The saga surrounding the Children's Minister's subpoena to the Waitangi Tribunal continues.
The High Court ruled last week that Karen Chhour couldn't be summoned by the tribunal, but two iwi groups filed an urgent appeal which was heard today.
When the Waitangi Tribunal summonsed Chhour, it wanted to ask about her the coalitions plans to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act.
That's a clause that requires consideration of tamariki's whakapapa and mana when deciding where to place them.
She refused the summons and lawyered up with the solicitor general.
"This is an unorthodox - to use the words of the claimants before the tribunal - and actually unprecedented event," solicitor general Una Jagose KC said.
The High Court sided with the minister, but two iwi groups want that overturned - hence the urgent appeal on Wednesday, despite Chhour writing to the tribunal last week.
"The minister appears to be, in her mind, conducting a filter based on her view of what is of substance and what isn't. The answer to that is it's not for the minister to decide what the tribunal is entitled to enquire into," appellant's lawyer Hanah Yang said.
On Monday the tribunal published its interim report into the proposed changes to 7AA, saying its repeal will cause harm.
It's something former Children's Minister Tracy Martin agrees with.
"I think that the repeal of the section will take us backward, to what was the environment of Child, Youth and Family (CYF), where children told us that it wasn't good for their lives," she said.
The case before the court of appeal will continue on Thursday.
