Progress
A quick update on progress.
The next event in this case is the filing of the Parliamentary Service’s defence. That was supposed to happen this week but has been delayed. The reason for the delay is that Crown Law has been disputing that the Attorney-General is the appropriate respondent in respect of the Parliamentary Service. We’ve agreed with Crown Law that the Attorney-General will be substituted by the Speaker of the House as the second respondent.
The Speaker had previously been set apart from the rest of the Labour MPs and dropped from the list of first respondents because the Speaker, by convention, doesn’t take part in Party decision or actions.
So, once we have the defence from the Parliamentary Service on Monday, Labour will finalise their affidavits and then everyone can sit down with the judge and the timetable can be set for the rest of the trial.