New Zealand Law News

Judges Gone Wild, Part IV The Judicial Conduct Panel has swatted away District Court Judge Ema Aitken’s latest bid to pin down a tidy legal threshold for what actually counts as “judicial misconduct” serious enough to remove a judge. The panel essentially replied: lovely question, but ask us again once we’ve heard the evidence. The

New Zealand’s Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons Learned is racing toward its February 2026 deadline with all the grace of a three-legged horse. Chair Grant Illingworth KC insists everything is “perfectly natural” as senior staff exit stage left with increasing regularity.

The rest of us are entitled to wonder whether this inquiry will deliver the accountability New Zealanders deserve, or simply a very expensive exercise in looking busy.
The turnover at the top reads like a particularly ruthless season of The Apprentice.
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The Problem With The ‘Independent’ KC Appointed to Review Police Conduct LawFuel Contributor The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s November 2025 report on the Jevon McSkimming scandal was brutal: senior leaders deliberately bypassed independent processes, showed “unquestioning acceptance” of the former Deputy Commissioner’s denials, and buried allegations ranging from sexual misconduct to possession of child exploitation