Neil Sands
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has weighed into the row over real estate agents being forced to complete Māori studies or lose their licence, telling the regulator to “refocus” its training requirements on topics relevant to the industry.
McKee’s intervention came hard on the heels of the High Court’s dismissal of an Auckland realtor’s bid to overturn the Real Estate Agents Authority’s insistence she do the course or face a five-year ban.
Auckland estate agent Janet Dickson refused to complete the 90-minute course called Te Kākano (The Seed) which was made mandatory in 2023, arguing it was largely irrelevant to her work, politically biased and conflicted with her personal beliefs.
Dickson, who had complied with all other continuing professional development (CPD) requirements, applied for judicial review in the High Court. This was dismissed in a decision released on Tuesday.
Within hours of this decision being made public, McKee said she had introduced legislation, the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill, which will strip the REA of its ability to impose five-year bans in such circumstances, “creating consistency with other regulated professions”.
Disproportionate response
“This case has shed light on an overly harsh punishment for real estate agents who have not completed the CPD requirements,” McKee said in a statement released shortly after the decision was published.
Nicole McKee
“No other profession imposes a five-year disqualification period on individuals for failing to complete their CPD requirement. It is a disproportionate response that stops people from working in their chosen profession.”
In a stinging rebuke to the REA, McKee revealed publicly for the first time that she had written to the regulator’s board last year, raising concern about training requirements.
“I advised the board that I did not consider the mandatory CPD topic in 2023 – Te Kākano (The Seed) – to meet my expectation of being relevant to the real estate profession,” she said.
“It is critically important to me that the Real Estate Authority can demonstrate that its services materially improve outcomes for all New Zealanders and that they represent value for money.”
The decision
Despite McKee’s February 2024 letter, the REA continued to insist Dickson complete the course, leading to the High Court application.
That resulted in Justice Helen McQueen dismissing Dickson’s application, finding that the rules requiring the course to be mandatory had been properly applied and the refusal to grant Dickson an exemption met established guidelines.
McQueen described the prospect of a five-year ban as “harsh”, but said Dickson knew the potential consequences of her actions.
“The harsh penalty facing those who do not complete CPD requirements – becoming ineligible to carry out real estate agency work for five years – did not change that interpretation.
“However, this is a consequence that flows directly from the Act. It must be assumed that Parliament intended a harsh consequence to follow a failure to complete CPD requirements.”
McQueen also found the course “did not in any way restrict freedom of expression for its participants, just as any mandatory education, for example in schools, may impart a particular viewpoint but does not restrict students from forming and sharing different views”.
McQueen did not make a finding on costs, advising all parties to make submissions.
‘Heavy-handed’ and coercive
Lobby group Hobson’s Pledge described the decision as “outrageous”, saying it would be worrying for many New Zealanders.
“It is not the place of real estate authorities, or any professional body, to foist political, religious, or cultural views onto its members,” said former opposition leader and Reserve Ban governor Don Brash, a trustee of the group.
The group said the potential licence suspension was “heavy-handed” and coercive.
In response to Dickson’s case, the Free Speech Union last month urged the government to adopt legislation to prevent “ideological imposition” by regulatory bodies.
“Forcing people to subscribe to (or to appear to subscribe to) contested positions is a form of ‘compelled speech’. This is the antithesis to free expression and free speech which should be the hallmark of a liberal democracy such as ours,” it said.
Read the High Court decision here.
The concept of compulsion in professional training has never made sense to me. Forcing real estate agents to complete a course that may have no relevance to their work is unnecessary and heavy-handed. I encountered this same issue back in Iran, where compulsory courses were imposed without regard for individual or professional needs. We consistently fought for an elective approach—one that empowers professionals to choose what benefits them rather than having a rigid curriculum forced upon them.
The solution here is glaringly simple: make it elective. Agents who see value in tikanga training can take the course, earn a qualification, and market themselves accordingly. Buyers who prioritize that expertise can then make an informed choice. There is no need for coercion when consumer choice and professional discretion can naturally regulate demand.
Damian Grant wrote an excellent piece on this over the weekend—it’s well worth reading. But before enforcing blanket mandates, I’d love to see the data: how many buyers actually seek out real estate agents with a tikanga qualification? If the numbers don’t justify compulsion, then this is nothing more than unnecessary bureaucratic overreach.