Last modified on Wed 3 Mar 2021 15.16 EST
Good morning. The historical rape accusation against Australia’s attorney general continues to dominate the news headlines. Here’s what else is new, this Thursday.
Scott Morrison is facing increasing pressure to establish an independent inquiry into the historical rape allegation made against the country’s top law officer, Christian Porter. The attorney general emphatically denied the allegation from 1988 during an emotional press conference on Wednesday. On 18 separate occasions Porter repeated that the complainant’s version of events “did not happen” but certain details remain unclear, including Porter’s version of when he first became aware of the allegations. Journalists from numerous media outlets have contested the attorney general’s statement that he was never “contacted in any substantive form” about the details of the allegations against him.
A spokesman for Faafoi said the minister was working with Justice Ministry officials to decide his priorities. “There is a significant workload in the Justice portfolio, including work relating to the Government’s Covid-19 response and election commitments for such issues as family justice reform and looking at whether New Zealanders want changes to the country’s electoral law, including a shift from three-year parliamentary terms to four-year terms.” Open government advocate Andrew Ecclestone was disappointed the review was being kicked down the road, as “it is clear that there are improvements needed to the Official Information Act”. In September 2020, he received a Law Foundation grant to lay the groundwork for new open government laws.
Defamation barrister represented Versace and cross-examined ministers
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By John Sackar
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In the 1980s and â90s, when media proprietors or broadcasters defamed someone a great many if not most sought out the services of barrister Henric Nicholas QC. The skilful but entirely down to earth reception they got on meeting confirmed their choice. For first-time and return users he was a welcome haven. They were only too grateful for his time in and out of the courtroom.
Henric Nicholas in his chambers in Sydney circa 2002.
Chris Keall: Twitter - The secret policeman
20 Jan, 2021 06:00 AM
6 minutes to read
NZ Council For Civil Liberties chair Thomas Beagle says innocent accounts are being caught up in the purges, which are carried out according to secretive criteria. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
NZ Council For Civil Liberties chair Thomas Beagle says innocent accounts are being caught up in the purges, which are carried out according to secretive criteria. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
OPINION:
Twitter hit headlines for permanently suspending US President Donald Trump s account on January 8. But it also suspended some 70,000 far-right accounts in the days that followed, including hundreds of NZ accounts, including high-profile
Written By: lprent - Date published: 4:43 pm, January 17th, 2021 - 18 comments
I have a problem with dimwits waving around a slogan of “free speech” without understanding it. Ignorant fools more interested in screaming slogans than understanding the constraints of their ‘right’. The events of the last 4 years in the USA have made that very clear. So I thought I’d point out a few facts of life about constraints on freedom of speech – with a sidetrack through Trumps’ incitements to riot.