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Entries Tagged as 'Public Policy'

Guest Post: Does Tax Exemption for Churches Directly Cost Taxpayers?

April 17th, 2010 152 Comments

Bethyada of True Paradigm offers us this guest post. I find it interesting because I wrote some thoughts about the New Zealand Association of Rationalist Humanist’s position on the issue of religious trusts having tax exemption in Equality or Hegemony: NZARH and Religious Trusts back in 2008. There I pointed out that humanist trusts that […]

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Property Rights: Blackstone, Locke and the Legislative Scheme Part II

February 19th, 2010 8 Comments

This two part series looks at the state of property rights under the current legislative scheme in New Zealand. Particularly I address attempts to suggest that the passage of Acts such as the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act have not significantly altered the  common law concept of property rights and the claim […]

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Property Rights: Blackstone, Locke and the Legislative Scheme Part I

February 17th, 2010 10 Comments

This two part series looks at the state of property rights under the current legislative scheme in New Zealand. Particularly I address attempts to suggest that the passage of Acts such as the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act have not significantly altered the  common law concept of property rights and the claim […]

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Chai Feldblum: “We Should not Tolerate Private Beliefs”

January 27th, 2010 4 Comments

In “Diatribe: To All Da Haters” (originally entitled “Queers and Destiny: Who Hates Who”) an article published a few years ago in Critic (the student magazine of Otago University) I wrote the following: … If teaching that homosexual conduct is wrong is akin to racism or propagation of apartheid, then the aforementioned religious organisations are […]

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Can State Appropriation of Minerals in Privately Held Land be Justified? Resources Needed

January 20th, 2010 18 Comments

I am currently undertaking my second-to-last paper in pursuit of my Bachelor of Law (LLB).  Due to a complicated bunch of factors involving the potential staleness of my papers, if I do not apply to the New Zealand Council of Legal Education for a completion certificate with an LLB and a Professional Legal Studies certificate […]

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The “Three Strikes Bill” Moves Forward

January 19th, 2010 2 Comments

I am cautiously optimistic at today’s announcement that the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill a.k.a. the “Three Strikes Bill” will be moving forward as part of the government’s legislative program. In my post Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection, which was published in the New Zealand Law Students Association publication LEX, I argued that the “apparent […]

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View Episode 2 Pacific Viewpoint TV Panel on Abortion & Parental Consent Here (Feat. Madeleine)

December 17th, 2009 17 Comments

Episode two of the television panel discussion I participated in on parental consent/notification for abortion is now available for viewing online here at Pacific Viewpoint TV. (Episode one can be viewed here). The show runs for 30 minutes; in this episode I appear as a panel member (last time I was an audience member). Panelists […]

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