Michael Bassett writes – Shane Jones deserves full support for his round-arm swing at the Waitangi Tribunal which is now fiddling about with a constitutional inquiry and deciding who can take part in it. A clause in New Zealand First’s coalition agreement with the National Party commits the government to amending the Waitangi Tribunal’s legislation […]
MICHAEL BASSETT: Shane Jones deserves support about the Waitangi Tribunal
MICHAEL BASSETT: Shane Jones deserves support about the Waitangi Tribunal
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
MICHAEL BASSETT: SHANE JONES DESERVES SUPPORT ABOUT THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
31 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Shane Jones deserves full support for his round-arm swing at the Waitangi Tribunal which is now fiddling about with a constitutional inquiry and deciding who can take part in it. A clause in New Zealand First’s coalition agreement with the National Party commits the government to amending the Waitangi Tribunal’s legislation so that the body…
MICHAEL BASSETT: SHANE JONES DESERVES SUPPORT ABOUT THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
Royal Incapacity and Medical Procedures
30 Jan 2024 1 Comment
in economic history, law and economics Tags: British politics, constitutional law
The King returned from the hospital today after undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate on Friday. According to the BBC, there was no delegation of royal authority during his stay in the hospital. This approach is in marked contrast to that of the United States where Presidents have temporarily transferred their powers to the Vice-President […]
Royal Incapacity and Medical Procedures
Treaty principles?
30 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
When ACT’s leader said they wanted legislation to state what the Treaty Principles mean, my first thought was this will controversial and divisive. Clearly it is. The first reference to the Principles of the Treaty were contained in the 1975 Act establishing the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal. But the Principles were not defined by Parliament, then or […]
Treaty principles?
Seymour raises tax and Treaty issues in his “state of the nation” speech (which has not been posted on the Beehive site)
29 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Buzz from the Beehive Just one statement has been posted on the government’s official website since Attorney-General Judith Collins announced the appointment of a new High Court Judge late last week. It deals with education and the government’s aims to get better results from school students.
Seymour raises tax and Treaty issues in his “state of the nation” speech (which has not been posted on the Beehive site)
Trudeau and the Trucker Terrorists: Court Declares Trudeau’s Crackdown on the Truckers to be Unlawful
26 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics Tags: Canada, constitutional law
Two years ago, I wrote a column denouncing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of a counter-terrorism law to shut down the Freedom Convoy trucker protests as an authoritarian attack on free speech. Now, a Canadian court has agreed and ruled that the use of the Emergencies Act was unlawful and “unreasonable.” Despite Trudeau’s attacks […]
Trudeau and the Trucker Terrorists: Court Declares Trudeau’s Crackdown on the Truckers to be Unlawful
January 24, 1679: King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland dissolves the English Cavalier Parliament
25 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, Public Choice Tags: British history, constitutional law
The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from May 8, 1661 until January 24, 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Like its predecessor, the Convention Parliament, […]
January 24, 1679: King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland dissolves the English Cavalier Parliament
The danger of the Treaty debate wearing us down
25 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Screeds have been written about the Treaty of Waitangi. And there’s more to come as division over race and rights ramps up.Its content and meaning are getting lost in the crossfire and the danger of ‘contestants’ talking past each other looms, if not already happening.When matters get murky, and misunderstandings abound, there is also a…
The danger of the Treaty debate wearing us down
MICHAEL BASSETT: TV ONE’S BEAT-UP ON THE TREATY AND THE KING’S HUI
21 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Last Friday night, TV One’s lead item on the 6pm news was a story by reporter Te Aniwa Hurihanganui. She had scored a leaked piece of advice not yet considered by Cabinet that was intended to warn ministers in the new government that they would run into trouble with Maori if they backed David Seymour’s…
MICHAEL BASSETT: TV ONE’S BEAT-UP ON THE TREATY AND THE KING’S HUI
Robert Craig: The constitutional implications of legislating to exonerate the Post Office sub-postmasters
16 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics Tags: British politics, constitutional law
Some commentators have claimed that the decision to expedite the process of formally exonerating the sub-postmasters potentially runs afoul of certain core constitutional principles, in particular the separation of powers. It has also been claimed that the ‘crown does not have a prerogative of justice but only a prerogative of mercy’. This blog considers and challenges those claims. Technically, […]
Robert Craig: The constitutional implications of legislating to exonerate the Post Office sub-postmasters
DON BRASH: WHY THE MAORI ELECTORATES MUST GO
14 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, racial discrimination
One of the strange omissions from the coalition agreements which marked the establishment of the new Government was any reference to the Maori electorates. Perhaps in one sense the omission was not strange: there had been little or no discussion about those electorates during the election campaign, either by those parties which might have…
DON BRASH: WHY THE MAORI ELECTORATES MUST GO
“A Sad Day”: How the Colorado Disqualification Case is Bringing Back Bad Memories for the Supreme Court
04 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
Below is my column in The Messenger on the challenge facing the Supreme Court in the coming week over the electoral disqualification of former president Donald Trump in Colorado and Maine. The appeal in Maine has been filed and can now work its way up to the Court. Colorado is expected to file with the…
“A Sad Day”: How the Colorado Disqualification Case is Bringing Back Bad Memories for the Supreme Court
Israeli Supreme Court strikes down “reasonableness” Basic Law
02 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics Tags: constitutional law, Israel
This is true “wow” moment to start the new Gregorian year. The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled, on an 8-7 vote, to strike down the first installment of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul. In what now seems like ages ago, but was only July, the Knesset had passed an amendment to the Basic Law: Judiciary […]
Israeli Supreme Court strikes down “reasonableness” Basic Law
Dr Lawrie Knight: Fact Checking Waitangi Tribunal Finding
16 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
Evidence that Northern ,Māori ,knew they were ceding sovereignty to the Crown when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi – fact checking the Waitangi Tribunal 2014 findings and the 2023 findings released on the 8th of December 2023. The Waitangi Tribunal has stated in its 2014 inquiry into Te Paparahi o Te Raki, that the…
Dr Lawrie Knight: Fact Checking Waitangi Tribunal Finding
CHRIS TROTTER: Contested ground
12 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economic history, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
LAST WEEK The Waitangi Tribunal released Tino Rangatiratanga me te Kāwanatanga: The Report on Stage 2 of the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry (Wai 1040). For the sake of brevity, I shall refer to this spawling document as the Northland Report. Sadly, the Report seems destined to make the already fraught relationship between Māori…
CHRIS TROTTER: Contested ground
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments