Ursula Edgington
Ursula Edgington is an educational consultant, author and adult tutor. She completed her PhD in education in England and has lived in the Waikato for over 10 years.
Last week Bryce Edwards’ Integrity Briefing highlighted NZ’s Rich List.
This short article consolidates previous posts to add context to the reasons for the increasing gap between wealthy/poor in our society. The fact is ‘everything IS connected’. I’ve written about the ugly picture of NZs corruption (that was clear during Covid) evident in the Revolving Doors between Public, Private, Philanthropathic Partnerships (PPPPs). Whether it’s environmental destruction caused by aerial poisoning or regulatory capture of our healthcare system, there are commonalities in business models, law firms, funding sources, ‘donations’, individuals and lack of transparency.
Globalisation means bribery, fraud and corruption all-pervasive in NZ. Remember most of our trade is with China. Corruption raises the cost of doing business, distorts free markets, gives others unfair advantage and undermines economic development, whilst also harming us all, through unsafe and defective products and services. Corruption also serves to amplify narratives like The Science™, censoring dissenting voices, e.g., through kick-backs to media platforms and grant funding in academia. It also prevents us receiving OIA responses. Here is the full post to recap.
A well-oiled part of this machinery of corruption, is lawfare. And I’ve written about how large law firms in NZ are literally one company, working for the Phantom of the Five Eyes.
I’ve also written about individual NZ law firms like Dentons. Because as I pointed out, “Looking back, it turned out to be (uh hm) ‘convenient timing’ when in mid-2019 Kensington Swan announced a ‘merger’ with Dentons: “The combined firm will have the largest global reach of any firm in the New Zealand market and will provide Kensington Swan with access to the experience and talent of Dentons lawyers across the globe.” said the media release. And later, in 2021, Charlotte Parkhill of Dentons published this Media Release iro legal implications from the Vaccination Order: “We can also assist with employment agreement clauses for current vaccination and testing and related policies, advice on vaccination incentives and options employers may need to consider where employees are not prepared to get vaccinated or disclose their vaccination status.” (my emphasis) How convenient! It was as if Parkhill knew discrimination and coercion were illegal. And later, sure enough, she would herself be in court trying to defend the unethical, inchoative policy. It’s connected because inevitably, Dentons are heavily involved in promoting the Great Reset and UN SDGs (full post here).
The significance of these NZ law firms working so closely together, interbreeding with corporate giants like The Warehouse and Fonterra allows us to understand how they got away with the propaganda, censorship and subliminal messaging.
Corporates with tentacles of pseudo-charities provides an illusion their purpose is a ‘public good’. This toxic mix of commerce/gov with multiple conflicts of interest, is crucial to understand to unravel the Covid military operation. E.g., see my post for Michael Ginsburg here.
Drawing on my legal studies, I plan to expand on NZ lawfare soon. But first I’ll provide one example of many legal concepts that add concern to the Revolving Doors of Power: Legal Privilege:
Legal privilege is based on the principle that persons should be free to receive advice from their lawyer without fear that their communications could be divulged to third parties and to be able to prepare for and conduct litigation confidentially. When legal privilege applies, it allows individuals and corporates [Ed: and governments] to withhold certain information from mandatory disclosure to third parties, including regulatory and law enforcement authorities.
[Source]
To refer back to the post about Bribery, Fraud and Corruption in NZ, legal privilege also allows withholding of info from the SFO. More details here. And as Milne sets out in her thesis, “conduct of litigation has evolved over the years with contemporary litigation characterised by extensive pre-trial discovery and other forms of compulsory disclosure. New Zealand‘s High Court Rules express the social philosophy that, except where there is a valid claim to privilege, a party needs to have access to all documents relating to the case in order for justice to be done.” (my emphasis)
And if a (complex) case gets to court, we can usually assume that all documents have been released, for the judge to decide whether there is, in fact, a valid case to be heard. The court cases we are investigating recently for breaches of Human Rights like the teachers jab mandates, often involve government. So we can see, as I explained in the Lockstep Lawyers post above, there are many reasons why legal privilege for Large Law Firms (NZ) Ltd gives them unfair advantage. Caselaw shows that where information is judged to be in the Public Interest, then legal [Crown] privilege can be overruled and full disclosure, forced. But remember that unique aspect of our NZ judiciary?
Most judges are chosen from partners and directors of law firms or King’s Counsels [the Crown]. People wishing to become judges need to apply or be nominated to the Attorney-General’s Judicial Appointments Unit. (my emphasis) [source].
And unlike other judicial systems, we have no ‘independent’ panel or transparency of appointments.
Republished from the author’s Substack by the Daily Telegraph New Zealand.
