Freedom of speech discussion, NZ Parliament
Some Nationals finally show that they have gonads
With a credit to Bassett, Brash and Hyde for bringing this to my attention.
Chris Luxon is a waste of space as the National’s leader in the NZ Parliament the main opposition to the hideous government (and even more hideous PM) that we have. He’s woke in a country where the PM is the world’s leading woke and has the unquestioning support of the major media in the country. In other words his game is a losing game. So it’s good to see some National MPs finally stand up to the nonsense of the last 5-10 years. First up is Simon O’Connor and he lays into possibly my least favourite politician in this land, Chloe Swarbrick and her ilk;
The transcript of this debate in Parliament is even more illuminating. The Labour and Green MPs are all vile on the subject of freedom of speech. The discussion came into being probably only because Dr James McDowall of the ACT party (a right wing party that grew out of the right of the Labour Party of the 1980s) had his bill drawn from the lottery that is the ballot. McDowall was likely prompted to put this bill in the mix due to some feminists being cancelled from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) an increasingly common occurence in this time of Transgender rights trumping anybody else’s rights from here to London to Paris to San Francisco. But not maybe to Moscow or Beijing.
Groan….
ANGELA ROBERTS (Labour):
“By giving visitors more voice, some students and staff may actually feel unsafe, and it actually might reduce the academic rigour that we require. I don't know how long it's been since you've walked on to a campus and had a good debate with your lecturer. Some of us have done it as recently as last week, and it's wonderful to be in that space where you feel safe to really, really challenge the science—not the misinformation, not the baiting, but the discipline about academic rigour.”
….
“We should be making institutions safe places for academic rigour, not places where we bring in misinformation and it gets the same status.”
Double groan….
ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): “Order! With apologies to the member. Masks are to be worn in this House unless the member has an exemption or is making a call. So members may not remove their mask, even if only partially to make a call, under these circumstances.”
JO LUXTON (Labour): “Well, if you'll listen up, Mr Brown, I will tell you what it has to do with it. Just listen up—less talking, perhaps more listening.”
….
“There is so much misinformation and disinformation out there, and we've seen it first-hand out here on our front lawn. Our place, the people's place, was desecrated while people had a platform to spread their mis- and disinformation, where they spoke about freedom, freedom of speech, and they also spoke about hate.”
She’s talking about the vaccine mandate protests at Parliament in February this year.
“Yes, it is important that people have freedom of speech. Yes, it is important that people have different points of view. But it is not OK when people want to talk about hateful things, to spread misinformation, to spread disinformation.”
Oh fuck off Jo.
“Yes. Just keep on listening, Mr O'Connor. You may just learn something.”
Again fuck off Jo.
CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green—Auckland Central): “E te Māngai, tēnā koe, tēnā koutou e te Whare.”
Chloe doesn’t speak much Maori. That just basically means ‘gidday, welcome to the house”. Her house obviously. Chloe is very, very arrogant.
“if you'd like to listen, Simeon Brown. So I never thought that I would see the day that the ACT Party thought that more cumbersome and complicated bureaucracy would somehow be a solution to a problem, let alone a hyped up problem that we actually already have the legislative infrastructure to fix if we are to pay true heed to the noted purpose of this legislation.”
And of the opinion that when making a point (yeah I know, what point) it’s always better to use 40 words even if it can be distilled to four words. That’s because Chloe is very, very bright and you need to know that.
“Section 5 of that same legislation, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, belies—and I quote—"Justified limitations" that is subject to reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. What that means for anyone who is listening to this debate tonight”
Chloe studied law at Auckland University and knows how to pull out the parts which justify tyrannies.
“And I really would invite some meaningful contributions here, not just those of purported absolutism and really blurring the lines about what we're actually discussing in this legislation, Mr Brown. What it means is that when these rights, as outlined in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, rub up against each other—such as, for example, freedom of movement, freedom from discrimination, or the likes of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure—we in this Chamber choose how to balance those rights, and those in State institutions, and those responsible for provision of those campuses in these institutions to which this bill seeks to prescribe how they could balance, and actually not balance, because it is absolutely about absolutism.”
This can be distilled down to “We tyrants do what we want”.
Groan…..
SHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote): “Could I remind the House that this week, we will celebrate and recognise Pink Shirt Day on Friday, and that particular kaupapa will work to collectively stop bullying in our country. Yet, tonight, we're putting forward a piece of legislation that is quite counter to what we're asking. So I ask all members in this House tonight: on Friday, when you wake up and turn up to this place, will you be taking a photo in your pinks?”
and
“and, yesterday, out the front of our Parliament, we raised the flags to celebrate and recognise the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia. And when we talk about freedom of speech, freedom for who? For those that are transphobic?”
Which can be distilled down to “I hate women”.
Dr GAURAV SHARMA (Labour—Hamilton West): You can guess by his name, the topic of this discussion and his party what comes next.
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I had written a speech, but before I read what I was going to say initially the last speaker, Simon O'Connor's words were quite unfortunate and sad, especially for somebody like me who, as a man of colour, has faced a lot of abuse—including to the point when I was running for election.”
Yep, gaslighting and as a man of colour (self allocated) good luck criticising him.
Don’t forget Trans Gaurav!
“That's not going to happen with a bill like this which empowers people to be able to speak against people who might not look like them, whether it is the colour of their skin or whether they associate being part of the rainbow community or…”
Yay!
INGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) and my fucking neighbour: “I stand against this bill, for three reasons. It's recognised in law and in ethics that freedom of speech is not absolute.”
and
“if we look at the harm that can be done to people who are visibly different, even in my own electorate recently with the case of a young woman at school who had her hijab pulled off in what was a racially motivated attack and a religious attack, that is different from being a Catholic.”
I don’t think that this claim of racism was proven. I have been away for 3 weeks though maybe there were some developments?
By the way Ingrid has her nice new van parked outside right now.
“In going forward, we will need to debate them because we live in a context of populism, of misinformation, and of overseas funding coming into our institutions and into our society in a way where it's really difficult for people to navigate their way forward according to their values and according to what they know to be the truth.”
Tell us more Ingrid…
Sigh. Ingrid wasn’t the worst. That was Chloe. Jo Luxton was pretty damned awful as well. Do they not realize that they’re removing the exact freedoms that have bought them to Parliament? That transgender is not at all concerned about democracy, about women having rights. Do they not realise that if their continued contrivances on behalf of this ideology means that Parliament will be 100% male in 20 years time but with half of those males in dresses?
Really guys, please grow up.
they should watch Ricky Gervais new comedy special
Wait for actions and results.