Supreme Court agrees to hear Maori Council appeal

Alex Tarrant at interest.co.nz writes:

The fight to stop the government’s asset sales programme is heading to the Supreme Court.

The highest court in the land today granted approval for the Maori Council to appeal a High Court decision a week ago that the government’s decisions regarding moves to partially privatise four state-owned energy companies were not reviewable in court.

The Supreme Court also granted leave for the appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court, meaning the next decision could be the final act in the Maori Council’s bid to prove the sales would be unlawful.

The approved ground of appeal was whether the High Court was right to dismiss the application for review.

The Supreme Court said it would hear the appeal on January 31 and February 1 next year.

It is good that the Supreme Court granted leave to bypass the Court of Appeal. This means that if they do not uphold the appeal, the the partial sales can proceed on time.

Of course it is possible the Supreme Court may uphold the appeal. To do so they would need to find that Justice Young was incorrect both in ruling that the decisions were not reviewable, but also that even if they were none of the grounds cited were substantial.

Cynics might say that regardless of the merits, the Maori Council may start with one vote in their favour. So it could be up to how the other four Justices see it.