Attorney General Judith Collins says she is appalled by the judge's alleged behaviour. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Attorney General Judith Collins says she is appalled by the judge's alleged behaviour. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Attorney-General Judith Collins is writing to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner to express her disgust at District Court Judge Ema Aitken’s disruption of a New Zealand First function at Auckland’s Northern Club.
The fracas, which took place last month and reported by The Post today, allegedly involved the judge yelling at party leader Winston Peters while her husband, Dr David Galler, allegedly cornered party MP Casey Costello and berated her during the function.
It was also reported prominent barrister Michael Reed KC had been accused of taking photos during the incident, which was against club rules.
Aitken, Galler and Reed have been approached for comment.
The Post reported Aitken had heard Winston Peters making a speech in a room next door to a separate event she was attending, tried to get in and yelled: “He’s lying! How can you let him say that?”
“We don’t rush to judgment here, we find out a few facts first.”
Collins said she was “really appalled” by Aitken’s behaviour and confirmed she would write to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner, as well as the Northern Club, about the incident.
“It is not what I expect from members of the judiciary and I’ve written today to the Northern Club, and particularly I’m concerned about the comments that were said to [a] staff member... not by the judiciary member herself, but by her partner [Galler].
“I’m actually really disgusted about what’s happened, and I don’t think it’s the sort of behaviour that I want to see in the judiciary.”
Collins said it wasn’t a certainty the commissioner would share her views but she reiterated Aitken’s alleged actions didn’t meet the standards expected of the judiciary.
“I’m deeply sorry for the staff at the Northern Club who put up with this, I’m very sorry to New Zealand First because they were going about their business lawfully and to have a judge involved in a matter like that, which is clearly a political statement as well, it’s entirely inappropriate.”
The Post reported barrister Reed became agitated during the incident, ignored requests from staff to leave, and started taking photographs of attendees on his phone against club rules.
Collins said that given Reed was a King’s Counsel, she didn’t have any power over him but described his reported actions as “appalling behaviour”.
“I’d never appoint someone to be a KC if I knew about behaviour like that. I didn’t appoint him, thankfully.”
She confirmed she’d looked into whether she could strip a KC of their title but said she hadn’t found any way to do so. However, she suggested she could “keep looking”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he's been made aware of the incident. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had been made aware of the incident and said it was appropriate for Collins to address it.
Senior NZ First minister Shane Jones, who was at the function, wouldn’t comment on the incident but noted he was “looking forward to seeing what the rules of comity actually mean in practice”.
Jones had previously been reprimanded by Collins for being critical of the judiciary, violating the expectation of comity between the executive and the judiciary.
Act leader David Seymour said the incident appeared to be a “clear breach of comity” but didn’t believe it reflected a wider issue about the executive and the judiciary maintaining comity.
He expected the judiciary to handle the matter, saying it wouldn’t be appropriate for the Government to make the decision: “That has to be sorted out in their house.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
