KEY POINTS:
Four political parties have called on the Government to repeal sedition laws, saying they are an archaic affront to freedom and democracy.
The Law Commission last month recommended to Parliament that the laws should be abolished and yesterday the Greens, United Future, Act and the Maori Party said
it was time for action.
"In a country that champions itself as a free and fair democracy, the existence of sedition laws is an unnecessary restraint on the political rights of New Zealanders," the parties said in a joint statement.
"The problem we have with the law of sedition is that while it continues to exist in this country true freedom of expression is compromised."
At a joint press conference Green Party MP Keith Locke said the issue was simple.
"The sedition laws violate free speech and our absolute right to criticise those in power.
"They make it illegal to incite disaffection against the Government. Every day in Parliament we do just that - as MPs we probably breach these laws every day."
Act MP Heather Roy said the sedition laws had been used by the state to commit "terrible acts of oppression" in the past.
Ms Roy said that since the 1920s the laws were thought to have been a historic anomaly, but they had been used recently.
"We're now seeing sedition revived, apparently as a catch-all offence. We call on the Government to repeal them."
United Future leader Peter Dunne said the four parties represented 15 votes in Parliament, and the Government had a ready-made majority for a repeal bill which had already been drafted by the Law Commission.
The National Party would also have a majority if it picked the issue, the MPs said.
However, only the Government can bring a bill straight to Parliament. Other parties have to draft members bills, which go into a ballot and are sometimes not drawn for years.
The Law Commission presented its report the day before Easter and its president, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, said it was "high time" sedition laws were repealed.
"By abolishing sedition, we will better protect the values of democracy and free speech," the commission said.
Sedition is an ancient law intended to protect the Crown from attempts to undermine its authority. In New Zealand law it also applies to inciting lawlessness and disorder.
The MPs said incitement to violence was covered in the Crimes Act.
The Law Commission began reviewing the laws last year, after a man was found guilty of sedition for putting an axe through Prime Minister Helen Clark's electorate office window, and issuing a pamphlet asking others to commit similar acts in response to the foreshore and seabed legislation.
More recently a barman in Dunedin was charged with sedition after he published a promotional pamphlet offering students the chance to win a petrol-soaked couch and swap a litre of petrol for a litre of beer.
Mr Locke said he understood the Government was still considering the Law Commission report.
Justice Minister Mark Burton said the Government would present its response to the Law Commission report by October.
"As I said on the day the report was tabled, the Law Commission makes a compelling case for removing these laws from the statutes," he said.
"Today's press conference confirms my view that the report would enjoy wide support."
Inciting rebellion
Some high profile New Zealand sedition prosecutions:
1865: Interpreter and land agent Charles Davis prosecuted after helping Tauranga Maori publish a pamphlet critical of "te Arawa mangai-nui" (big-mouthed Arawa) who, with Government endorsement, had claimed Tauranga lands. He was found not guilty.
1916: Peter Fraser, later Labour Prime Minister, for calling for an end to conscription. He served 12 months in prison.
1916: Unionist Bob Semple convicted after warning workers not to be "lassoed by that Prussian octopus, conscription" and sentenced to 12 months in prison. He later became Minister of Works.
1918: Unitarian minister James Chapple convicted and sentenced to 11 months' jail on two counts of seditious utterance at Greymouth. He had said: "The patriotic poison is in our schools. Children are taught to salute the flag and taught to sing the national anthem. I tell my children, when they come home, not to sing the national anthem."
1922: Roman Catholic Bishop James Liston for a St Patrick's Day speech criticising British policy in Ireland and New Zealand and praising the 1916 Dublin insurrection. He was acquitted.
2006: Timothy Selwyn jailed for two months in 2006 over his call for citizen activism, after attacking the Prime Minister's electorate office with an axe.
- NZPA
