title: Imbalance in surrender: the backing of warrants procedure with Australia under Part 4 of the Extradition Act 1999

authors: Butler, Rynae Daphne

subjects: backed warrant procedure

abstract: The backing-of-warrants is a fast-track procedure for extradition regulated under Part 4 of the Extradition Act 1999.  This thesis critically scrutinises a recent review of the legislation by the Law Commission as it relates to the impact of its proposed new Act on the current backed-warrant procedure, particularly as it relates to Australia.  The Commission’s proposal that its new Act will achieve the Commission’s objective to “strike the necessary and appropriate balance between protecting the rights of those whose extradition is sought and providing an efficient mechanism for extradition” will be analysed and critiqued.    It will be shown that, the Commission has tipped the balance towards the liberty interests of the requested person, when it proposed to increase the breadth of grounds by which the courts may refuse surrender under a new “unjust or oppressive” provision. As a consequence, the proposed legislative provisions may risk breaching the doctrine of comity and frustrating the backed-warrant procedure. This thesis further posits that comity should not be over-emphasised, particularly as the Commission has not at all or has inadequately considered the disparity that exists between the way comity is applied in practise by the Australian and New Zealand courts. As a consequence, the proposed less onerous test for Australia, is unjustified. While the Commission’s proposal gives weight to the growing importance of human rights as a determining factor in surrender nevertheless, the Commission’s proposals lack coherency and fail to delineate between the standard procedure and the backed-warrant procedure. In absence of any evidence that the efficacy of the backed-warrant procedure is wanting, the impact of the Commission’s proposals, are unlikely therefore to achieve the balance it strives to achieve.   The argument put here is that there is a strong principled case for strengthening human rights protections in the current backed-warrant procedure. In that regard, this thesis advances the proposition that in combination, the Commission’s New Zealand Bill of Rights proposal and a role for a proposed central authority - subject to reconceptualising comity in this context to one that includes a human rights component.  To that end, this thesis advocates replacing the balancing act paradigm that purports to reconcile the competing interests underpinning extradition with an assessment of human rights as a primary determining factor in surrender at both the initial stages and latter stages of the backed-warrant procedure. This model, as proposed, will maintain the fast-track nature of the backed-warrant procedure as it would allow the judiciary to differentiate risk between low-level and gross forms of human rights violations or abuse.  Finally, this thesis posits that the jurisprudential acceptance in the courts of the extraterritorial effect of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in relation to Australian Police conduct in New Zealand merits attention.

text: Imbalance in surrender: the backing of warrants procedure with Australia under Part 4 of the Extradition Act 1999 The backing-of-warrants is a fast-track procedure for extradition regulated under Part 4 of the Extradition Act 1999.  This thesis critically scrutinises a recent review of the legislation by the Law Commission as it relates to the impact of its proposed new Act on the current backed-warrant procedure, particularly as it relates to Australia.  The Commission’s proposal that its new Act will achieve the Commission’s objective to “strike the necessary and appropriate balance between protecting the rights of those whose extradition is sought and providing an efficient mechanism for extradition” will be analysed and critiqued.    It will be shown that, the Commission has tipped the balance towards the liberty interests of the requested person, when it proposed to increase the breadth of grounds by which the courts may refuse surrender under a new “unjust or oppressive” provision. As a consequence, the proposed legislative provisions may risk breaching the doctrine of comity and frustrating the backed-warrant procedure. This thesis further posits that comity should not be over-emphasised, particularly as the Commission has not at all or has inadequately considered the disparity that exists between the way comity is applied in practise by the Australian and New Zealand courts. As a consequence, the proposed less onerous test for Australia, is unjustified. While the Commission’s proposal gives weight to the growing importance of human rights as a determining factor in surrender nevertheless, the Commission’s proposals lack coherency and fail to delineate between the standard procedure and the backed-warrant procedure. In absence of any evidence that the efficacy of the backed-warrant procedure is wanting, the impact of the Commission’s proposals, are unlikely therefore to achieve the balance it strives to achieve.   The argument put here is that there is a strong principled case for strengthening human rights protections in the current backed-warrant procedure. In that regard, this thesis advances the proposition that in combination, the Commission’s New Zealand Bill of Rights proposal and a role for a proposed central authority - subject to reconceptualising comity in this context to one that includes a human rights component.  To that end, this thesis advocates replacing the balancing act paradigm that purports to reconcile the competing interests underpinning extradition with an assessment of human rights as a primary determining factor in surrender at both the initial stages and latter stages of the backed-warrant procedure. This model, as proposed, will maintain the fast-track nature of the backed-warrant procedure as it would allow the judiciary to differentiate risk between low-level and gross forms of human rights violations or abuse.  Finally, this thesis posits that the jurisprudential acceptance in the courts of the extraterritorial effect of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in relation to Australian Police conduct in New Zealand merits attention.

