Good news: We are no longer responsible for what we say

The minister of police has cut the ground from under the feet of the ‘hate speech’ hunters.  In parliament on Wednesday, he made it very clear that one does not have to accept responsibility for anything one has said in the past.

Hon Dr Nick Smith: Will the Minister apologise to the Dow family and to the people of New Zealand for his false statement, and I quote, “There’s a discussion document that’s been approved by Cabinet that’s going to go out to the public early next year” when that was untrue?

Hon STUART NASH: […] I will not apologise for something I have absolutely no responsibility for.

Hansard

In the past, both National and Labour have been reluctant to introduce random roadside drug testing, which is seen as unreliable and too slow.

“Our view is that the technology is at a stage where police can reliably introduce drug driving tests to New Zealand,” Dr Smith said.

The Police Minister said it’s a matter of getting the details right.

“There’s a discussion document that’s been approved by Cabinet that’s going to go out to the public early next year, that’s early 2019 around the issue,” Mr Nash said.

TVNZ

So it is abundantly clear that the minister of police has no responsibility for making the untrue statement that he made on national TV.

Seems like a great “get out of jail free card” for anyone accused of ‘hate speech’