New Zealand’s government has come under fire for withdrawing proposed hate speech laws – introduced after the mosque terror attacks in Christchurch – in favour of “refocusing on the economy”.
The prime minister, Chris Hipkins, announced on Wednesday that the government would halt efforts on the hate speech laws, as part of a wider effort to “refocus” the government on “bread and butter” economic issues in the wake of Jacinda Ardern’s resignation and with an election on the horizon.
The laws, which toughened the response to hate speech against minority groups, were put forward as a result of recommendations from the royal commission of inquiry into the Christchurch attacks, in which a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques. Progressive and Islamic groups have criticised their delay, saying they leave minority groups at risk.
Aliya Danzeisen, national coordinator of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, said in a statement that it had been more than two years since the royal commission issued its report, and Muslim women and children had “faced an onslaught of hatred”.
“How many more people need to suffer from hate and for how long before our legislators will have the courage to do what is right?” Danzeisen said. “There is no more time or consideration needed.”
First proposed in 2021, the reforms had proven controversial, with the government struggling at times to define what kind of speech would reach the threshold for prosecution. They were criticised by progressive groups for not offering broad enough protections to women, LGBTQI, and disability communities, and by others for a lack of clarity or for encroaching on freedom of speech.
Hipkins said the hate speech laws were highly contentious and absorbing government attention when it needed to focus on economic issues.
“There are some very legitimate issues that have been raised, but I don’t want to have them mired in a debate which is going nowhere,” he said.
Chief human rights commissioner Paul Hunt said the government had “given way to often mis-informed and opportunistic political debate … when we should have been coming together as a society to do all we can to ensure such horrific acts of terror never happen again.”
The Green party has criticised the move, with human rights spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman saying she feels “the heartbreak and disappointment of the communities including [Christchurch] victims”.
“An inability to report hate speech means our institutions can’t monitor that risk,” she said, adding that it would “make our communities unsafe”.
New Zealand’s current hate speech laws cover race, but not gender, sexuality, or religion. The proposed laws had initially increased protections for all of those groups, but were then watered down to cover only religion. They will now be abandoned in their current form until after the election.
