Court backs canning of far right duo

The High Court has dismissed an appeal for a judicial review against an Auckland Council agency after it cancelled a booking from two controversial Canadian speakers.

Free Speech Coalition member David Cumin and Dunedin ticket holder and bookseller Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle applied to the High Court to review Regional Facilities Auckland Limited’s (RFAL) decision to can the event featuring far right duo Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux.

They argued the council had acted “irrationally” in ruling the event posed a security risk and went against the council’s policy to facilitate rights to free speech. They also claimed Mayor Phil Goff unlawfully influenced the decision.

The event was to be held in Takapuna last August, but was cancelled after RFAL ruled it posed a health and safety threat.

In his judgment, Justice Pheroze Jagose found that RFAL exercised “no public power” in deciding to cancel the event and did not breach the Bill of Rights Act.

He also favoured RFAL’s “clear and uncontradicted evidence” that it decided to cancel the event purely on health and safety concerns and was unaffected by the mayor’s view.

“I am satisfied there is unlikely to be any better evidence of the council’s involvement in RFAL’s decision to cancel the event,” the judge said.

Goff said he stood by his view that people who wanted to come to New Zealand to demean and abuse people on the basis of their faith, race or culture were not welcome.