Posts by Graeme Edgeler
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Legal Beagle: Voting in an STV election, in reply to Craig Young,
Graeme, does the supercity enabling legislation still block Auckland from adopting an STV electoral system if it so desired?
Not as far as I can see. That was only for the 2010 election.
-
PS I am happy for people to swipe this and post it elsewhere. If you'd like a shorter or edited version, please get in contact. I'm happy to proofread something like this for anyone (even professional publications) without charge.
-
Hard News: RNC 2016: A literal shitshow, in reply to Russell Brown,
Are you suggesting that Trump does his own writing, or that someone other than Meredith McIver is his ghost writer?
-
Legal Beagle: Geoffrey Palmer has…, in reply to Thomas Lumley,
If Parliament passes a law with 75% super-majority that conflicts with something in the constitution, what actually happens to the constitutional provision?
Does it just not apply where it conflicts with that specific law, or is there a general interpretation principle that it won’t apply in similar conflicts with other laws, or does it have to be changed to remove the conflict?
I would guess that Sir Geoffrey will propose that the Constitution is over-ridden only in the particular circumstances, although it may be that, depending on the particular case, that the Courts may be more like to defer in related circumstances in the future.
-
Legal Beagle: Geoffrey Palmer has…, in reply to Moz,
Which reminds me, is the proposed constitution subservient the the treaty (which is after all our founding document), or superior to it? I’m kinda curious, because the legal status of the treaty is something I haven’t really researched.
The Treaty is part of Palmer's constitution.
(at least as it is currently drafted) -
Legal Beagle: Geoffrey Palmer has…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
We may then be inspired. I’d see the key points as:
...
- entrenched and enforceable social and economic rightsSir Geoffrey was asked about social and economic rights. He noted he was a conservative on such issues, asking eg, what we think a court could do in current circumstances if there was a right to housing.
-
Legal Beagle: Geoffrey Palmer has…, in reply to Moz,
Contrawise, if 60% of the population want a change and 26% of parliament don’t, the parliamentary vote will fail but a referendum vote will pass and the referendum will almost certainly pass.
That's still up for resolution, but under the process in the Electoral Act, it's either 75% of Parliament, without the public, or 50% of Parliament + 50% of the public. The only way the public get asked is if Parliament actually passes a law setting up the referendum.
I will note however, that the alternative, not have an entrenched bill of rights, isn't much of an improvement from your perspective.
-
Legal Beagle: Geoffrey Palmer has…, in reply to BenWilson,
I find the idea of needing supermajorities to change things particularly problematic, because that literally entrenches that a constitutional feature could remain very unpopular in near perpetuity, so long as it advantages 25% of the people.
The process in the Electoral Act (which Palmer proposes carrying over) is a 75% majority in Parliament, or a 50% majority at a referendum.
-
Comments enabled.
-
Hard News: The media awards are dead –…, in reply to Damian Christie,
Why are we joining the Press Council out of interest? Are there any upsides to giving people an official ruling body they can complain about us to?
I supported it because there have been a couple of occasions where I've attended court hearings as a member of the public (occasionally with a possible thought about blogging on them) and suppression has been ordered, and I thought it was either totally unnecessary, or at least overbroad, and I've thought that I'd like to be able to stand up and oppose suppression, and writing for an organisation that is subject to the Press Council would give me that right.