Our advocacy team makes regular submissions before Select Committees on gender justice and the law, harnessing the existing scholarship of the Journal to submit on important legislative changes in Aotearoa.

If you are interested in getting involved with our advocacy work, please contact our Advocacy Manager, Sophie Vreeburg, at advocacy.nzwlj@gmail.com.

Examples of our previous submissions are linked below.

March 2025: The Journal has written a letter to the New Zealand Law Society expressing its concerns regarding the eligibility of James Gardner-Hopkins to practice as a lawyer.

A copy of our letter can be found here

February 2025: Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill
In February 2025, the Journal made a written submission on the Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill. In March 2025, the Journal made an oral submission on the Bill.

The Journal supports the changes proposed by the Bill and its objective to recognise the harm that victims experience and to ensure offenders are prosecuted effectively.

The criminalisation of stalking, which is a form of psychological abuse, is long overdue. However, in expressing its support for the Bill the Journal notes that the focus of the legislative changes appears to favour the effective prosecution of the offender. The Journal’s position is that these reforms must also focus on identifying the ongoing risks, and any reducing corresponding harm, to victims of stalking offending.

Accordingly, the Journal makes three recommendations in respect of technical aspects of the Bill to ensure, consistent with its policy objective, that the harm victims experience is recognised and to align the proposed changes with other jurisdictions that have well-established stalking laws.

In the second part of its submission, the Journal outlines several challenges that will need to be addressed in order to ensure that the Bill’s policy objective is realised. A copy of the submission can be found here

January 2025: Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill
In January 2025, the Journal made a written submission on the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. In February 2025, it made an oral submission on the Bill. 

Overall, the Journal supports the policy objective of the Bill, which is to create transparency in pay and to enable pay discrimination to be more easily identified and remedied. Increased pay transparency will align Aotearoa New Zealand with the laws of other jurisdictions, such as Australia and the United Kingdom.

In expressing its support for pay equity and transparency legislation, the Journal makes recommendations in respect of technical aspects of the proposed amendments to ensure the gendered dimensions of pay discrimination are addressed, in line with the Bill’s policy objective. 

The Journal also highlights that legal mechanisms alone are insufficient to achieve the policy objectives of the Bill. Accordingly, in the second part of its submission, the Journal makes several recommendations for further changes that will address pay transparency on a broader level. A copy of the submission can be found here

January 2025: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill 
In January 2025, the Journal made a submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. The overarching objective of the Bill is to “define” what the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are in statute by introducing three new  “principles”. 

The Journal opposes the Bill. The Journal agrees with the submission made by our colleagues at Te Hunga Rōia Māori o Aotearoa - the Māori Law Society (Te Hunga Rōia) that the proposed principles are inconsistent with both versions of the Treaty of Waitangi (the Treaty) and were developed without meaningful consultation with Māori. 

The Journal’s position is that, as a consequence of these inconsistencies and the lack of consultation, the Bill further erodes the constitutional protections and guarantees contained in Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti) for wāhine Māori and perpetuates the existing intersectional inequities and discrimination that this community faces. The Journal submits that, against this context, the Bill should be abandoned. A copy of the submission can be found here.

December 2024: Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill
In December 2024, the Journal made a written submission on the Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill. In February 2025, the Journal made an oral submission on the Bill.

The principal change proposed by the Bill is to extend the presumption in favour of giving evidence in alternative ways to parties and witnesses giving evidence of sexual assaults or family harm in the Family Court. The purpose of the Bill is to reduce stress on these parties and witnesses
and to increase the quality of their evidence in Family Court proceedings. Such proceedings often involve high volumes of parties alleging family violence, such as in Protection Order or Parenting Order matters.

The Journal supports the Bill. Measures which seek to accommodate the particular needs or vulnerabilities of witnesses who are required to give evidence of sexual assaults or family violence in the Family Court are long overdue. Such measures should be considered as part of upholding natural justice (first submission).

That said, the Bill must be clear about the effect of existing provisions of the Evidence Act 2006 (the Evidence Act) on the implementation of the proposed Bill (second submission) and should make explicit provision for the exercise of judicial discretion in individual cases, particularly where cultural norms may require a departure from the legislative presumption (third submission).

On a practical level, the Family Court must also ensure there are robust policies and practices in place to support parties and witnesses giving evidence of sexual assaults or family harm in the Family Court, both within and beyond the courtroom (fourth submission).  A copy of the submission can be found here

September 2024: Submission in response to the Te Aka Matu o Te Ture | Law Commission’s A review of the protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics

In June 2024, the Law Commission published an issues paper posing 80 questions on which it sought feedback. The questions broadly concern the protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA) for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics.

The Journal's submission provides feedback on eight specific issues (or questions) covering topics such as the perspectives and concerns of Māori, the prohibited grounds of discrimination, options for new grounds and the exceptions to the prohibited grounds. 

The Journal tautoko the key reform considerations the Commission has identified. 

With these considerations in mind, the Journal proposes three ways in which the HRA can be amended to address the specific issues.

A copy of our submission can be found here.  

2023 Submissions

2022 Submissions

2020 Submissions

Previous Co-Editor-in-Chief, Josie Te Rata, signed an open letter on behalf of the Journal in support of the Abortion Legislation Bill. 35 organisations have currently signed the letter which was sent to all Parliamentarians.

See the letter here.

On 18 March 2020 the Abortion Legislation Bill passed into law, de-criminalising abortion in Aotearoa.

2019: Purea Nei - Changing the Culture of the Legal Profession

The research report resulted from a project engaging people of all genders in the legal profession in New Zealand about issues such as workplace expectations and culture, diversity and inclusion, sexual harassment, bullying, gender inequality, training and education, leadership, management, remuneration, the future of work and several other employment related issues.

The lead investigators are Ana Lenard, Allanah Colley and Bridget McLay from the Journal. They collected a breadth of experience, ideas and practical tips and tools from over 700 people who participated in this research.

Purea Nei means to cleanse and renew and the researchers state “we hope that this document provides a useful springboard for workplace, and broader, conversations about how we can improve the culture of the legal profession.”

Research Report: Purea Nei —  Changing the Culture of the Legal Profession

Link to video of launch of Purea Nei report and panel discussion —  26 February 2020

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