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Soft Penalty For Council Fraudsters Shows Law Change Needed

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling for increased penalties for defrauding public bodies after two men stole $178,365 from Hurunui District Council using false invoices.

“Stealing $178,000 from ratepayers ought to land you in jail, not home detention,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams.

“The fact that this fraud was discovered by an insurance company, not the Council itself, will lead many to wonder just how widespread this kind of fraud is. It is a failure of the Council’s control and audit process.”

“The Government should use legislation to send a stronger signal against the robbery of ratepayers and theft of taxpayer money.”

“Fraud that relates to public money should be listed in the Sentencing Act as an aggregating factor requiring a higher penalty. This would offset the perception held by some that big-spending councils an

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Gordon Campbell: On Dune 2, And Images Of Islam


Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture tends to be hostile to Islam when we’re sitting in the dark, with popcorn.
Any number of movie examples come to mind, beginning with Rudolf Valentino’s role (over a century ago) as the romantic Arab hero in The Sheik...
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