Darleen Tana MP was at Auckland High Court today to watch her application for injunctive relief against the Green Party, Chloe Swarbrick et alia.
The judge reserved his decision but the orders remain in place. The Green party cannot meet to invoke Waka Jumping Act.
I went into this hearing thinking "no chance" but I came away thinking Tana might have a case here.
She filed multiple grounds for relief most of which concern whether proper processes were followed and I think in some cases it's plain they weren't. I think it will come down to the judge's assessment of whether these procedural failings were substantive.
It's also my assessment that Chloe and Marama were driving the process and lawyered up very early in the process. Despite this they made some remarks in the press and in caucus meetings that were unwise.
None of the Green party were in attendance, at least that I recognised. There were quite a few Tana supporters who it seemed to me were Tainui iwi. There were a few green party types there though, like a bloke in a bad pink suit and high heels with lavender-painted nails, and an assortment of smelly hippies.
The Greens' barrister seemed to be a bit of a dumbarse. He didn't known the difference between 'contemporary' and 'contemporaneous' and at one point he said quod erat demonstrandum when he clearly meant ergo propter hoc. But the funniest was he kept repeating "Jack Hughes, Jack Hughes." It probably took me longer than it should have to work out he was mispronouncing j'accuse.
In synopsis the Greens can't hold their waka jumping meeting. The judge indicated he was aware of this and planned to release the judgement as soon as possible, to the parties a couple of hours before the public. I wouldn't be surprised if that means Monday.
Darleen Tana v The Greens and Chloe Swarbrick at Auckland District Court