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Dr Dean Knight

@drdeanknight.bsky.social
2.5K followers 2.8K following 1.8K posts

⟦ law + govt ⟧ ⟦ coffee + kai ⟧ ⟦ critic + conscience ⟧ ⟦ rugby + rugby ⟧ ⟦ rainbows + unicorns ⟧ — usual disclaimers apply

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Ditto. Sigh.
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Andrew Little @andrewlittlenz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The government has announced the Head Start programme for local government amalgamation is not going ahead. The government is responsible for a total waste of ratepayers' money, and it's totally unacceptable 🤯
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
👀
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ditto.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Another appointment during the pre-election period of restraint?
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
From Upston earlier today. Has anyone fact checked and filled in the gaps?
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🙄
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Courts of New Zealand @courtsofnz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Hoban v Attorney-General Hearing in the Supreme Court Wednesday 7 October – Thursday 8 October 2026 sen.nz/prqcmw
Hoban v Attorney-General (SC 8/2026)
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
👀 selectcommittees.parliament.nz/v/6/4e5a7157...
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RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Pity the Committee: 48 meeting days, 55 laws
rnz.co.nz
Pity the Committee: 48 meeting days, 55 laws
This Parliament has been inundated with a record number of new laws to consider, leading to massively increased debating time in the House, via both urgency and extended sittings.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
As the bill was passed unchanged — but with minister noting in that it was not intended to implicate lawful protest etc — there’s an interesting question of how the legislation might be interpreted given the Solicitor-General’s recent speech promoting a black letter law approach by the Crown. 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Saturday afternoon in Parliament and legislation is being passed under urgency that has the potential to adversely affect our protest rights.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Our final substantive session with our Hons folk in public law @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social — a writing workshop. 3min thesis style presentations, based on their second full draft papers, and then a Q&A on worries and queries relating to style, editing and story-telling etc. 🤓
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Curious about this FENZ brouhaha and minister’s loss of confidence in CE for failing to alert her to a serious matter. Yet, given FENZ is a Crown agent, the primary accountability is between the minister and the board? It all looks messy. But I can’t see how no surprises applies to CE—minister?
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
+1 There’s a big fat irony in pushing ahead with policy changes in the name of democracy (albeit unduly focused on representative democracy and ignoring participatory and deliberative forms) through an ugly last-minute undemocratic process. 🤦🏼‍♂️ www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
rnz.co.nz
Auckland mayor tells local government minister to 'butt out' of his council's democratic processes
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown is telling Local Government Minister Simon Watts to "butt out" of his council's democratic processes.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
👀
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A night on the couch watching the Committee of the Whole debate on the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill. #needwinenotpopcorn
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Re-upping some earlier rants-and-reckons on this too. 🤓
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The rationale for cooption is based on ideas of participatory and deliberative democracy — where folk in the community are invited into dialogue on council business — and are consistent with the raison d’être of local govt, or the close relationship between local govt and its people.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
First, the claim that it strengthens local democracy is specious and misconceives the richness of democracy as a concept. The existing provision for cooption of those with particular expertise etc was designed to address the failings of representative democracy.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It is a disgrace that this fundamental change to local government governance is to be made without select committee scrutiny and public submissions, especially as it’s a quasi-constitutional change. www.beehive.govt.nz/release/more...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Interesting! The government just lost a closure motion in Committee of the Whole on the India Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill, with NZ First voting against (on closure of debate on Part 2: Ayes 59 vs Noes 62). 🍿
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Carwyn Jones @ahikaroa.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Govt says the bills introduced to weaken/remove Treaty principles clauses are for more certainty. Yet its officials noted there is little evidence these provisions are creating uncertainty, repeal would lead to uncertainty, and the Govt's preferred option had NO benefits but lots of risk. #NZPol
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Yeegods. This is an ugly Amendment Paper from minister — abolishing non-elected members from committees / rolling back SC changes re Crs access to info — and a disgrace for constitutional change to be dropped in without being scrutinised by SC etc. www.legislation.govt.nz/amendment-pa...
legislation.govt.nz
