I’m no fan of Heather but Police raiding her home is wrong and chilling

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
25
10

I’m no fan of Heather du Plessis-Allan, but the search of her home today by Police for having the temerity to embarrass them over their pathetically lax gun regulations is outrageous.

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Gun charges: Police search home of Heather du Plessis-Allan
Police officers have searched the apartment of TV3’s Heather du Plessis-Allan as part of an investigation into the unlicensed purchase of a rifle, according to her husband Barry Soper.

NewstalkZB’s Soper tweeted a picture about 9.45am, apparently of police officers going through boxes of papers.

“Cops search our apartment in Wellington to find handwriting samples of Heather du Plessis-Allan to prove gun charges against her,” said Soper.

This current abuse is just the latest in a ,on line of them. Let’s remember the terrible over reaction and Police storming into editorial offices during the Epsom Teapot tantrum, the appalling attacks on Jon Stephenson for asking hard questions about NZ at war in Iraq, the attacks on Glenn Greenwald, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden for revealing mass surveillance lies, the killing off of Campbell Live for political reasons, the personal attacks on Nicky Hager and the appalling search of his home have all created a media environment that is punished for challenging the Government and gives the Police a huge amount of power to threaten those that do.

Harassment of Journalists in NZ seems to get worse the longer a National Government remain in power.

Heather is being punished for highlighting the incompetence of weak gun laws, TV3 need to step in now and defend Heather and NZers need to start asking questions about how much power the Police are being given to pursue Journalists.

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25 COMMENTS

  1. New Zealand has become a police state under the dictatorship of the Key National government, and sadly is more like America by the day, but what can one expect with the likes of pretend PM dishonest John at the helm.
    I cannot stand Heather du Plessis-Allan either but this police search is wrong and unnecessary as it was clear what she was trying to highlight.

    • Its true, there is whole marks of a tyrannical system been put in place with the complacence of NZrs indifference. Silencing journalism, silencing Public servants, threatening individuals with loss of employments, etc when criticising Key or his cronies. They are a civilian dictatorship serving the interests of a foreign power.

  2. Did you really have to kick that off with “I’m no fan of Heather, but..”? It just introduces a whiff of “She deserves this because of what she did”. And she doesn’t deserve this.

  3. Those this mean a share market crash? Banks being closed? ATMs running out of money?, a 15% devaluation of the NZ dollar, the price of lattes going up by $1? or parking building fees going up by $10 day?
    No? then nobody will likely give a monkeys because it ain’t important.

    • That is a really UN-lefty thing for you to say Mike. The police goose stepping over reporters should always be ranked as being important, just as any attempt to undermine democracy should be.

      • I think he was being sarcastic. Sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves. Even when things are dire, we still have to laugh.

        • Yes, I was being sarcastic. What I meant was that no-one gives a toss about people’s rights being violated. It is only when the wallet gets affected that people start to realize that things are going wrong.

  4. What is going on with the raid on Heather du Plessis-Allan home is very disturbing indeed.

    The Police do not like being shown up as being the fools they are and it stinks of revenge.

    Mean while we have another fool, J Key wanting to show just how big he isn’t on the world stage and also making a idiot of himself.
    It looks like his mate from across the ditch has worked him out quick smart, far sooner than Obama.

    • TV3 are probably only too glad to see journalists hounded out of the television environment, then they can get on with entertaining us into stupor.

  6. Perhaps such “journalists” (many having compromised principles and rather riding along with the commercial media owners and operators that employ them) like Heather du Plessis-Allen and Duncan Garner may start understanding what goes on now? Perhaps they can now start feeling some sympathy with the likes of Nicky Hager and John Stevenson, already harassed and lied to? Perhaps they can start showing some solidarity, which we did not note much of before?

    What is the saying again? First they came for ….

    • Sorry Stuart, you and a few others try to take populist advantage of this incident, while the same “journalists” feeling they are victims now, had no damned shit sympathy for Nicky Hager or John Campbell. They also (Du Plessis Allen and Garner) did all, to use radio and TV, to play the victim role for THEIR story, and with that, to get higher viewer rates and general ratings.

      I am sick to death with the lack of professionalism and also solidarity among the journalistic profession. It rather seems, they are all there one for each themselves, and what serves their purposes, and when it comes to solidarity with others of different view points, they are nowhere to be seen.

      Shame on such arrogant self serving “jerks”, sorry to say so.

  8. Why has this happening to Ms Du-Plessis-Allan? Would someone enlighten me? Also what is the time lapse between her reporting and the search of her home?

  9. This is a warning to her, no doubt about that. Choose your subject matter more carefully Heather, don’t make the cops look bad and remember Heather, people like positive stories about puppies and kittens, and kiwi battlers who do well without challenging the system. If you don’t get it right, next time we might not be so lenient. If you get my meaning, and I’m sure you do.

    • I lived through the Muldoon Era.

      Except for Muldoon chucking a spazz at Tom Scott and banning his him press gallery media conferences, I can’t recall Old Rob ever carrying on like this. Muldoon’s intimidation was more up-front and honest.

      National in the 21st century is more covert in flexing “disciplinary” power. More frightening.

      • Then you’re very easily frightened Frank

        The press have no ‘free pass’ on law breaking or more rights than any other citizen.

        If she broke the law then the police have a duty to investigate.

  11. It needs to be understood that the police are bored – they don’t have enough important work to do, so chasing journalists is a way to while away those empty hours. There are too many police for a law-abiding society, and this is the result.

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