Would permitting terminally ill people to obtain a consenting doctor's help to end their life really undermine our entire system of law? Yeah ... nah.
Grant Illingworth QC is concerned that if David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill is enacted, we somehow would be breaching the social contract on which our entire system of law rests.
Read MoreThe ACT Party's "plan to protect freedom of expression" is long on aspiration, short on detail, and would usher in an extremely unpleasant society should it ever be put into place.
This morning I had a chat to RNZ’s Morning Report about the ACT Party’s “plan to protect freedom of expression”.
Read MoreOur Court of Appeal thinks that China's criminal justice system is so unsafe that it simply cannot try cases fairly - and our government ministers can't really trust China's promises that it will do better.
Read MoreThe Government's proposed model for the forthcoming referendum on marijuana legalisation isn't ideal. But the difference between it and the ideal really is pretty minimal.
Read MoreBrian Tamaki says he just wants to help male prisoners become better men. He's got a funny way of going about achieving that goal.
Read MoreParliament's Health Committee couldn't decide on any major changes to the End of Life Choice Bill. That doesn't mean, however, that it won't be changed.
Read MoreParliament's Justice Committee thinks it would be wrong for courts to force people to say sorry if they say untrue things about judges. So why should Parliament be able to force people to say sorry if they say untrue things about MPs?
Read MoreThe person accused of the Christchurch mosque attacks, Brenton Tarrant, has been called a terrorist. Why then hasn't he been charged with being one?
Read MoreThe Police have referred their investigation into $100,000 in donations to the National Party to the Serious Fraud Office. It's hard to know just what that means, except that it's the quintissential political "bad look".
Read MoreNational's decision to collapse a select committee meeting to make some sort of point may or may not be good politics. But it is bad for our parliamentary processes and long term constitutional culture.
Read MoreDid you know that Parliament could imprison you for saying that Trevor Mallard is biased in favour of Jacinda Ardern over Simon Bridges? But it (almost certainly) won't.
Read MoreIt seems NZ referenda are a bit like Wellington buses - you wait ages for one to come along, and then three arrive all at once.
Read MoreWe might think the participants in the Craig v Slater defamation decision got what they deserved ... but for the fact that one of them continues to have to relive something she would far, far rather put behind her.
Read MoreShould Simon Bridges use the party hopping law to force Jami-Lee Ross from Parliament? You can make up your own mind up on that, but he can if National's caucus wants him to [update: unless Ross' seat becomes vacant because of his mental health].
Read MoreJamie-Lee Ross has levelled a very serious accusation against Simon Bridges - which has yet to be confirmed. But its the way his actions are hurting our Politics we need to really worry about.
Read MoreAs a society, must we let obnoxious provocateurs have a public stage? How do we decide when others must bear the burden of their speech?
Read MoreIn the wake of the publication of Dirty Politics back in 2014, the New Zealand Police undertook multiple unlawful breaches of Nicky Hager's privacy. They've now apologised for that - but the important thing is to make sure it does not ever happen again.
Read MoreWhat narrative emerged from Radio NZ's bosses revisiting the Economic Development select committee room? Nothing definitive ... but there's more to come yet, I think.
Read MoreShould we just make up some Russian spies so we can kick them out because the rest of the world is doing it? Or, would that be a less-than-ideal politicisation of intelligence information? I report, you decide.
Read MoreCarol Hirschfeld's resignation as head of content for RNZ shows that "Honesty Is The Best Policy", while Claire Curran's decision to set up a cafe meeting reminds us all to "Look Before You Leap". Let the clichés commence ... .
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