Should police be bullied by communists and subversives into politically harassing New Zealand citizens? They shouldn’t be, but since the re-election of Jacinda Ardern, there is growing suspicion that it could be happening.

A few days ago a 44 year old Tauranga man was arrested and charged with “making an objectionable publication”. Media reported the alleged offender had made death threats, but this can’t be so or he would surely have been charged with this clear offence. There is much about this event that should have more light shone on it.

The law used to charge the man was initially legislated in 1993 to combat child pornography. The Ardern govt radically changed this law in 2020 with an extremely subjective amendment aimed at addressing terrorism. From child pornography to terrorism? How the hell is that meant to work? The key changes are described thus-

“the extent to which, and the manner in which, the content deals with sex, horror, crime, terrorism, cruelty, violence, torture, sexual violence, sexualisation of children, self-harm, or offensive language or behaviour”

“Terrorism” sticks out like dog’s testicles there as being aberrational to the other listed offences. The story behind the subject prosecution is interesting.

The initial complaints appear to have arisen from Twitter postings by Byron Clarke, an admitted communist who claims a loose attachment to the Antifa associated group Paparoa, which also contains remnants of the “Tuhoe” group arrested in 2007 under suspicion of being a Cuba/ Castro styled armed guerilla training operation based in NZ’s Urewera ranges.

Clarke’s complaints were amplified by Paparoa and by Newsroom’s extreme left scribbler Marc Daalder. They were also picked up by two MPs from the dubiously named “Maori Party”, and other MP’s from the misnamed Green Party, (also associated with the Urewera terrorist training camps) who all made loud calls for the police to act.

The Police were initially unsure of how to act or what charges to apply. Eventually they alerted the Chief Censor, who operates under the auspices of the Department of Internal Affairs. The censor classifed the video as “objectionable”. Youtube then took the video down and Police charged the alleged offender with “making an objectionable publication”.

So the actual arrest was triggered by the Censor’s classification. Did the alleged offender know of this? Was the man give a chance to take the video down himself? Is the Censor now NZ’s front line defender in the war on terrorism? All in all, this seems like a pretty patchwork application of law.

One hopes the Police exercised due diligence in this operation, which by means of the source of the initial complaints has a huge political cloud hanging over it.

The public doesn’t know what was in the video. The danger here is that Police have been pressured into action merely because someone expressed an opinion disapproved of by extreme left media activists, anti-white racists, or known communist pressure groups.

Let’s hope this is not so and there is legitimate cause for arrest. Otherwise it would be tyranny, and no true democracy should countenance that.