As the Council of Legal Education seeks to implement compulsory Tikanga Māori courses for all law students, ACT Tertiary Education spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar is calling for a response.

“This week Gary Judd KC appeared before Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee to share concerns on the planned tikanga courses. He warned MPs that if Parliament does not act against the proposals, we will essentially be giving the green light to political activism from the unelected judiciary.

“While ACT does not have an MP on the Committee, we agree with the concerns raised by Gary Judd KC and I am writing to the Committee urging that it takes the steps available to it to see that the planned regulation disallowed.

“Attempts to make tikanga courses compulsory for all law students, along with a wider push to infuse every part of our legal system with tikanga, enables judicial activism. It is not the role of the judiciary to make law. That is the role of Parliament.

“Lawyers ought to understand the law and its principles. Instead, they are now being asked to understand the principles of a culture, and to incorporate them into law. Such cultural principles are inherently contested and subject to evolution and mixing. We do not ask that law students study the culture held by any other particular ethnic group in New Zealand, and rightly so.

“ACT is also concerned at these regulations' implications for the rights and academic freedoms of law students seeking to forge their own understanding of the law and to test ideas at law school, which should be an environment of open debate.

“Ultimately, elevating the importance of customary beliefs relative to laws passed by our elected Parliament erodes our democracy.”

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