, but we don’t.

The extent of our hate speech laws is extremely narrow. However, the training gives broad examples of ‘hate speech’, which includes phrases such as, “there are only two genders” and “Kiwi not Iwi”.

We have also been made aware of an alleged internal intranet called ‘Hate Hub’ where ‘hate incidents’ are identified and reported.

But, what is a ‘hate incident’? It's an act that falls short of any actual criminal offence but subjectively perceived by someone to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on their belonging to a minority group.

This is also known as “perception-based recording” which is subjective and gives no consideration to the right to freedom of expression. The potential for abuse is unavoidable.

What are the Police doing with these records of ‘non-crime hate incidents’? We don’t know exactly, and that's frightening.

The training suggests it will be used “To provide important intel for police vetting processes” which could include vetting for any professional registration, appointment, employment, or visa.

Looking back at Recommendation 42, the Police were directed to “revise the ways in which they record complaints of criminal conduct”.

Do you think this extends to non-criminal conduct? We don’t! 

The Police have gone beyond their scope here and are acting extra-judiciously and undemocratically.

So, what are we doing about it?

As I mentioned, our Chief Executive and I are meeting with the Police Commissioner, Andrew Coster tomorrow for an explanation.

We will present him with our public letter calling for this training to stop immediately.

For more information on this fight, listen to our recent podcast episode with two prominent legal commentators, speaking with Jonathan about the concerning steps Police are taking to counter 'hate speech' and 'hate crime'.