Summarised by Centrist
Law students in New Zealand are set to face mandatory learning of tikanga Māori from January 2025. This is part of new regulations by the New Zealand Council of Legal Education (NZCLE). But Gary Judd KC presented his case to Parliament’s Regulation Review Committee, urging them to block these regulations before they take effect:
“(I)t will send a signal to the judiciary and to the legal and academic establishments that Parliament is sovereign and that parliament not the judiciary has the constitutional authority to make and unmake the laws of New Zealand.”
He said, “The only good reason for making the learning of tikanga compulsory for law students is that it is an essential part of the skill set of a practising lawyer.”
He argues that tikanga is not universally applicable and lacks the clarity and consistency needed in law. Judge says that it is wrongheaded to treat tikanga like law, when it is, according to him, “a religion or quasi-religion.”
In Judd’s view, this is a political issue. Judges, lawyers, academics and public servants have been “ riding a band wagon decked out in currently fashionable decolonisation colours.”
He closed by urging the Committee to act swiftly, stating that if Parliament doesn’t intervene, it will give a “green light” to those seeking to undermine New Zealand’s democracy.
