“Tens of thousands of Kiwis have exercised their right to free speech, standing up to Jacinda Ardern and her divisive Hate Speech Laws. The Prime Minister needs to back down and dump this confused initiative,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“A petition launched by the ACT Party to stop Labour’s Hate Speech Laws has today reached 20,000 signatures.

“These laws will create a divided society and will put an already growing cancel culture on steroids.

“Both Justice Minister Kris Faafoi and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have fumbled their way through interviews when asked about how the laws will work in practice.

“While Faafoi seemed to have no idea, the Prime Minister made four claims that the ACT Party and the media have since proved to be wrong.

“These laws are being pushed following the Christchurch terror attacks, even though the Government has admitted these laws wouldn’t have prevented the attacks from happening. The Government doesn’t even know what problem it’s trying to solve.

“If the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice don’t understand these laws, what hope do the law they’re proposing, what hope to the courts, police, and citizens who want to follow the law have?

“The Government has confused itself enough, it should dump the law before it confuses everyone else.

“ACT will continue to fight this law which will do nothing but divide society even further and ultimately increase hateful attitudes in our society.”

ACT's petition to protect free speech can be found here.

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