Brigitte is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court.
She has over a decade of experience working in politics across Australia and New Zealand. She has a Bachelor of Law from Victoria University, a Masters of Law from the Australian National University, and a Graduate Certificate in Counter-Terrorism from Interdisciplinary Center (Israel).
Brigitte spent three years providing political and media advice to the Embassy of Israel in Australia, whilst dealing with a number of high profile events. She worked as a Senior Advisor in state politics and worked on a number of Australian state and federal election campaigns. Brigitte was a Chief of Staff to an Australian Senator, before returning home to be the Senior Ministerial Advisor to the Minister of Education in the last National Government.
She has worked extensively with clients in the private sector to help them establish and maintain relationships with government, lobby on important issues, and drive campaigns to raise public interest. Brigitte particularly enjoys working with grassroots and member based organisations.
Brigitte has extensive knowledge of law making processes, how to best utilise the Official Information Act, and how to coordinate public interest campaigns across multiple channels. She is particularly interested and experienced in firearms law, electoral law and large scale reforms.
She is a regular commentator for RNZ and Newshub, and writes a weekly column for NBR.
Tuesday 28 September 2021 marks the end of Dame Patsy Reddy’s five year role as Governor-General, New Zealand’s Head of State. The next Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro, is scheduled to be sworn in on 21 October.
With three weeks until the office is officially filled, who is our Head of State in the meantime?
That position falls to the Chief Justice of New Zealand, Dame Helen Winkelmann.
What does the Governor-General do?
The Governor-General is an important part of New Zealand’s constitutional structure, and has a number of functions as the Queen’s representative in New Zealand.
One major function of the Governor-General is as Sovereign in Parliament. Parliament is not just our elected representatives to our country’s legislature. All Acts which are passed by the House of Representative must receive royal assent (approval) from the Head of State. The Governor-General gives assent on the Queen’s behalf.
As head of the Executive branch of government, the Governor-General presides over the Executive Council, the Council of all Ministers of the Crown. In the Executive Council, the Governor makes regulations through Orders in Council when advised by Her Majesty’s Ministers.
The Governor-General also may exercise the royal reserve powers, which are legal powers exclusive to the Crown. These include the Prerogative of Mercy, the ability to appoint the Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Crown, and the ability to form and dissolve Parliament.
The Governor-General exercises a diplomatic function with foreign dignitaries. As New Zealand’s head of state, the Governor-General receives visiting heads of state.
Head of State when Office of the Governor-General vacant
New Zealand has an unwritten constitution. This means that the entire constitution cannot be found in any one document, and there are long held conventions (practices) which make up the constitutional framework. However, a major part of our constitution is the Constitution Act 1986. This statute sets out the ordinary proceedings on how the branches of Government operate.
Section 3B of the Constitution Act allows for the “Administrator of the Government” to exercise the functions and duties of the Governor-General when that office is vacant or when the Governor-General is unable to perform the role. “Administrator of Government” is not defined by the Constitution Act. This term comes from another part of New Zealand’s constitutional fabric: the Letters Patent.
The Letters Patent is a royal decree from the Queen establishing and authorizing the office and powers of the Governor-General. Clause 12 of the Letters Patent authorises and commands the Chief Justice to act as the Governor-General where the office is vacant.
In the rare event that the Chief Justice is unable to perform this role, clause 12 states the role then goes to the next most senior judge of New Zealand’s judiciary. The line of succession continues down the judiciary’s seniority.
Overview
Franks Ogilvie assisted licensed firearm owner, Rachel Stewart, who had her licence suspended due to a satirical tweet.
Issue
Significant changes have been made to the Arms Act in the last two years including a more detailed test for ‘fit and proper’, the key test for a person to obtain a firearms licence. This detail includes a list of grounds that could prevent a successful application or reasons for a licence to be suspended or revoked. There continues to be a wide discretion for Police to seek information and base their decision on factors outside of those explicitly listed in the Act.
Ms Stewart came to Franks Ogilvie after receiving a notice that her firearms licence was suspended and asking her to surrender her firearms to Police while an investigation was undertaken. The suspension was on the basis of a tweet Ms Stewart made during a discussion on Twitter on a proposed law change. It was a satirical tweet that some users objected to. They made a complaint to the Police.
The former ‘fit and proper’ test, that was much more general, provided some insight on how Police may apply the new test but it cannot be relied upon. Particularly on the grounds the Police relied upon which included ‘threating any form of violence’ and ‘any other relevant matters’. The latter ground was expressed as ‘demonstrating any form of hatred’.
Ms Stewart’s case also attracted some media attention. She sought advice on how the manage this attention without jeopardising her submission to keep her licence.
What we did
A suspension allows the licensed firearm owner to make submissions to support the lifting of suspension. We examined the grounds setout by the Police and based on information from the client, outlined how the grounds were not supported by evidence. In particular, we sought clarification on the how the grounds the Police relied upon were defined. As this was a new test, it was important it was implemented in line with Parliamentary intent.
You can read a copy of the submission here.
We also advised Ms Stewart on the type of person she should seek for her character references and what information they should cover.
Outcome
Ms Stewart had her suspension lifted and did not face revocation of her licence. She was able to get her firearms returned.
If you would like advice on firearms law, please contact Director Brigitte Morten.
Director Brigitte Morten joined RNZ's Nine to Noon to discuss the week in politics. Alongside host Kathryn Ryan and Capital Government Relations Neale Jones, they discussed the decision to have Parliament sit in person, potential changes to counter-terrorism laws, vaccine supplies and the public's view on elimination.
To listen to a recording of the segment, please click here
