In the legal and political weeds

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick delivered the 2022 Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture on the topic of the 2020 cannabis legalisation referendum.

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick was the invited speaker for the 2022 Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture. This year's lecture marked the seventh anniversary of both the decision on the assisted dying case and Lecretia's death.

Chlöe's lecture was entitled 'In the Legal and Political Weeds: the 2020 Referendum and Beyond', and discussed her work on the 2020 cannabis legalisation referendum.

About the speaker

Chlöe Swarbrick was born and raised in Auckland. She was first elected in 2017 as a list MP for the Green Party—and the youngest MP in over 40 years. In 2020, she was elected as the Green MP for Auckland Central.

In early 2020, Chlöe's Electoral Access Fund Act became law, establishing a fund for candidates with disabilities in general elections to run barrier-free from 2023. She spearheaded the Student Accommodation Inquiry (leading to the subsequent Pastoral Care Code), legalisation of and funding for drug checking services, amendments formalising police discretion for drug offences, establishing the Cross-Party Group on Mental Health and Addiction (with Louisa Wall MP and Matt Doocey MP), declaration of a climate emergency, the divestment of ACC from $1 billion in fossil fuels, and COVID-19 support for small businesses.

Chlöe continues advocacy on renters' rights, tax justice, environmental protection and evidence-based drug law reform (including her current Members' Bill to reduce alcohol harm).

Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture

The annual Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture commemorates alumna Lecretia Seales (LLB, 1997). It pays tribute to an alumna whom we admire for her efforts in law reform and challenging the law.

In 2015, Lecretia went to the High Court to seek a ruling that would allow a doctor to assist her to die with her consent. Her court case initiated a national debate and helped focus a parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying. This contributed to the 2020 election referendum where voters decided whether to legalise assisted dying (euthanasia). If Lecretia were alive today, we know she would be proud of her efforts made to initiate the debate on this issue in Aotearoa New Zealand and to have it come to fruition.