Double jeopardy?
Friday, October 29th, 2010Is the Law Commission being tasked with a job already farmed out to the Dean of VUW’s law school? The Attorney-General engaged VUW dean Tony Smith to write a paper on our contempt of court laws, including the ways in which they are being affected by the internet. Is it undermining confidence in court orders, […]
Hobbiter dicta
Friday, October 29th, 2010It’s now clear that the government intends to change the law relating to employment contracts for the film industry. So why are some in the media still calling this a “clarification”? Does it have anything to do with journalists’ warm regard for the elasticity of the appellation “clarification” as illustrated by their frequent use of […]
Burning questions
Thursday, October 28th, 2010For those interested in the Morse flag-burning case that I argued with Tony Shaw and Felix Geiringer in the Supreme Court earlier this month, Greg King interviewed me about it on The Court Report. (It’s part 3 of the show).
Key questions
Thursday, October 28th, 2010I’m no expert on employment law. I claim no insider knowledge on the Hobbit fiasco. But there are some obvious questions that I haven’t seen anyone in the media ask: 1. John Key says he’s going to pass law “clarifying” the difference between employees and contractors, at least in connection with the film industry. What […]
Did Paul Henry breach broadcasting standards?
Thursday, October 7th, 2010As you know, TVNZ Breakfast presenter Paul Henry asked the PM whether he would appoint someone to Governor-General who looked and sounded more like a New Zealander, plainly suggesting that because Sir Anand Satyanand is ethnically Fijian-Indian (though born and bred in NZ), he’s not appropriate for the job. I think that’s racist. But I’m […]
Henry Fool
Monday, October 4th, 2010I wonder when TVNZ is going to get a Breakfast presenter who looks and sounds like a journalist?
MediaBotch
Sunday, September 26th, 2010This week’s MediaWatch show on Radio NZ is billed like this: Mediawatch looks at the impact of the ‘new media’ on the old. Can online amateurs really replace the professional journalism of today? Is it already happening? And if so – what effect is it having on standards? This promised to be interesting – particularly […]
An unprivileged position II
Thursday, September 16th, 2010Tom Frewen [and Graeme Edgeler] noted that last year the Privileges Committee looked at the issue of the scope of the media’s privilege to report on proceedings in the House, and also concluded that it was much less than the media tend to think it is: The media play an important role in providing the public with information about thebusiness […]
Oh my God
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010Let me add my voice to the flabbergasted reactions of some constitutional experts to the Earthquake Response and Recovery Act. It reads like a far-fetched doom-laden Public Law exam problem. And now it’s law. We’ve just appointed three Ministers as Kings. “Trust us”, they insist. No thanks. I’d rather trust the checks and balances in […]
An unprivileged position?
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010The DomPost seems to have deliberately breached a name suppression order. And now I probably have too, having merely linked to it. What the hey. The paper is reporting that ACT MP David Garrett has admitted that he obtained a false passport in his halcyon days, using the time-honoured Day-of-the-Jackel method of finding the tombstone […]
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