When Parliament says gang insignia “is forfeited to the Crown,” citizens are entitled to assume those words mean what they say. Yet on 11 August the District Court ruled otherwise. Judge Lance Rowe directed that a Mongrel Mob vest, seized under the Government’s new Gangs Act 2024 and forfeited following a guilty plea, should nevertheless be returned to its owner, Andrew “Andy” Leef. Continue reading

Recent decisions from New Zealand’s Supreme Court have sparked widespread alarm. They show a court that has misunderstood its role and overstepped its bounds. The Court’s approach raises a very serious question for voters: Just who makes the law in New Zealand? Is it democratically elected politicians or unaccountable judges? Continue reading

When a constitutional law professor warns of “dangerous foes” threatening New Zealand’s legal system, you might expect concern about genuinely destabilising forces – political interference with judicial independence, or threats to the rule of law itself. You would be wrong. Continue reading

What happens when tikanga Māori becomes binding law but only some may interpret it? This piece challenges the legitimacy of biculturalism in NZ’s legal system. Continue reading

Are Māori wards lawful? This article examines how local councils unlawfully carry Crown Treaty duties—reshaping democracy under legal error. Continue reading

Can Māori be at the same time equal partners to the Crown and its protected beneficiaries? This commentary exposes the contradiction at the heart of the Treaty "partnership" claim. Continue reading

Opinion on why New Zealand’s Crown cannot legally transfer its Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations to private landowners under section 6 of the RMA. Continue reading

Democracy’s Pillars  The pillars are:   The citizenix – the individual who bears political and legal rights – not the racialised group member.   The state – the governing infrastructure of parliament,  systems of law, education, health and so on, regulator of public resources such as water, foreshore and seabed, flora and fauna, radio waves.  The nation – at once a geographic entity and a symbol of a unified though historically diverse people who muddle along together in liberal civil society.  Continue reading

Waitangi Day debates about New Zealand’s sovereignty often fixate on a single moment: the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. This focus is understandable, given the Treaty’s significance to both Māori and the Crown. But is this the full story of how New Zealand’s sovereignty was established? And if not, is there a way for the country to move beyond divisive arguments about sovereignty and the Treaty? Continue reading

In doing so they confer moral legitimacy on the illegitimate. Continue reading