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On Euthanasia: Part 1

On Euthanasia: Part 1

On election day, Saturday 19 September, voters will take part in a referendum on the End of Life Choice Act 2019. This referendum, which will be binding on the government, is likely to make euthanasia and assisted suicide legal in New Zealand. Pro-euthanasia campaigners argue that the issue is

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More Landlord Bashing from the Government

More Landlord Bashing from the Government

I confess. I am a landlord. There, I have said it. I need a support group. Actually, all landlords need a support group, because the government has the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act in front of the House at the moment. If passed, it will make life harder than ever for

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High Court Challenge Tests WA’s COVID Restrictions

High Court Challenge Tests WA’s COVID Restrictions

Just as the Ardern government apparently acted illegally in at least the initial stages of its lockdown, questions have been repeatedly raised in Australia about the constitutionality of various state government responses. Legal experts have especially questioned whether border closures are in breach of section 92 of the Constitution. As

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Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australia is perhaps unique among Western nations in not having guaranteed freedom of speech. The United States is famous for its First Amendment, Great Britain has a common law right, even New Zealand has its Bill of Rights (which its government seems increasingly determined to ignore). But Australia? Nothing. Nothing,

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Cannabis Advocates Wilfully Misleading Public on Medicinal Marijuana

Cannabis Advocates Wilfully Misleading Public on Medicinal Marijuana

Press Release: Say Nope to Dope The Say Nope To Dope campaign says that the supporters of cannabis legalisation are willfully misleading the public when they pretend to be concerned about patients and the use and availability of medicinal cannabis. “There has been a deafening silence on the drawing out

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Two Referenda

Two Referenda

Dr Muriel Newman nzcpr.com In early July the Electoral Commission sent out 3.27 million personalised information packs for this year’s General Election. On Saturday 19 September we will not only be asked to vote for the party we would like to be the next government and the

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Crown Lawyers Ask Judges to Play Politics

Crown Lawyers Ask Judges to Play Politics

Crown lawyers are asking the three judges deciding the case of lockdown legality to play politics. That’s grubby, definitely, and corrupt, probably. The suspicion arises of political finger-dipping in our High Court with Crown Law urging Justices Thomas, Venning and Ellis to consider the “unintended consequences” of their

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No Jokes, Please, We’re Scottish

No Jokes, Please, We’re Scottish

As Theodore Dalrymple points out, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is a nationalist and a socialist: “a national socialist”. Which might, perhaps, explain her government’s hyper-sensitivity to erstwhile national socialist leader Adolf Hitler being mocked by silly-looking dogs. When YouTube comedian Mark Meechan, aka “Count Dankula”, posted

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Free Speech Dividing Lines

Free Speech Dividing Lines

As election rumblings grow louder it’s worth reviewing some of the key fault lines of the last three years. Some of these cracks in the public square will inevitably re-open in the next term, especially in the (unlikely!) event that the current government is returned. Among the most

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Federal Court of Australia Delivers Severe Blow to Free Speech

Federal Court of Australia Delivers Severe Blow to Free Speech

Patrick Corish Co-ordinator Free Speech Coalition While the Free Speech Coalition focuses exclusively on freedom of expression in New Zealand, we like to keep tabs on free speech developments in our Western democratic cousins. Sadly, last week the Federal Court of Australia heard an appeal against a professor’s

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Cannabis Use in ‘These’ United States
Law

Cannabis Use in ‘These’ United States

Nathan Smith nzinitiative.org.nz It is a pity Kiwis cannot build a mirror image “New Zealand v2” somewhere in the Pacific to test controversial policies like cannabis legalisation. Actually, that’s why the US is such a great political system. It was only last century that Americans began calling

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We’re off to the Court of Appeal

We’re off to the Court of Appeal

Michael Dowling Chairman Council of Licenced Firearms Owners We got so close, and got the High Court to recognise, for the first time, that the historic common law human right for compensation when a Government takes property, is legally equivalent to the ‘modern’ human rights contained in the New Zealand

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IPCA Finds Police Raids Unlawful
Law

IPCA Finds Police Raids Unlawful

Michael Dowling Chairman Council of Licenced Firearms Owners fairandreasonable.co.nz You may recall emails from Nicole last year expressing concerns about a series of Police raids of the homes of licenced firearms owners following the Mosque shootings, apparently associated with social media postings. Earlier today, the Independent Police Conduct

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