Newshub Nation's political panel on Saturday discussed hate speech, boot camps and the Prime Minister's trip to China.
Auckland University senior lecturer Lara Greaves, political commentator Marg Joiner and King's Counsel criminal lawyer Marie Dyhrberg dived into hate speech laws after Justice Minister Kiri Allan announced proposed amendments to the Human Rights Act on the show.
The Government will make one amendment to the hate speech laws to include religious communities. However, it hasn't ruled out extending it further to other groups in the future.
The panel had various opinions on the announcement.
Dyhrberg thought a better approach to hate speech is to "criminalise incitement to do actual harm to a particular group" instead of "legislating against what people say, and what they think, and how far they can really go".
Joiner recognised that "one person's hate speech is another's right to freedom of expression" but called the amendment "the bare minimum".
The panel also discussed the military academies that National has suggested as a solution to repeat youth crime offenders.
Greaves commended National's focus on national issues while the PM is overseas but she said the effectiveness of boot camps is "not very well supported by evidence".
Joiner, meanwhile, called the policy a "direct challenge to Labour's policy of kindness".
Then the panel touched on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Dyhrberg was happy with the balance Ardern struck by strengthening New Zealand's trade ties with China but not backing down on calls to address their human rights abuses.
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