Maori obscenities ‘actionable’
PA Wellington People who used obscene language in Maori would be prosecuted if a complainant who overheard the language understood its meaning, the Minister of Police (Mr Gill) has. said. Police prosecution practice on obscene language was not necessarily confined to obscenities uttered in Englisn. The legal test for obscene language was whether the words offended against contemporary standards of propriety in the community in the light of the particular circumstances in which they were used. If obscenities were spoken in Maori in a situation where nobody understood them the police would take no action. Mr Gill was answering a question by Mrs Whetu Tirika t e n e-Sullivan (Lab., Southern Macri), who had said that Judge J. K. Patterson had implied in. the Lower Hutt District Court on August 4 that using obscene language in Maori was acceptable.
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Press, 15 August 1980, Page 14
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142Maori obscenities ‘actionable’ Press, 15 August 1980, Page 14
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