law

Categories under law

Whistleblowers

Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, June 17th, 2010 - 37 comments

Currently the “hunt” is on for whistleblowers in cases both within NZ, and internationally. When a whistleblower takes on a big organisation over a matter of genuine public significance they are taking a risk, in some cases a huge risk. Let’s hope that there will always be people who are brave enough to make sure that we the people know the truth.

Nanny state on the roads

Written By: - Date published: 7:20 am, June 8th, 2010 - 70 comments

Last Queen’s Birthday Weekend 10 people died on the roads and 32 were seriously injured. Last Easter another 12 dead, the highest toll in 18 years. This Queen’s Birthday police announced a massive crackdown on speeding. Idiots such as DPF denounced it as a “revenue gathering exercise”. But events have proved them very wrong, with the lowest toll in 54 years.

Clamping down on trusts

Written By: - Date published: 10:55 pm, June 7th, 2010 - 33 comments

One of the most popular uses of trusts is to hide income for tax avoidance or evasion. So, I was happy to read about the IRD’s success in a recent court case against two surgeons. The court found these two very rich men had used trusts to avoid tax to the tune of $168,000. The case will have big ramifications, potentially shutting down one of the biggest tax rorts in the country.

Collins has no answers on murder increase law

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, May 5th, 2010 - 12 comments

This is a crime bill that is not expected to deter or reduce crime and may increase murders. That’s not acceptable. It’s not even really a crime bill, it’s a stupid PR stunt that puts lives at risk. No responsible government would pass it. But this is not a responsible government. It is willing to cause more murders for the sake of appearing tough on crime.

On GEO group, conservative politicians, lobbyist groups, and prisons

Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, May 2nd, 2010 - 9 comments

In Florida, a legislative plan to close as many as five state prisons and ship inmates to a private prison run by GEO Group was scaled back last month.

The feds may be searching to see if former state House Speaker Sansom received any kickbacks from the company. The GEO group are also contenders for running private prisons here.

DRIP-fed

Written By: - Date published: 12:44 pm, April 23rd, 2010 - 51 comments

Anyone who still thinks the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is going to have any real world effect in New Zealand needs their head read. The first thing that a court will do when someone cites the DRIP as authoritative is check what the Government said about its intention to be bound by it. It will find statement after statement that the Government sees it as purely symbolic.

Davis on iwi-run prisons

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, April 16th, 2010 - 37 comments

Kelvin Davis: It goes to show how high the aspirations of some of our Maori leaders are. We now aspire to bung the bros in the hinaki and watch the dollars roll in. The longer and more often we can put them away, the sooner we will be able to afford to expand the prison and lock even more away. With the soaring crime rate and high Maori unemployment everything is coming together nicely.

Finlayson covering for corrupt judge?

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, April 12th, 2010 - 23 comments

A senior judge is under investigation for sitting on a case in which his business partner, whom he owed $240,000, was a lawyer. The investigation could result in a recommendation to the Attorney-General that the judge be sacked. But Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has trampled over the process and has said he will not act against Justice Wilson, who is a mate of his from their days at Bell Gully.

Paying MPs’ court costs

Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, April 7th, 2010 - 22 comments

I don’t have a problem with MPs being able to get public funding for court cases arising from their professional activities. You wouldn’t expect private sector employees who are taken to court over their actions in their job to be forced to pay their own way. But what a sense of entitlement Gerry Brownlee has.

Nat kneejerk over Waihopai 3

Written By: - Date published: 12:52 pm, March 22nd, 2010 - 17 comments

Key is talking ‘toughening’ the law in the wake of the Waihopai 3 acquittals. He clearly doesn’t understand that a jury decision, let alone one in a district court, has no precedent effect. Others Nats are muttering about canning jury trials. It’s scary the way the Nats resort to heavyhanded tactics so quickly. They never work either, just ask the boyracers in their uncrushed cars.

Voting ban for prisoners irrational

Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, March 19th, 2010 - 146 comments

Paul Quinn’s Electoral (Disqualification of Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill appears to be unjustifiably inconsistent with the electoral rights affirmed by s 12 of the Bill of Rights Act.

That’s the view of Attorney General Chris Finlayson, whose National Party is supporting the bill to select committee regardless.

Race and the law

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, March 11th, 2010 - 31 comments

The light sentences handed down to most of the group that killed Navtej Singh have caused consternation within the NZ Indian community. With the Human Rights Commission today releasing a statement on worrying trends of racism in NZ, now is a terrible time for the legal system to be sending all the wrong messages.

The kneejerk and the jackboot

Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, March 11th, 2010 - 3 comments

Sometimes you get a really pleasant surprise and I got one today from Garth George. Despite being a pretty old school conservative he gives a stunning rebuke of the knee-jerk authoritarianism/fascism/randianism that so often characterises the thinking of the Right these days and was recently highlighted by David Garrett’s call for sterilisation of the poor.

Collins and the fist of the state

Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, March 4th, 2010 - 39 comments

An ugly side of the Right, one that a lot of people thought was long defeated, has reemerged in recent weeks. Yesterday we had David Garrett’s ‘sterilise the poor because they might become criminals or breed criminals’ and last week we had arguably more disturbing comments from Judith Collins about how she wanted to restore “fear” of the Police.

Out with three strikes

Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, February 23rd, 2010 - 31 comments

The National / ACT “three strikes” policy on violent crime sentencing is the worst kind of law.

