Take a deep dive into the practical concerns in the evolving constitutional landscape in Aotearoa. Be guided by prominent legal experts, through recent cases and practical strategies relating to implications of separation of powers on decision-making and the delicate balance of constitutional tensions. Delve into Ministerial decision making and free and frank civil service advises and resulting decision making. Consider insights into the role of the Waitangi Tribunal’s function as the Triti Conscience of New Zealand.
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD hours
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Separation of Powers and the Principle of Comity
- Recent court decisions, and their implications for public sector decision-making
- Constitutional tension points, where the balance is currently struck and why
Presented by Matthew Smith, Barrister, Thorndon Chambers
Ministerial Decision-Making, Checks and Balances
- The significance of civil service advice.
- The extent to which there can be reliance on reports.
Presented by Tim Smith, Barrister, Thorndon Chambers
Free and Frank Public Service Advice: Through a Constitutional Lens
- Constitutional role and place of civil servants and civil servant advice processes
- Free and frank advice and resulting decisions
Presented by Professor Janet McLean, Auckland Law School, University of Auckland
The Role and Value of the Waitangi Tribunal as the Triti Conscience of New Zealand
Presented by Annette Sykes, Director, Annette Sykes Co Law; Adjunct Professor of Law, Auckland University – Faculty of Law
Chair:
Catherine Marks, Special Counsel, Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the current balance of the separation of powers and the principle of comity
- Examine the significance of civil servants advice and reliance on their reports
- Understand the role that the Waitangi Tribunal plays as the Triti conscience of New Zealand
Presenters
Tim Smith, Barrister, Thorndon Chambers
Tim has a broad commercial and public law practice. Tim has previously been a partner at Bell Gully and, before that, Luke Cunningham Clere – prior to which he was a Crown Counsel at Crown Law. He has also been a barrister at a leading commercial chambers in London. Tim has worked extensively with commercial and public sector clients both as an advisor and advocate as required.
Professor Janet McLean KC FRSNZ, Auckland Law School, University of Auckland
Janet McLean KC FRSNZ is a Professor of Public law at the University of Auckland and an honorary professor at the University of St Andrews Scotland. She is the recipient of a Marsden grant to investigate the role of the civil service in the constitution. She is the author of Searching for the State in British Legal Thought (2012) and This Realm of New Zealand (2017) (with Alison Quentin-Baxter).
Catherine Marks, Special Counsel, Electricity Authority Te Mana Hiko
Catherine has more than 20 years legal experience and specialises in administrative and regulatory law and public law litigation. She was a partner in a UK law firm specialising in local Government and Government law before returning to New Zealand in 2005. A key area of specialisation is regulatory work in the electricity, gas, telecommunications and banking sectors. Catherine's public law experience includes advice on public sector procurement and governance issues, law reform and judicial review.
Matthew Smith, Barrister, Thorndon Chambers
Matthew is a barrister at Thorndon Chambers in Wellington. He has a broad public and commercial law practice, encompassing regulatory, Māori, human rights and environmental law, and with a special expertise in judicial review and the use of public law tools to achieve meaningful outcomes for clients. Matthew works across the entire range of public law and has acted for public sector bodies (including Crown entities and commissions of inquiry), individuals, entities of many kinds (including companies, incorporated societies, trusts and Māori incorporations), industry groups and NGOs. He has appeared in all of the higher Courts, and in a number of specialist courts and tribunals - including the Waitangi Tribunal and the Māori Land Court. Matthew's non-litigation work tends to involve the provision of legal and strategic advice and support in a range of settings, including public inquiries, regulatory investigations, consultation processes and Parliamentary/law reform processes. Matthew is the sole author of the New Zealand Judicial Review Handbook - a comprehensive text on judicial review in New Zealand that is now in its second edition.
Annette Sykes, Director, Annette Sykes Co Law
Annette Te Imaima Sykes is a prominent Māori lawyer and human rights activist of Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Makino descent. She is a Principal of her own law firm Annette Sykes & Co based in Rotorua which has a strong focus on all aspects of law as they affect Māori. Annette has practised extensively in the Family and Criminal jurisdictional Courts, Civil litigation and pursuing claims before the Waitangi Tribunal in both District Inquiries, Priority, Urgent and Kaupapa Inquiries. She has been instrumental in cases involving Māori land rights since the Wai 11 Māori Language claim in 1985. She has attended numerous International seminars over the last 30 years promoting the rights of indigenous peoples. As a member of the Māori Law Commission, she works to integrate traditional Māori legal systems into Aotearoa's constitution, emphasising He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi ,also carrying on the decolonisation work of the late Dr Moana Jackson.
