PremiumOpinionOpinion byDavid HarveyLaw & society columnist·NZ Herald·12 Jul, 2026 03:00 AM6 mins to readDavid Harvey is a barrister and retired district court judgeNew Zealand's name suppression regime "generates the appearance of favouritism". Photo / RNZ, Rebekah Parsons-KingFew features of the criminal justice system generate as much friction as the suppression of a defendant’s name, because suppression sits across a fault line between two values a liberal democracy treats as close to inviolable.
On one side is open justice: the public’s entitlement to know who is
