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Download AudioOn the fourth anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings, the Race Relations Commissioner says a rewrite of hate speech legislation can’t be allowed to languish.
The initiative has been sent back to the Law Commission for more work, and Meng Foon says he’s reminding the Government it needs to give the commission sufficient resources and funding to do the work and write a better bill ,
Current hate speech legislation covers race but not disabilities, LGBTQI+ or religion.
“The threshold needs to be high, we accept that, but these people are not covered and if someone rants on and threatens them or there is incitement to do them harm, they are not covered by the law so we need this law to keep people safer, ensure people just don’t do silly things and say silly things and incite violence and we are on a strong lobby for that,” Mr Foon says.
He’s encouraging New Zealanders to reflect today on what happened in Otautahi four years ago and also to think about what they are doing to create harmonious and safer communities.
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