In a decision released on 19 February, the High Court declared that the Department of Internal Affairs may no longer allow pokie venues to relocate under a previous High Court decision, known as the Waikiwi decision.An anti-pokie lobby group says 26 venue relocations over the past decade were illegal and had asked the court to make sure no more happen from now on.  Read more here ..read more

In December last year the Government passed legislation bringing back 90-day trials for all employers.The bill passed with the support of all three governing parties, and was opposed by all three opposition parties.Prior to Saturday 23 December 2023 this has only applied to employers with 19 or fewer employees. 90-day trial provisions allows employers to dismiss employees within their first 90 days of employment, and removes an employee’s right to raise a personal grievance for that dismi ..read more

Some kiwis are paying much more to the retailer, than the retailer is paying to the bank to accept card payments. "Businesses shouldn't charge their customers more than what it costs them to accept a card payment. Unfortunately, as shoppers, we have no way of telling what businesses are getting charged so it's difficult to tell if we're being ripped off," Consumer NZ campaigns manager Jessica Walker said.Read the full story here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/502580/consumer-nz-f ..read more

New alcohol legislation is being dubbed a move in the right direction. The immediate phase aims to make local alcohol licensing processes more accessible and fairer; and improve communities’ abilities to influence alcohol regulation in their area.Until recently community views have been virtually non-existent from alcohol licensing processes under the current law, and only 19 of the 5,197 of the applications that were made in 2022 (less than 0.4%) were declined. “CLCA’s research ..read more

The Commerce Commission has handed One NZ a fine for almost $3.7 million for misleading consumers in the marketing of its FibreX broadband service. Commission chair John Small said the penalty was the highest ever handed down by a court under the Fair Trading Act. The fine was for the company’s conduct between 2016 and 2018 when it mislead consumers into believing its FibreX service was fibre-to-the-home broadband. It was also found guilty of falsely suggesting that FibreX was the on ..read more

Coming forward to report sexual harassment can be difficult, and it is common for victims of sexual harassment to wait a long time before coming forward, if at all. The purpose of the Act is to allow victims of sexual harassment more time to consider what has happened before deciding whether they wish and feel safe to raise a personal grievance.Employees are still able to alternatively raise a claim for harassment under the Human Rights Act 1993, instead of raising a personal grievance claim.Rea ..read more

A law change allowing New Zealand citizens to change their registered sex on their birth certificate has kicked in on 15 June 2023. Under the new process, applications are received directly by Births, Deaths, and Marriages.Previously applications needed to go through the Family Court or by providing proof of medical treatment; now individuals can apply to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages directly by filling out and submitting a statutory declaration.Read more here:&nbs ..read more

The call for alcohol law reform comes on the heels of disturbing research released last week, with research released by the University of Otago finding that alcohol is now the most harmful drug in New Zealand. Data released by Waka Kotahi showed deaths involving drink-driving in Aotearoa have doubled since 2013 - reaching a 10-year peak last year."Addressing alcohol-related harm is indeed a 'bread and butter' issue," said Jason Alexander, CEO of Hāpai te Hauora. "Alcohol misuse is directly rela ..read more

The interim report sets out draft recommendations for each area of the electoral system and provides an explanation of how the panel reached this view.Six key themes have been identified in the report. making our electoral law fit for the futureimproving MMPa referendum on the parliamentary termsupporting more New Zealanders to votefairer rules for political financing and campaigningupholding te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi.There are over 100 recommendations in total. You ..read more

Community Law Centres o Aotearoa (CLCA) spoke at the Justice Committee today in support of their submission on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Community Participation) Bill, making the data it collected from the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) and 66 territorial authorities public for the first time. Follow the link below to read more.  ..read more