PremiumOpinionOpinion byDavid HarveyNZ Herald·28 Jun, 2026 03:00 AM6 mins to readDavid Harvey is a retired District Court judgeComplaint culture is reshaping New Zealand's democracy and public debate, David Harvey writes. Photo / 123rfNew Zealand has spent the past half-century constructing an elaborate architecture of grievance – tribunals, authorities, councils, and professional regulators whose primary function is to process offence.
What began as mechanisms for addressing genuine injustice have evolved into a system that rewards escalation, punishes disagreement and corrodes the foundations of
