David Farrar: A good bill from Melissa Lee to reform the HDCA

Melissa Lee has put a bill into the ballot to make some good reforms to the Harmful Digital Communications Act. The ACT has provided relief to many people who have suffered online harm, but has also been weaponised to stop legitimate criticism.

They key changes proposed are:

David Harvey: The Elephant in the Room

The podcast “The Elephant” is an online video series that tackles the conversations New Zealanders often avoid.

It dives into big, uncomfortable questions, looking beyond the echo chambers in search of a fearless and honest debate. In episode 10, hosts recently released, Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell ask ‘When does free speech become hate speech?’

The promotional material for the programme states:

Nick Hanne: Silenced for exposing foreign interference in NZ? Surely not.

Courage comes in all shapes and sizes.

I saw this for myself last Friday in the Manukau District Court when I went to support Portia Mao on behalf of the Free Speech Union.

Don't let Portia's appearance or gentle demeanour fool you. This pint-sized Kiwi-Chinese journalist isn't backing down to anyone or anything.

David Farrar: Abuse of HDCA

The FSU report:

Portia is a Kiwi journalist who has worked on some of NZ’s most challenging investigative news stories. Portia and her family enthusiastically embraced the many freedoms of a democratic society when they emigrated here from China over two decades ago. …

The complainant, a man running in local body elections in Howick, East Auckland (and someone Portia had investigated back in 2019) had been repeatedly attacking Portia on a Chinese chat forum for her involvement in the Stuff documentary.