Better late than never

The Greens have finally spoken up on sedition, calling for a review of the law and an inquiry by the justice and Electoral Select Committee. Keith Locke gets it exactly right in saying that

“[t]he police are taking us down a very dangerous road in prosecuting a person for making a generalized call for civil disobedience.

“New Zealand has an honourable tradition of civil disobedience against injustice, most notably during the Springbok tour of 1981. Thankfully the sedition laws weren’t used at that time, but the police now seemed prepared to prosecute anyone advocating such resistance.

“Next thing we might see farmers facing charges for encouraging others not to get their dogs micro-chipped.

Though actually, I doubt the latter, simply because the bald, bullet-headed thugs in the New Zealand police who are now the self-appointed guardians of our political discourse will likely see them as being part of the political "mainstream", rather than outside of it.

While a call for a review is good, I would rather see the law repealed in its entirity.