{"id":373916,"date":"2026-04-11T02:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T02:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373916\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T02:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T02:44:09","slug":"judge-ema-aitken-judicial-conduct-finding-winston-peters-disavowed-comment-in-attorney-generals-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373916\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Ema Aitken judicial conduct finding: Winston Peters \u2018disavowed\u2019 comment in Attorney-General\u2019s letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collins\u2019 letter to Winkelmann claimed Peters had said the judge \u201creferred to him as \u2018Winston\u2019 when she called him a liar\u201d<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After the incident blew up in the media, Judge Aitken was referred to a Judicial Conduct Panel over her alleged actions that night.<\/p>\n

At a hearing this year, she strenuously claimed she did not recognise Peters<\/a> when she made the comments and did not realise she had stumbled upon a political event.<\/p>\n

A decision, released yesterday, found her actions were a \u201cserious breach of comity\u201d<\/a> but did not reach the threshold of her being removed as a judge. The panel found \u201cas fact\u201d the judge did not recognise Peters or know he was the Deputy PM when she made the comments that night. <\/p>\n

New details about the case are revealed in the decision under the heading, \u201cWas the complaint (and\/or its pursuit) politically motivated?\u201d<\/a>, including revelations about the December 12 letter.<\/p>\n

\"Attorney-GeneralAttorney-General Judith Collins. Photo \/ RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone<\/p>\n

The panel decision says the letter only came to the attention of prosecuting special counsel Tim Stephens, KC, and Judge Aitken\u2019s lawyer David Jones, KC, during the panel hearing on January 23 this year \u2013 more than a year after it was sent by Collins. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood that on receiving the letter, Stephens contacted Peters about its contents and that \u201cPeters denied making that statement\u201d. <\/p>\n

The letter also came to the attention of the panel, which directed Stephens and Jones to attend an interview with Collins via Microsoft Teams \u201cto identify the source of the statement\u201d. <\/p>\n

During that interview, it\u2019s understood Collins maintained that Peters told her Judge Aitken said his name when the judge disrupted the party fundraiser in November 2024.<\/p>\n

However, Peters had \u201cdisavowed\u201d the statement when he spoke to Stephens a few days earlier. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Attorney subsequently spoke to Mr Peters about why he had said he had not given the Attorney the information recorded in the [letter],\u201d the panel decision says. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr Peters told the Attorney the reason was that he could not remember doing so.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"NZNZ First leader Winston Peters.<\/p>\n

Jones opted not to call Collins or Peters to give evidence before the panel hearing to explain the apparent discrepancy between her letter and the NZ First leader\u2019s disavowal. <\/p>\n

Judge Aitken contended there was no need for the \u201ctension between the two positions\u201d to be determined by the panel, saying: \u201cIt is the fact of Mr Peters\u2019 comment being in the letter and his subsequent disavowal which is relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel did not agree. It found the situation \u201cvery unsatisfactory\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not possible in such circumstances for the panel to resolve the difference in recollections between the Attorney-General and Mr Peters as has been relayed by counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters\u2019 comment was potentially relevant to a claim of political motivation \u201cif he did in fact say that the judge said that \u2018Winston\u2019 was a liar\u201d, the panel wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Peters is recorded as having denied that he said that or that he does not remember saying that. What was in fact said cannot be resolved without hearing from Mr Peters and the Attorney-General but Mr Jones did not wish for either of them to be called.\u201d<\/p>\n

The panel said it did not rely on what Peters was alleged to have said to Stephens or Collins as it was \u201cuntested hearsay\u201d that revealed nothing more than a \u201cdifference in recollection as to what was said\u201d. <\/p>\n

The panel noted that whatever Collins \u201cmay have believed\u201d when she wrote her December 12, 2024, letter, she did not convey this in her complaint to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner six days later on December 18.<\/p>\n

By that point the commissioner had initiated a statutory process and did not refer to the letter in his decision to refer the case to a Judicial Conduct Panel or other material filed as part of that process. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently the statement attributed to Mr Peters has had no bearing on the panel\u2019s conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Jones, KC. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

In his closing address, Jones referred to Peters\u2019 disavowal, saying that in these circumstances \u201cit was perfectly legitimate to allege political mischief was afoot\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt plainly was, particularly given no witness proximate to the judge on the night gave any evidence remotely supporting the content of the letter,\u201d Jones said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Attorney, as the senior law officer, had acted on what Mr Peters had told her and communicated that to the Chief Justice, the highest ranked judicial officer in the country. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult with respect to imagine a more direct political involvement with matters to do with the consideration of a judge\u2019s conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones told the panel there was no evidence to suggest the contents of Collins\u2019 letter were true, which he said \u201csupports the political mischief submission\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"DistrictDistrict Court Judge Ema Aitken. Photo \/ RNZ, Dan Cook<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the head of the judiciary and the Attorney-General have laboured under the misapprehension that this had been said by Judge Aitken has endured for over a year. It is submitted that political mischief can only be a neutral term in these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the panel said it was confident any alleged political motivation had \u201cnot infected\u201d the panel process. <\/p>\n

Its findings were made on the basis of fact and its consideration of evidence and witnesses, \u201cnot on the basis of disavowed information\u201d. <\/p>\n

The panel also referred to a letter received by New Zealand First chief of staff Darroch Ball responding to allegations against the party of political mischief. <\/p>\n

The letter said the party had deliberately decided not to comment publicly on the incident and had been unable to correct media reports or defend the party\u2019s reputation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the result the whole process had likely come to the detriment of its public image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones told the panel the response was \u201cdisparate and disparaging\u201d and \u201cimpossible to responsibly address\u201d.<\/p>\n

After weighing the evidence, the panel said Judge Aitken had not satisfied panel members there had been any \u201cpolitical motivation or mischief\u201d on the part of New Zealand First.<\/p>\n

While the panel concluded the judge\u2019s behaviour at the Northern Club was \u201ca serious breach of comity\u201d, it stopped short of removing her from her post as a District Court judge. <\/p>\n

Peters declined to comment when approached by the Herald, saying doing so would be a breach of comity, which requires different branches of government to act with mutual respect and avoid publicly criticising one another. <\/p>\n

The Herald has approached Collins. <\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collins\u2019 letter to Winkelmann claimed Peters had said the judge \u201creferred to him as \u2018Winston\u2019 when she called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,154876,26676,195098,11220,34749,1349,195097,7557,48424,2949,78,29819,3958,73229,20112,40571,195099,111,43,139,20113,69,12253,6729,18154,1560,766,12860,4764,9343,19347,6728],"class_list":{"0":"post-373916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-about","9":"tag-aitken","10":"tag-allegations","11":"tag-attorneygenerals","12":"tag-comment","13":"tag-conduct","14":"tag-court","15":"tag-disavowed","16":"tag-district","17":"tag-ema","18":"tag-finding","19":"tag-in","20":"tag-involving","21":"tag-judge","22":"tag-judicial","23":"tag-lane","24":"tag-letter","25":"tag-mischief","26":"tag-new-zealand","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-newzealand","29":"tag-nichols","30":"tag-nz","31":"tag-panel","32":"tag-peters","33":"tag-political","34":"tag-report","35":"tag-reports","36":"tag-revealed","37":"tag-revelations","38":"tag-statement","39":"tag-unprecedented","40":"tag-winston"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373916","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=373916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}