year: 2017

title: Caldalkalibacillus thermarum PhoH2: Solving the solubility puzzle

authors: Dillon, Brooke Jane

subjects: Caldalkalibacillus thermarum

abstract: Previous attempts to determine the structure of the protein PhoH2 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium smegmatis and Thermobispora bispora have been unsuccessful producing diffraction data to low resolution. The thermophilic organism Caldalkibacillus thermarum was thought to be an advantageous option from which to clone, express and purify PhoH2 from for the purpose of structure determination. PhoH2 consists of two domains, an N terminal PIN domain, known for its toxic properties as part of many toxin-antitoxin systems present in M. tuberculosis, and a C-terminal PhoH domain, an RNA helicase suspected to be involved in phosphate starvation responses. The cloning and expression of three variations of recombinant C. thermarum PhoH2 was successful in Escherichia coli. However the purification of PhoH2 continues to yield insoluble protein, despite the range of purification buffer conditions screened, thus preventing downstream biochemical characterisation and structural investigations. Multiple options exist to overcome this insolubility problem; including alternate plasmids for protein expression and purification that alter the tag location and type such as C-terminal His-tags and alternative fusion tags.

text: Caldalkalibacillus thermarum PhoH2: Solving the solubility puzzle Previous attempts to determine the structure of the protein PhoH2 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium smegmatis and Thermobispora bispora have been unsuccessful producing diffraction data to low resolution. The thermophilic organism Caldalkibacillus thermarum was thought to be an advantageous option from which to clone, express and purify PhoH2 from for the purpose of structure determination. PhoH2 consists of two domains, an N terminal PIN domain, known for its toxic properties as part of many toxin-antitoxin systems present in M. tuberculosis, and a C-terminal PhoH domain, an RNA helicase suspected to be involved in phosphate starvation responses. The cloning and expression of three variations of recombinant C. thermarum PhoH2 was successful in Escherichia coli. However the purification of PhoH2 continues to yield insoluble protein, despite the range of purification buffer conditions screened, thus preventing downstream biochemical characterisation and structural investigations. Multiple options exist to overcome this insolubility problem; including alternate plasmids for protein expression and purification that alter the tag location and type such as C-terminal His-tags and alternative fusion tags.

year: 2017

title: Leadership: Going beyond personal will and professional skills to give life to Ka Hikitia

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: education policy

abstract: This paper investigates the Ka Hikitia Māori education policy and its subsequent influence in effecting system change towards Māori students’ achievement. It discusses how a Request for Proposal to the Ministry of Education’s Building on Success was conceptualised to support English-medium secondary schools across New Zealand to address this policy. The result, Kia Eke Panuku, is a professional learning and development response that works with Strategic Change Leadership Teams to create culturally responsive and relational contexts for learning, focused on Māori students enjoying and achieving educational success as Māori. It is argued that neither a political mandate for change nor a set of learned strategies by school personnel will truly bring about a changed reality for Māori students. Rather the reform must be led by transformative leaders who are driven by both the moral imperative to change and a keen sense of urgency to see this happen in our schools for Māori students and their home communities.
The major issues raised in this paper, and the solutions that have been reached thus far, can help inform others who are trying to raise the participation, inclusion and achievement of students who may currently be marginalised from formal education settings.

text: Leadership: Going beyond personal will and professional skills to give life to Ka Hikitia This paper investigates the Ka Hikitia Māori education policy and its subsequent influence in effecting system change towards Māori students’ achievement. It discusses how a Request for Proposal to the Ministry of Education’s Building on Success was conceptualised to support English-medium secondary schools across New Zealand to address this policy. The result, Kia Eke Panuku, is a professional learning and development response that works with Strategic Change Leadership Teams to create culturally responsive and relational contexts for learning, focused on Māori students enjoying and achieving educational success as Māori. It is argued that neither a political mandate for change nor a set of learned strategies by school personnel will truly bring about a changed reality for Māori students. Rather the reform must be led by transformative leaders who are driven by both the moral imperative to change and a keen sense of urgency to see this happen in our schools for Māori students and their home communities.
The major issues raised in this paper, and the solutions that have been reached thus far, can help inform others who are trying to raise the participation, inclusion and achievement of students who may currently be marginalised from formal education settings.

year: 2015