Raise the Burqa on name suppression

Cameron "WhaleOil" Slater is off to the Auckland District Court today to defend charges that he breached a number of name suppression orders. We wish him well with his defence. Unfortunately, we won't be in Auckland to support him, and whilst we would have loved to watch live streaming of his trial, the judge has ruled that out.

Cam has hatched a buzz-phrase for his campaign, and it's one that we agree with. He's campaigning to Raise the Burqa on bame suppression. When you look at it, that's a pretty good description of the effect that name suppression has; a little bit of the case is visible, but the important stuff is hidden.

We support Cam's campaign for a review of the laws surrounding name suppression, although we would not have gone down the same road that he did. But the case we blogged about on Monday - the convicted rapist secretly released into the community at a secret location - highlights that this is a section of our law in need or urgent review. Cam should be commended for shining a light into this dark and secret place.

So as The Whale makes his way into court this morning, we echo his rallying cry; it's time to Raise the Burqa on name suppression.