Legal Beagle: Q&A: John Banks' judicial review
115 Responses
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BenWilson, in reply to
Or to put it in terms he’s familiar with: as you give, so shall you receive.
Heh, long live Kant? I'm down with deterrence, and removal of the the offender from ability to offend again, and restitution if possible. But not retribution. Tempting though it is. Last thing anyone needs is Banks sanctified as ACTs glorious martyr.
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Moz, in reply to
long live Kant?
I was thinking that him being a fundamentalist Christian he'd appreciate a bit of biblical stylin'. But Kant also works for me.
Banks sanctified
If we send him off to the Vatican after he's convicted, can we refuse to let him back in on the grounds of poor character?
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BenWilson, in reply to
Aha, let me find Leviticus to see what his punishment should be....
Hmmm, it's actually quite light on fraud. I was expecting a horsewhipping, or maybe bastinadoing (could be mixing up with Islam here). But it seems that it's only paying back what was taken fraudulently + 20%, with a sacrificial animal thrown in. So by the Bible he owes KDC 72 grand and a goat.
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Moz, in reply to
So by the Bible he owes KDC 72 grand and a goat.
But the offense was also committed against the people of Aotearoa, so he owes us ... one term of being a 120% honest MP. And a goat.
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BenWilson, in reply to
True. He should be allowed to run for office again, so long as he openly acknowledges a love of KDC and all his works, and sacrifices a goat to him.
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Sacha, in reply to
72 grand and a goat
make it a beagle
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So, Banks is going to jump rather than be pushed.
ETA: We shall see in a week's time whether it's my assessment or Rich's that is correct.
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Oh, I don't think Labour will back a by-election. That would be far to attacky.
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BenWilson, in reply to
I don't think they should back it, either. It is actually a costly form of grandstanding.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
I don’t think they should back it, either. It is actually a costly form of grandstanding.
And at least, as far as I understand the law, it can be avoided without a dirty little stitch-up to retrospectively change the Electoral Act under urgency, despite the utter lack of genuine public interest or constitutional urgency.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
That would be far to attacky.
What it would be is a gross waste of taxpayer money on a political stunt.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I don’t think they should back it, either. It is actually a costly form of grandstanding.
They won't. Cunliffe has basically said so.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
And at least, as far as I understand the law, it can be avoided without a dirty little stitch-up to retrospectively change the Electoral Act under urgency, despite the utter lack of genuine public interest or constitutional urgency.
Yes. Just a simple parliamentary vote.
I presume you're referring to the vote to validate Harry Duynhoven's seat after he inadvertently made himself ineligible by seeking to resume his Dutch citizenship, which had lapsed thanks to a technical change by the Dutch government. There was no dishonesty involved.
There was some urgency in the sense that if it hadn't been validated there would have to have been a costly by-election, which he would have won. I guess it was a matter of distaste for a retrospective law change vs a pointless waste of taxpayers' money.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
There was some urgency in the sense that if it hadn’t been validated there would have to have been a costly by-election, which he would have won.
... and which, to be cold about it, no party really had the money or inclination to contest at that point in the electoral cycle. Which sucks for them (and I've eaten enough rubber chicken and brought enough raffle tickets to say that sincerely), but is a pretty lousy justification for fucking around with electoral law without proper select committee scrutiny or public input. And, in all candor, "it's too expensive" is about the worse argument against any by-election you can come up with. Hell, if you want to do democracy on the cheap and nasty that's what you're going to get. We do better than that.
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For what it's worth...
Christchurch now has a Council Community Board by-election coming up...By-election for Shirley–Papanui Community Board member
Nominations are now open for candidates seeking a position representing the community on the Shirley–Papanui Community Board.
The by-election will be held on Friday 29 August and is the result of the recent resignation of Shirley–Papanui Community Board Deputy Chair Gemma Maslin. Nominations must be received by Electoral Officer Clare Sullivan by noon on Thursday 3 July 2014.
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