An update on the Three Waters litigation was provided without AGM materials. Now Stephen Franks from law firm Franks Ogilvie has been interviewed in depth about the litigation. The Taxpayers’ Union provided links to the TPU/WUG Local Water Infrastructure Bill and to the Court of Appeal judgment that ended our litigation.
The interview linked below demonstrates why the courts cannot longer be relied upon to resolve constitutional matters relating to the Treaty of Waitangi.
The foundation of our society and legal system – The Rule of Law – is under threat. When our highest courts decline opportunities to address vital issues but at the same time seize chances to introduce entirely new concepts into our common law, certainty is undermined.
It is a basic principle in the liberal democracy that everyone should be able to know, in advance, how the law will affect them and their activities. When you remove certainty, you increase risk. Increased risk means less investment, less jobs, less opportunities.
Capricious law-making is a symptom of the increasing trend towards decision-making by the elites in the judiciary and bureaucracy deciding, ad hoc, what is best for us. Because much of this make-it-up-as-you-go legal adventurism is occurring in our highest courts, the ability to appeal is limited.
This interview examines why an alternative strategy will now need to be pursued to restore public confidence in how the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted and applied in the 21st Century.
Once we have a new government the first thing the Water Users’ Group is going to do is approach the Attorney General and the Prime Minister with a request to make the Crown Law advice to Nanaia Mahuta public. Then we will know whether she was telling the truth, or not.
Towards the end the interview moves onto the Supreme Court’s sudden inclusion of tikanga into our common law.