Bob Edlin: Lenient judge in theft case says $360 is a “relatively small amount” .......

Lenient judge in theft case says $360 is a “relatively small amount” – but what can shoplifters expect under tougher legislation?

ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar emailed PoO today to whoop about “today’s introduction of a new law expanding citizens’ arrest powers and introducing infringement fees for shoplifters…” It shows her party’s continued commitment to standing up for retailers, she said.

Click on to her link and you will find it’s not yet a new law. It’s a bill.

Bob Edlin: Waititi’s demand to “get on with it” presaged the sovereignty issue being aired....

Waititi’s demand to “get on with it” presaged the sovereignty issue being aired – and claims about the race card being played

It looks like the Government and Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi shared one objective last Thursday. Both wanted to bring an end to proceedings that determined the fate of the three Māori Party MPs who had performed a haka during the vote on the first reading of the Principles of Treaty of Waitangi Bill last November.

Louis Collins, in an RNZ report headed The House: A sentencing hearing in Parliament, observed: