{"id":274574,"date":"2026-02-09T01:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/274574\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T01:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:37:09","slug":"judge-ema-aitken-appears-before-judicial-conduct-panel-after-northern-club-incident-involving-winston-peters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/274574\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Ema Aitken appears before Judicial Conduct Panel after Northern Club incident involving Winston Peters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attorney-General Judith Collins recommended the Judicial Conduct Commissioner inquire into Judge Aitken\u2019s conduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Judicial Conduct Panel hearing<\/a> commenced this morning to consider the matter. <\/p>\n

In his opening submissions, special counsel Tim Stephens KC said this was the first time in New Zealand a judicial panel process had got as far as a substantive hearing. <\/p>\n

The process was of constitutional importance, he said. It would help determine whether the judge was fit to hold office or whether she should be removed. <\/p>\n

The process would also help protect the \u201cintegrity and impartiality\u201d of the justice system while maintaining public confidence. <\/p>\n

At the completion of the hearing, the panel will prepare a report on the facts of the case and provide an opinion as to whether consideration of the judge\u2019s removal is justified by the Attorney-General.<\/p>\n

The Attorney-General would then have the ultimate decision on whether to remove the judge. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe incident occurred at Auckland’s Northern Club in November 2024. Photo \/ Meg Liptrot<\/p>\n

Stephens told the hearing judges could be removed from office due to misbehaviour or ability. <\/p>\n

\u201cRemoval of a judge involves exceptional measures and … a high threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appointment of a panel is obviously a very serious matter for the judge concerned, but the process doesn\u2019t automatically lead to their removal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel overseeing the inquiry is led by retired Court of Appeal Judge Brendan Brown, KC, and includes sitting Court of Appeal Judge Justice Jillian Mallon and former Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae.<\/p>\n

Judge Aitken is represented by David Jones KC.<\/p>\n

Two functions at the Northern Club<\/p>\n

There were two functions at the Northern Club on November 22, 2024.<\/p>\n

One was for judges to mark Judge Aitken\u2019s resignation of her warrant and the retirement of two District Court judges. The other was a NZ First fundraiser.<\/p>\n

NZ First\u2019s account \u2013 which was included in a report prepared by the Northern Club \u2013 is that as the NZ First leader spoke, Judge Aitken tried to enter the room and shouted; \u201cHe\u2019s lying! How can you let him say that?\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is contended that the judge continued to shout and make a scene, saying there was a roomful of judges next door who would be interested in these comments.<\/p>\n

But Judge Aitken has a different recollection.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the Judicial Commissioner, provided to NZME, the judge gave her account of what happened that night, saying while she was returning from the toilet, she took a wrong turn and inadvertently walked past the NZ First function.<\/p>\n

While passing the room, she heard a snippet of a speech from a male speaker saying something along the lines of; \u201cThey\u2019re now teaching in law school that tikanga M\u0101ori law overrides the Westminster system\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said she was surprised and taken aback as she wasn\u2019t expecting to hear the word tikanga at what she assumed was a social function.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statement was incorrect to me and mischaracterised the important role of tikanga for lawyers and judges in the District Court processes,\u201d she said in her statement.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s not true\u2019<\/p>\n

As she walked past, she said, she mouthed to a woman seated at a table near the door, who looked familiar; \u201cthat\u2019s not true\u201d. She said that would have been inaudible. She later recognised the woman as NZ First MP Casey Costello.<\/p>\n

She said she made a comment disagreeing with the speaker, reportedly, \u201cHe\u2019s lying, how can you let him say that?\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge said no one at the table with Costello, which she estimated included at least six others, turned and responded to her comment.<\/p>\n

She denied shouting and said she was speaking in a normal voice.<\/p>\n

The judge said she was quickly approached by a man and a woman, who walked her back down to her function, which was in the room next door.<\/p>\n

Judge Aitken said as she was being guided back she commented there was a room full of judges who might have a different view to what the speaker was saying.<\/p>\n

She said that was only to illustrate that there was a group of informed members of the community who might hold a differing view from the one expressed by the speaker.<\/p>\n

She said it was only at this point that she looked back and realised the speaker was Peters and the woman she\u2019d seen sitting at the table was Costello.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know who the speaker was, but I did believe the speaker\u2019s comments went a step too far,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"NZNZ First leader Winston Peters was speaking at the Northern Club when the incident happened in November 2024. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

She also denied entering the room, saying she made the comment in the foyer as she walked past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did not occur to me at the time that my comments or actions might have crossed the line between the Executive and the Judiciary. The situation was entirely unexpected and perplexing, but at the same time I did not see it as anything more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media reports of the night have suggested Judge Aitken\u2019s comments and the actions of her partner, intensive care specialist Galler, and a senior lawyer, Michael Reed, KC, were part of a \u201crolling fracas\u201d.<\/p>\n

Galler is alleged to have yelled at Peters and cornered Costello about the repealing of the smoke-free legislation. Galler has since apologised for his actions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Reed is accused of filming on his phone, which was against the rules. <\/p>\n

Judge Aitken has said the event didn\u2019t reach the magnitude as described by NZ First.<\/p>\n

Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attorney-General Judith Collins recommended the Judicial Conduct Commissioner inquire into Judge Aitken\u2019s conduct. The Judicial Conduct Panel hearing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,154876,1554,16425,3952,9218,18836,34749,1349,100586,7557,48424,1017,154877,71,35698,5838,671,29819,3958,73229,111,43,139,7977,69,6270,12253,6729,5196,3271,58455,19347,14905,6728],"class_list":["post-274574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-aitken","tag-alleged","tag-appears","tag-aucklands","tag-before","tag-club","tag-conduct","tag-court","tag-determine","tag-district","tag-ema","tag-exclusive","tag-fracas","tag-from","tag-hearing","tag-help","tag-incident","tag-involving","tag-judge","tag-judicial","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northern","tag-nz","tag-office","tag-panel","tag-peters","tag-removed","tag-should","tag-underway","tag-unprecedented","tag-whether","tag-winston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}