Summarised by Centrist
The Free Speech Union says it’s taking legal action against New Zealand Police for failing to scrap unlawful officer training on “hate speech” and “hate crime”—months after promising to do so.
In a statement, FSU chair Dr Roderick Mulgan accused Police of ignoring warnings that the training was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights and outside the bounds of current law.
“No ‘hate crime’ law has ever existed in New Zealand,” he wrote. “So why are Police being trained to enforce them?”
The Free Speech Union says it will take Police to court over ongoing hate speech training, claiming promised changes were never made.
“We’re done waiting,” wrote FSU chief executive Jonathan Ayling. “They’re still training their officers to identify ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crimes’ using real-life scenarios—including a heated argument between neighbours over an avocado tree.”
The group first exposed the training last year. Police agreed to revise the materials but have allegedly failed to follow through. The FSU is now seeking a legal declaration that the training is unlawful.
It also criticised Police for endorsing new protest laws following an IPCA report, saying existing law “simply needs to be applied—respect Kiwis’ right to speech.”
The update included support for Janet Dickson, a real estate agent who lost her licence after refusing to complete a compulsory Te Ao Māori course. “We need to deal with the ideological capture of our institutions,” said Mulgan. “They need to go back to being politically neutral,” he said.
