Government Minister demands apology from police boss over Tuhoe raids

This afternoon, at a forum I attended at Massey University's Wellington Campus, Labour Minister Mahara Okeroa called for a public apology from Police Commissioner Howard Broad over the Tuhoe raids last year. He demanded - yes that was the word used - a public apology from the Commissioner, saying the police raids were totally unacceptable and the Terrorism Suppression Act was incorrectly applied.

National's Georgina te Heuheu was also at the forum and she agreed the Act was applied incorrectly. She said it was the Governments role to ensure that laws were applied correctly, and in this case it wasn't. Green MP Metiria Turei said that the Act was oppressive and was not surprised it had been used to oppress Maori.

Okeroa supported Solicitor General David Collin's decision not to prosecute those arrested under the Act.

Media wins contempt case against solicitor general

The Solicitor- General, David Collins took the media to court and lost today. The case surrounded the publishing of transcripts of conversations police secretly recorded in an investigation into military-style training camps in the Ureweras, more particularly whether the 19 people facing charges would have a fair trial given the publication of the conversations.

The Judges decided that despite the publications, the accused would get a fair trial and so therefore the publication was not in contempt. Breaching suppression orders and being in contempt are two entirely different matters, and I supported the Dominion Post all the way and I'm very pleased it and Fairfax won. I read the whole document that appeared on line regarding this case - it was only online for a day but i downloaded it - and a lot more could have been said.

Finally, didn't some of the information that was published concern matters that the police didn't even prosecute over?