One of the good points about the OIA is that you can use it to go fishing. So, in the wake of the Rotorua District Council's plans to trespass repeat offenders from the CBD, effectively punishing them without trial, I thought I'd ask a few questions about the British system of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and whether there were any plans to implement them in New Zealand. The request didn't turn up much - the Minister of Justice has received only one briefing on the subject, which was fairly critical - and the response noted that
There are no papers relating to the possible implementation of a similar scheme in New Zealand
Which ought to be a relief. Blair's ASBOs are a particularly vicious form of punishment without trial which do an end-run around the need for evidence and frequently impose penalties for behaviour which is not actually criminal. Such legal instruments have no place in New Zealand society.
ASBOs, yet another legacy of that idiot of a prime minister (up there with the legacy of a decreasing popular vote and decreasing voter turn out). When I read a story about an ASBO being brought against a train station for not stopping pigeons from shitting everywhere, it occured to me that ASBOs are pretty flexible and maybe one could be brought against, Blair, the Labour Party, and most of parliament, for committing the ultimate anti-social behaiviour, war of aggression.
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