A measure of justice for Nicky Hager

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, March 19th, 2016 - 22 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, accountability, Dirty Politics, john key, law, police - Tags: , , , , ,

nicky-hager-returned-raidAs widely covered yesterday, Nicky Hager has received – too little and far too late – a measure of justice for the “fundamentally unlawful” raid conducted on his home and family in the wake of Dirty Politics. Here’s one report:

Hager gets a victory

A victory for the investigative journalist Nicky Hager. He’s emerged from the High Court at Auckland clutching smashed clones of a computer hard drive and memory card which were seized during an unlawful police search of his home.

Police also returned the equipment and belongings seized in the raid.

Hager hopes it’ll reinforce protections for journalists and their sources, and prevent further “Rambo-style” raids. “I’m still gob smacked that police thought it was reasonable to arrive like Rambo and spend 11 hours doing over my house where they found nothing they wanted for their research.
…
Hager said he hoped the court case would ensure people weren’t afraid to share information with the media.
…
“I strongly believe that there will be no Rambo police raids into anyone like me or other parts of the media for a long time now, they’ve learnt their lesson. “They’ve lost comprehensively, and they’d have to be fools to do it again.”

Hager acknowledged the support that he received:

“This has been a long 17 months, and I’m eternally grateful to my lawyers and I’m very grateful to the people from the media and elsewhere who were my witnesses. “There are also hundreds of New Zealanders who have money towards the case because it cost a tremendous amount for this, and I hope they are joining in the sense of triumph today.”

Nice to see the fundraising efforts recognised.

The saga is not quite yet over for Hager, who said he expects to return to court for further issues with police behaviour.

Hager will also be exploring Westpac’s role in turning over his data to the police. Good.

Recall how all this started:

The search came after blogger Cameron Slater laid a complaint when information from his own computer, obtained by a hacker known as Rawshark, was published in Mr Hager’s book Dirty Politics.

A High Court judge later ruled the warrant used for it was fundamentally unlawful and that police failed to disclose relevant information to the judge that issued it.

Did National, on behalf of their dirty politics blogger, apply pressure to the police that forced this rapid action and the consequent bungles? It would be consistent with their many other politically motivated attacks on journalists.* John Key continuing in the fine tradition established by his hero Rob Muldoon.

* For example the raids on media offices over the teapot tapes; the attacks on Bradley Ambrose (who is now suing Key); the attacks on Jon Stephenson (for which he received an apology and compensation from the NZDF); the pressure applied to media over the “wages drop” incident (which led to a protest letter from Herald journalists).

22 comments on “A measure of justice for Nicky Hager ”

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  1. saveNZ 1
    19 March 2016 at 8:30 am

    +100 Congratulations Nicky Hager!

    • Whispering Kate 1.1
      19 March 2016 at 8:37 am

      Me too, congratulations Nicky – if you are reading this, you have brought some fresh air and justice back into circulation. Nice to see the courts coming down on your side. We need more of your books published and look forward to reading them. May the wind be at your back from now on.

      • whateva next? 1.1.1
        20 March 2016 at 8:21 pm

        …..and I am very happy to see the Whaleoil site has lost it’s toxic power, thanks to “Dirty Politics” is back to a personal commentary, which is fine.

  2. Dot 2
    19 March 2016 at 9:08 am

    I am grateful that we have someone with intelligence and integrity in our country,
    thanks Nicky.

  3. ianmac 3
    19 March 2016 at 9:32 am

    Go Nicky!
    And I think that one of Nicky’s line of investigation already had included the police.

  4. John Shears 4
    19 March 2016 at 9:33 am

    Congratulations Nicky, I knew your Father in the Levin days, he would be so proud of you.

    • ianmac 4.1
      19 March 2016 at 9:48 pm

      So did I John. I once pruned some of his trees in Levin as neither Court or Barbara liked climbing trees with chainsaws. Very different and refreshing family.

  5. left for dead 5
    19 March 2016 at 9:42 am

    Excuse the pun, I can park the shark for now.
    very pleased for Nicky Hager and his family. 🙂

  6. Reality 6
    19 March 2016 at 10:05 am

    Great to see an intelligent, rational and decent man finally get justice. Hope they have to pay compensation and apologise and stop making so many mistakes which appear to suggest political influence.