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
👀 www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/governm...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
open.spotify.com/episode/5Dr1...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
#showgroundsoval 💚🤍
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Beware the false prophets — trying to whip up a fictional constitutional crisis. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/why...
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Ben Coles @bencoles.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Piece ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Mark Bingham, a pioneer for gay rugby and heck of a guy whose legacy continues to grow with the success and expansion of the Bingham Cup. For @theobserveruk.bsky.social. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...
observer.co.uk
The 9/11 hero who was a pioneer for gay rugby | The Observer
Mark Bingham died at 31 after storming the cockpit of flight United 93 and preventing Al-Qaeda terrorists from crashing into the US Capitol Building
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
#rantsandreckons 🤓 www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3610...
thepost.co.nz
The uneasy tension between Parliament and the courts
OPINION: ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE: It was with this notorious 2016 headline that a right-wing British tabloid, the Daily Mail, condemned three judges who’d concluded that only Parliament, and not ministe...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
#scribblesetc ☕️
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🍿 Anna Adams KC, Solicitor-General, “Black Letter Law: The Orthodox Methodology of the Crown” www.crownlaw.govt.nz/assets/Uploa...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Hmmm. Why are there still so many appointments being announced, given the pre-election period of restraint kicked in weeks ago? Or are these just deferred announcements of earlier appointments? 🤔
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Golly gosh. I didn’t realise the Deloitte was standing for election at the next triennial election? 🤔
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Verfassungsblog @verfassungsblog.de · 01/09/2026
The new legal right wants executive power free of judicial or legislative checks. David Dyzenhaus traces its roots from Carl Schmitt to Adrian Vermeule. ROBERTO GARGARELLA on "The War Against Law". verfassungsblog.de/david-dyzenh...
David Dyzenhaus’ The War Against Law is the most serious critique yet of the legal right’s assault on the rule of law.
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Last chance, folks, to sign up to this LLM/professsional development course; our classes kick off on Tuesday evening. 🤓 www.wgtn.ac.nz/courses/laws...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
(selected) #rantsandreckons 🤓 www.capitalletter.co.nz/news/parliam...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Our @icon-s.bsky.social Aus-NZ chapter conference — He Mahi Raranga — at @vicuniwgtn.bsky.social is already fizzing. A wonderful conversation about indigenising the law curriculum at Te Tumu Herenga Waka last night and a panel on the automated state at Old Government Buildings this morning. 🤓
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Also, the passage of the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908 was designed to avoid the need for many of these clarifying statutes (according to Hansard).
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
🍿
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Courts of New Zealand @courtsofnz.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The Chief Justice is pleased to announce the appointments of Justice Cheryl Gwyn and Justice Peter Churchman as Acting Judges of the High Court. sen.nz/72x2g7
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
#conferenceduty 🤓
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Lovely to chew the fat with hoamahi at Otago’s law school today — about my project on imagining a fourth or integrity branch of government in Aotearoa New Zealand. 🤓
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
#rantsandreckons 🤓 #constitutionalvandalism newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/24/a...
newsroom.co.nz
Act takes aim at Supreme Court ‘activism’ and Treaty clauses
Act Leader David Seymour proposes constitutional changes to assert parliamentary sovereignty over the courts and restrict Treaty clauses in future laws
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Next week the NZ Centre for Public Law at @vicuniwgtn is hosting the biennial conference of Aus-NZ chapter of ICON•S. 🤓 Registration closes finally tomorrow (Thursday). Don’t miss out! www.wgtn.ac.nz/public-law/e...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill Government Bill is being read a third time now. #shameful
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
If folk aren't watching oral argument in Smith v Attorney-General in the Supremes, you really should; fascinating argument this morning about whether it's possible to seek a declaration of legislative inconsistency with te Tiriti / the Treaty etc. 🍿 www.courtsofnz.govt.nz
courtsofnz.govt.nz
Home
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Sigh. Another legislative mistake comes to light in amendments passed under urgency without select committee scrutiny. And the minister throws officials under the bus, while trying to wriggle out of responsibility for her stewardship of legislation etc. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...
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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Sigh. Another legislative mistake comes to light in amendments passed under urgency without select committee scrutiny. And the minister throws officials under the bus, while trying to wriggle out of responsibility for her stewardship of legislation etc. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...
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