Maori sovereignty defence causing problems for courts

MAORI SOVEREIGNTY is being used almost daily as a defence in New Zealand courts, tying up already scarce resources, says a top judge.

Justice Hugh Williams made the statements in a recent judgement in which he dismissed David Lee Morunga's appeal against conviction and prison sentence on charges of driving while disqualified. He has nine such convictions.

The law did not recognise Morunga's defence the courts had no jurisdiction over him because he was Maori and a "sovereign landlord".

Williams said the high court was increasingly being asked to deal with this defence and "in the district court objections of this type are now raised almost daily throughout New Zealand".

He said scarce court resources were used in considering these submissions. He said people who sincerely believed in these views must look to parliament for answers, not the courts.

Williams had dealt with three such high court cases since February, including:

n Rotorua Black Power president Wiremu Kingi McKinnon was sentenced in March to five years' jail for manufacturing methamphetamine, despite refusing to face a court trial because he is Maori. He claimed he'd already been acquitted in a marae trial.

Law Society president Chris Dar-low said the legal community was aware the defence was becoming a problem for courts: "Something has to be done at parliament".

However, Darlow said the issue was not confined to New Zealand. Canada and Australia were also coming up against similar arguments by indigenous people.

Darlow said it was up to politicians to find an answer to resolve court backlogs over the issue.

Auckland University associate law professor Paul Rishworth said the argument that the law did not apply to Maori would never legally succeed.

He said people could make whatever arguments they liked in court and nothing should be done to stop that.

Rishworth said the fact the argument was rejected by courts should discourage people from relying upon it. But there should be wider debate about the issue.

"It is all part of the general debate about the constitution and how Maori aspirations based on the Treaty of Waitangi ought to be reflected in the system of government in this country.

"That so much has changed over the last two decades shows the de-bate is not pointless for Maori," said Rishworth.

A spokesman for Justice Minister Phil Goff said the law stated there was one set of rules for every-one. He urged judges to dismiss the defence immediately so courts were not wasting time hearing such cases with no legal foundation.

— Rachel Grunwell