Open Journal Systems at the Victoria University of Wellington Library
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Recognising Multi-textualism: Rethinking New Zealand's Legal History
Get PDFIn this article the author discusses various written agreements that the New Zealand government has entered into with Māori since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. It is argued that the legal history of New Zealand is more "multi-textual", and more like Canada, the United States, and Argentina than is often thought. It is argued also that the process of agreement-making has been a continuously evolving one and at the present day is more important than ever. The article distinguishes between various types of Crown-Māori agreements and explores which of them are more Treaty-like than others
The Unfinished Paper – A Tribute to Gordon Anderson
Get PDFThis article revisits arguments about the death of labour law, and re-examines claims by Richard Mitchell that such arguments are mistaken. In the first half of the article I argue that the law of the labour market is not labour law as the latter discipline developed in the 20th century. I also argue that there is a clear ethical core to labour law which sets it apart from the law of the labour market, and that this ethical core is the consequence of political struggle. Labour law gives effect to the principle of international law that labour is not a commodity, a principle which the law of the labour market subverts. The purpose of revisiting this debate is to examine whether labour law as so understood can be resurrected. For this purpose, I focus on the recent work of Harry Arthurs who in a series of lectures and elsewhere provides a withering assessment of the current state of play and a bleak outlook for the future. While I agree strongly with his assessment of the current condition of the discipline, I take issue with his pessimistic vision of the future, which in my view underestimates the importance of political struggle in effecting social, economic and legal change. 
Reaching Across the Ditch? Similarities and Differences in the Trajectory of Australian and New Zealand Regulation of Collective Labour Relations 1988–2018
Get PDFThis article compares the development of the law and policy relating to collective aspects of labour relations in Australia and New Zealand over the last 30 years, taking account of historical, social, economic and political context. During that period, there have been many shifts and turns in the direction of regulation, although developments in each country have mostly responded to the broader rise of neo-liberalism in economic and social policy. In this article we examine the differing workplace reform agendas of Labor/Labour and Coalition/National governments in these two countries, alongside the competing policy objectives of these reforms (deregulatory versus protective), and assess the extent to which these reforms have encouraged, undermined, or reflected a position of "state neutrality" toward collective bargaining. In making this assessment, we reflect on similarities and differences in the trajectory of Australian and New Zealand regulation of collective labour relations, and the level of influence that developments in each country has had on the other
Māori Women, Discrimination and Paid Work: The Need for an Intersectional Approach
Get PDFNew Zealand has been at the forefront of labour regulation and views itself as a leader in the field of human rights. However, this article focuses on an area where the law is underdeveloped. It argues that the ongoing socio-economic inequality of Māori women is inconsistent with social justice, New Zealand's international human rights obligations and the Treaty of Waitangi. Improving access to paid work could help to address this, but the law does not adequately address the intersectional discrimination – discrimination on multiple grounds – that Māori women and others experience. New Zealand discrimination law, in both the human rights and employment jurisdictions, is largely comparator-based which is inherently flawed as a mechanism for addressing intersectional discrimination. Moreover, the law is poorly understood and weakly enforced. New Zealand also has limited affirmative action provisions; no quotas or targets are set with regards to improving the access to paid work of Māori women and very few New Zealand employers are required to report on matters pertaining to gender equality. The article concludes that the impact of intersectional discrimination on Māori women (and others) must be recognised and addressed and that a range of options is available to do this, if the political will were present
Businesses Have Human Rights, Too
Get PDFThis article is a verbatim reproduction of my professorial inaugural lecture, delivered on 23 July2019. The lecture included visual images and an audio recording that cannot be reproduced here
Social Security that Works for Families
Get PDFThere have been significant changes in employment and in family structure over the last half century. This article explores some of the social security changes required to develop a welfare system that is both responsive to and reflective of those broader changes and more effective in providing support that is timely, and effective in providing relief from poverty. A range of quite specific changes are proposed.employmen
Localism: let’s do this
Get PDFThis article explores the emergence of localism as a key concept in local governance. It distinguishes between devolution, subsidiarity and localism, and examines how current policy development in New Zealand still reflects a very top-down understanding of governance. It then argues that local government has all the powers required to put in place a radical practice of localism and explains how
New Zealand Reserve Bank Reform: Phase One
No full textThe inflation-targeting approach to central banking was invented in New Zealand, before becoming the global standard during the 1990s. Despite this popularity, significant reforms were introduced to the Reserve Bank Act in late 2018 as part of a two-stage review, notably an expanded mandate and a committee decision-making structure. This article reviews the changes in the light of global and domestic challenges to central banking emerging since the global financial crisis
Rediscovering Public Service in New Zealand after 30 Years of New Public Management?
Get PDFLegislation change is ‘easy’ compared with changing organisational cultures, which have the most powerful influence over whether rhetoric about a ‘spirit of service’ will translate into realities for citizens and political leaders. The competing values framework, developed in reaction to one-size-fits-all models of private sector management, helps show the scale of the change being sought with the proposed Public Service Act
Rediscovering Public Service in New Zealand after 30 Years of New Public Management?
Get PDFLegislation change is ‘easy’ compared with changing organisational cultures, which have the most powerful influence over whether rhetoric about a ‘spirit of service’ will translate into realities for citizens and political leaders. The competing values framework, developed in reaction to one-size-fits-all models of private sector management, helps show the scale of the change being sought with the proposed Public Service Act
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