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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 23h

Interesting application for a declaration of legislative inconsistency with the Bill of Rights Act — where the Crown has conceded the legislation is not a justified limitation on rights (as the Attorney reported during the parliamentary process).

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

And another significant appointment in the pre-election period… 🤦🏼‍♂️

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The Act/NZF manifesto proposals to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal or end its contemporary claims jurisdiction are concerning for a number of reasons. Esp troubling is the claim (here eg from NZF) that the tribunal is interfering in the law-making process in an undemocratic way.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Folk may wish to note that the vetting of legislation for compliance with te Tiriti / the Treaty (and justification if not) is already hard-wired into the Cabinet processes for law-making, along with other higher-order norms etc.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

To be clear also. I'm not intending to bark at every passing car this election. But this proposal has democratic and constitutional implications which are worthy of comment.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

And I don't think we would expect the courts to sit still if that came either - but many things would start to unravel if we got that deep etc... #crisis

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

No surprise if the courts did the latter. The tribunal has been a key feature of our constitution ecosystem and infrastructure for decades -- and the ecosystem would inevitably evolve etc.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I suspect courts would be troubled by this. But hard to see what they could do other than calling abolition out as inconsistent with te Tiriti / the Treaty via a declaration. More likely is courts leaning into their declaratory jurisdiction to help fill the gap on Tiriti / Treaty consistency etc.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I think this would depend on the legislative detail etc. And hard to see any other pathway on this, as parliamentary sovereignty is pretty blunt.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Ditto. It's rising to the level that it's become, I think, a real constitutional concern. On this, Vicki Jackson makes a cogent argument about the important contribution of "knowledge institutions" to constitutional democracy -- especially universities etc. www.cjccl.ca/wp-content/u...

cjccl.ca

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And they need to be asked why regulatory standards advice-giving is to be heralded but the same style of advice-giving by the tribunal is condemned.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Folk should be asking these parties why they want to put their fingers in their ears when making policy and law — not wanting to receive expert advice offered to improve policy and legislative outcomes.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And these parties know this. Because that was the conceptual basis of Act’s regulatory standards legislation: vetting and expert appraisal. (On that, folk like me welcomed the idea of legislative vetting but quibbled about the accuracy/constitutionality of the standards.)

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Good governance and democratic process is about ensuring policy justifications/proposed laws are as strong and robust as they can be. Any responsible govt would welcome expert advice which vets laws against applicable law-making norms and signals how harmony might be achieved.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Answers to that rhetorical question are probably not needed on this thread — as we can infer etc.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And that reveals the other concerning aspect: here the tribunal’s power is advice-giving and dialogical. Why would a govt and Parliament not want the benefit of advice from an expert body and one that has deep-dived evidentially into a particular policy or law?

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Nonsense. In this context, the tribunal’s claims are only recommendatory. In other words, it is up to the Crown and Parliament (rightly or wrongly) whether it heeds the advice of the tribunal or not.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Pleased to see policy here addressing scourge of urgency etc -- esp post-enactment scrutiny for expedited laws, which I've been promoting for a while. While I'm supportive of an elevated threshold for urgency, I'm disappointed 100-day plan policies are exempted. www.labour.org.nz/news/speech-...

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

And, with that, Parliament is dissolved. #❤️democracy

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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 · 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

And it also ignores the adverse compressing effect of urgency, where different stages may happen in the same day thereby reducing attention and friction etc.

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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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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

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

However, the report of the Standing Orders committee is most notable for what has not been materially addressed: urgency and expedited law-making is a stain on our democracy and the report only tinkers around the edges. More should have been done to avoid rushed law-making.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

👀 selectcommittees.parliament.nz/v/6/4e5a7157...

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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 · 20/09/2026

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

On why that’s no comfort, see the IPCA’s findings re breach of peace and protest. www.ipca.govt.nz/download/168...

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The minister basically says we can trust the Police’s discretion on these things.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Belich has tabled an Amendment Paper proposing the carve out suggested by the NZCCL.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Also, while this is the expansion of of an existing power, the enlarging of the power beyond the closure of roads to closure of any accessible public place more likely and more seriously implicates the right to protest.

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This is an ugly Trojan horse due to overbroad drafting: an amendment putatively about boy racers give power to Police to close any public place if disorder is imminent, direct people not to enter, arrest them if they try to do so or infringe them — all without any prospect of judicial supervision. 🤦🏼‍♂️

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