It has been thoroughly condemned by the Justice Ministry, who were blocked from giving advice to select committee.

BLiP View: Crusher missing in action

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, February 23rd, 2010 - 29 comments

BLiP puts his distinctive view on why the police have been losing “the respect of the community” with one of his locally famous lists. He attributes it to ‘Crusher’ Collins and wonders why John Key is cluessly fronting PR wanting stronger sentences for disrespecting police.

Cowardly

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, February 8th, 2010 - 51 comments

A foreign politician celebrates an act of terrorism on our shores and our Prime Minister refuses to comment on the matter? WTF?

‘3 strikes’, typical ‘Do Nothing’ Key policy

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, January 20th, 2010 - 90 comments

The ‘3 strikes’ policy is the kind of policy you put in place when you want to look tough on crime but you have no idea how to actually reduce it, in the same way a cycleway is the jobs plan you have when you don’t have a plan. We know locking people up longer doesn’t […]

Too far, Fran

Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, January 16th, 2010 - 42 comments

Despite almost never agreeing with Fran O’Sullivan, I have respect for her. She comes from the ACT-right and her pieces reflect that but she argues honestly and intelligently, the latter in particular being in short supply in this country’s political discourse. So, I’m a bit saddened by her piece this morning: If Wellington was devastated […]

I wonder if he’ll ask for a name suppression order.

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, December 24th, 2009 - 27 comments

No Right Turn has a post The blogosphere is not above the law. Since the beginning, there’s been a meme on the internet that the law doesn’t really apply here, and that we can get away with anything. But while there may be practical difficulties (particularly if people are smart and careful), it certainly does, […]

Jingle Bells – walking away from debt

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, December 24th, 2009 - 5 comments

In the US it is easier than NZ for home-owners to walk away using the jingle mail options in the US. However in NZ it is far too easy for businesses to do the same. Slate Magazines article “Everyone’s Defaulting, Why Don’t You?” by Daniel Gross points out the absurdity of expecting home owners hit […]

Guilty until proven innocent

Written By: - Date published: 1:01 pm, November 7th, 2009 - 9 comments

We are continuing our chilling progress towards a surveillance state. The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 is another brick in the wall. Apparently this act reverses the fundamental presumption of innocence with respect to assets (possessions, wealth). If the police decide that your possessions were gained via “significant criminal activity” you are guilty unless you […]

Unbridled power

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, November 7th, 2009 - 11 comments

The government and the Police are spinning all the new security measures as a national security matter and a crack-down ONLY on the leaders of organised crime, watching how the worst villains spend their ill-gotten gains and preventing them from corrupting police and politicians (snort) etc. Police minister Judith Crusher Collins: “Gang bosses have grown […]

Chilling

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, November 5th, 2009 - 39 comments

The Search and Surveillance Bill is making its way though the bowels of the government law making process. This is a terrible law, described by the Human Rights Commissioner as “disproportionately invasive” and “chilling“: Sweeping powers to spy, bug conversations and hack into private computers could be given to a web of state agencies as […]

Question

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, October 28th, 2009 - 20 comments

Why on earth is Labour supporting this police state bullshit? The article says Labour MPs were concerned about the extent of powers being given to the police, and Charles Chauvel tried to amend the bill so a judicial warrant would be needed. Amendment was voted down, but Labour went and voted for it anyway. Some […]

Yeah, but who are the criminals?

Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, October 18th, 2009 - 13 comments

I think I might have joined the dots in what it is that is causing me such unease about the arrival of Crime Stoppers. Sure, there’s the whole ‘Big Brother’ thing as citizens are rewarded for anonymously spying on their neighbours, colleagues and team mates, that whole Stasi dimension it brings to our communities, but […]

Surveillance state

Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, October 16th, 2009 - 22 comments

One of the most dishonest, yet most successful tactics of National in opposition was to rant on and on about the “Nanny state”. Here’s John Key fairly foaming at the mouth: I’ve had nine years of being told what lightbulb I can screw into the house, what shower I can take, what food I can […]

War on P

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, October 12th, 2009 - 28 comments

Did John Key pick up a pair of cowboy boots on his latest trip? Because he’s come back talking like some kind of macho macho man: My message to the gangs is clear. This Government is coming after your business and we will use every tool we have to destroy it. We will be ruthless […]

Wanganui: a Laws unto itself

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, September 4th, 2009 - 45 comments

The Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Act 2009, which prohibits the display of gang insignia in a public place, so clearly infringes of freedom of expression and association that it’s almost as though it was made up as an exam question for law students in a Bill of Rights class. The Act defines ‘gang insignia’ to include […]

It’s not OK, resign

Written By: - Date published: 5:23 am, August 26th, 2009 - 75 comments

The judgment in the case of ‘high-profile political figure’ involved in a domestic violence dispute has come back. Cameron Slater has published parts of the judgment, which declines to issue a protection order because the couple are no longer together but does hold that his actions did “amount to domestic violence in the form of […]

On cultural relativism

Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, August 16th, 2009 - 22 comments

It’s a pretty rare thing for a conviction for manslaughter not to lead to some jail time. In the past 28 years, only 69 of 814 convictions haven’t resulted in a custodial sentence*. I would have thought that not getting jail time would be especially rare when the killing was at the more culpable end of the […]