  7. mosa 7
    19 March 2016 at 11:17 am

    A ray of light has broken the darkness in this country temporarily
    We have few heroes like Nicky Hagar who has suffered a great deal to bring this information to the NZ public and make those that care about ethical standards and open government in NZ be informed of the true extent of what has happened here
    No one should forget this was politically motivated and that should deeply concen New Zealanders
    We have a proud history of making a stand in big numbers when the fight was right unortunatley not on this occasion Nicky has had to battle alone
    He should be honoured as a true patriot
    New Zealanders should expect Cameron Slater and others to face the same scrutiny
    Stay strong Nicky and thankyou.

  8. Tautuhi 8
    19 March 2016 at 4:21 pm

    This must bring into question the relationship between the Police and Central Government?

    • tc 8.1
      20 March 2016 at 9:05 am

      Politically compromised and in breach of the principles of the separation of state and law as your asking, pretty blatant and concerning.

      Look at the treatment slater gets in terms of Lprents compliant over his attempted hack on TS and him not being charged after admitting breaching s57 of the crimes act.

      Compare that to hager, ambrose etc…..draw your own conclusions, Shonkys idol Muldoon loved using the police to his own political ends so it’s par for the course.

  9. Tautuhi 9
    19 March 2016 at 4:24 pm

    The NACT government and the NZ Police do not like investigative journalism as it exposes their deficiences, it is time for the Government and NZ Police to lift their Code of Conduct, the NZ Public are getting sick of their incompetence?

  10. the Pink Postman 10
    20 March 2016 at 3:32 pm

    Well done NICKY .
    We are still in the same house in Cambridge ,
    Still fighting for the cause but age has slowed us down.
    John and Gloria.

  11. upnorth 11
    20 March 2016 at 6:21 pm

    Still stolen material for a book
    Reality is while an interesting read – the elections still showed that NZ didn’t care and returned a bigger majority.

    These are two facts you can not dispute.

    Lets be fair and yes the police bungled and happy for Nicky and justice served but the facts are the facts on the outcomes

    • One Anonymous Bloke 11.1
      20 March 2016 at 7:16 pm

      You don’t get to invent your own facts: Nicky exposed the trash that embody National Party values, and as we can see, plenty of us, including the judiciary, care.
      You are not New Zealand, you’re the current largest minority, and you can only get elected by employing trash and ratfucking. Slow clap.

      • upnorth 11.1.1
        20 March 2016 at 8:16 pm

        the problem with your argument 40% plus of the country just can not be wrong.

        Not 5% 40% – based on first past the post the election result would have been even worse for the progressives

        • Incognito 11.1.1.1
          20 March 2016 at 10:21 pm

          Being right (or wrong) simply is not a numbers game.

          Take Nelson Mandela, for example, who was on the right side all along but it took decades to right the wrongs of Apartheid in South Africa. Maybe these words mean something to you: the power of one.

          DP showed that there are people in NZ who are dirty to the bone and do anything to gain & keep power and not for the good for all but for entirely selfish reasons. DP also showed, directly and indirectly, that there are many more who are complacent if not complicit.

          The sad thing is that many of those people already enjoy privileged positions and special status in our society but they want more; it is never enough for some insatiable souls. These people have been and still are given our trust and they betray and manipulate us for their own personal gains.

          Feel free to close your eyes & ears to all this but please stop pretending that it is somehow right because people voted for this bunch; it is not!

        • One Anonymous Bloke 11.1.1.2
          20 March 2016 at 10:32 pm

          Innumeracy is no surprise from a wingnut. The percentage of Kiwis who voted for the corrupt Sabin Party was ~28%.

          Can’t you do math?

  12. Neil 12
    20 March 2016 at 9:41 pm

    Why do I get that sinking feeling that the police under orders from the national party were ordered to make a duplicate copy of those hard drives etc.

  13. Tautuhi 13
    21 March 2016 at 3:30 pm

    The Police in NZ have a long history of political intererence, goes back to year dot?

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