Justice Minister Kris Faafoi says the Government's hate speech laws are still not ready despite planning on introducing them to Parliament early this year.
In line with recommendations from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terror attack, the Government wants to make major changes to the laws governing hate speech, including the creation of a new criminal offence with harsher penalties and the protection of more minority groups.
But the proposals have come under attack from the Opposition, with MPs labelling the proposed changes "Orwellian" and "a huge win for cancel culture".
And Faafoi struggled through a grilling on Newshub Nation last year about potential scenarios under the new laws, including whether Millennials expressing hatred towards Boomers over the housing crisis could be held liable.
Appearing Newshub Nation this Saturday, Faafoi admitted there was a delay with the proposed laws because "we haven't developed them that quickly".
"I think, as you would have seen from the public reaction to that, I think it showed us that much more care needed to be taken to make sure that, you know, I think, the intent is genuine to make sure that those laws land in the right place. But we also don't want to inflame the very issue that we are trying to fix here," he told host Simon Shepherd.
"I want to make sure we get that right. I think, one of the things that came out of a concern of the reaction to us undertaking that work or starting that work is we think it actually kind of whipped up the very thing we're trying to prevent."
He couldn't tell Shepherd when exactly more clarification on the hate speech laws would be released.
"Look, we're still working on it," he said.
"There are options about how we might be able to deal with it in the future to take, I think, some of the public heat out of it, and we're working through that at the moment."
Following Faafoi on Newshub Nation's panel, Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women's Council of NZ warned hate has been allowed to grow in New Zealand, and it won't get better unless the Government actually acts.
"We have attacks on mosques because of religion, and that was clearly violent. People died. And are we going to let it happen again?" she asked.
"And the aspect also regarding hate speech is it might start out for one person to feel like it's only a word or two. But when it's actually ongoing and reaching levels that it has, then it is harmful and it needs to be addressed."
