-
-
Donate – Register for Newsletter
-
Weekly Poll
Loading ...-
-
Your Views
-
-
-
Social Media
-
-
-
NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
-
Karl du Fresne
In a column in The Dominion Post in February 2008, I wrote that a law change requiring intellectually disabled workers to be paid the legal minimum wage was a triumph of human rights ideology over common sense. My column attracted a response from Ruth Dyson, then the Minister for Disability Issues, who told me in an email that in fact it was a triumph of fairness and common sense over ideology.
In the first party leaders’ debate on TV One during the election campaign, Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper tackled National leader John Key on the subject of the 1981 Springbok tour. He wanted to know what Key’s position had been.
National Radio reported a few days ago that Energy Minister David Parker was taken aback by the public backlash against the Government’s decision to phase out incandescent light bulbs. Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel is known to be concerned about a similar adverse reaction against her proposal to ban liquor sales in suburban dairies. Last month, we witnessed the unusual spectacle of city streets being blocked by truckies protesting at an increase in road user charges – and the even more remarkable spectacle of the public and the media cheering them on, despite the inconvenience caused.
Join the dots here. The New Zealand Olympic Committee, with the backing of the Minister of Sport, tries to muzzle athletes taking part in the Beijing Games. The police are issued with instructions allowing protesters to be blocked or moved from view if they offend a visiting VIP. Parliament passes an extraordinarily elaborate set of laws protecting Rugby World Cup sponsors from competitors’ advertising. The Government and its supporting parties bulldoze through Parliament a Bill placing unprecedented restrictions on what people may legally say about politics during election year. Immigration officials ban an ageing, discredited academic from entering New Zealand to expound his odd theories about the Holocaust. An arrogant Minister of Health publicly attacks elected members of a district health board, then tries to forbid them from speaking out in their own defence. The Race Relations Commissioner calls for tighter controls on TV programmes that cause religious offence. And the Prime Minister rebukes newspaper editors who dared to publish the so-called Muhammad cartoons.
