Of Hobbits, Collective Bargaining, and False Economic Emergencies: Accelerated Legislation and Political Constitutionalism

• Author: Sascha Mueller
• Position: Senior lecturer at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand
• Pages: 25-46

25

OF HOBBITS, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING,

AND FALSE ECONOMIC EMERGENCIES:

ACCELERATED LEGISLATION AND

POLITICAL CONSTITUTIONALISM



Abstract

Many constitutional syste ms allow for an acceleration of the legislative process. Under

New Zealand’s mechanism, the so-called urgency motion, the government can introduce

and pass a bill within a single parliam entary sitting. New Zealand’s constit ution is also

strongly political, that is, parliamentary actions are mainly controlled by political means

(such as general electi ons) rather than legal means (such as judic ial review).

is combination is highly concerning when viewed through the lens of securitisation

theory. is theory posits that if the public perceives a political issue as an existent ial

threat to a f undamental social value, the use of ext raordinary measures is justied,

such as accele rating the legislative process. us, if the government can i nuence the

public narrative a nd make a political issue appear to be an existential threat, the use

of ur gency to pass it will be just ied, ir respective of whether the iss ue really poses a n

existential th reat. In such a cas e, the political co nstitutional safegua rd of public censure

of pa rliament fails , because the p ublic has already been convinc ed that extraordinary

measures are necess ary and justied.

e ci rcumstances arou nd passage of the “Hobbit Law” (the Employment Relations

(the F ilm Industr y Work) Amendment Ac t 2010) shows th at politic al constit utions are

vulnerable to the constitutional eects of securitisation of non-existentially threatening

political issues.

* Sascha Muel ler is a senio r lectur er at the Uni versity of C anterb ury in C hrist church , New Zeal and.

This ar ticle is based on a chapt er in his PhD thesi s: Sascha Mueller “Econom ic Securitisa tion

and the Norm alisation of Exce ptionalism: How Ec onomic Risk Rhet oric is Used to Justi fy and

Normal ise Exceptiona lism” (PhD the sis, Universi ty of Canterbu ry, 2021).

26[Vol 31, 2024]

I. Introduction

Famous fantasy author JRR Tolkien describes hobbits as unadventurous

farmers, who would eat six meals a day if t hey could get their hands on them and

who enjoy social ising. They are jov ial and good-heart ed, if a little shy of out siders.

It is somewhat ir onic that the production of t he movie adaptation of e Hobbit led

to a stark cu rtailmen t of New Zealand’s lm indust ry workers’ rights and ex posed a

fundam ental wea kness in New Zea land’s uniq ue brand of polit ical const itution alism.

The legislation enabling this step was introduced and passed under urgency in a

single day. By controlling the public narrative and creating the public perception

of an impending emergency, the government can pass critical legislation under

urgency and bypass most democratic safeguards of the legislative process with

little t o no consequences. With New Z ealand’s government’s incr easing wil lingness

to pass (sometimes several pieces of) legislation in a single sit ting, this issue is as

relevant to day as it was in 2010.1

After the worldwide success of the Lord of the Ri ngs mov ies, lm production

company Warne r Brothers decided to adapt anot her JRR Tolkien book into a s eries

of movies. P roduction of the rst par t of e Hobbit commenced in New Zea land in

2010. Due to an employment dispute between Warner Brothers and New Zealand

Actors E quity (Equ ity), the un ion for New Zea land lm and tele vision actors,

production soon g round to a halt. Equ ity was pressing for a col lective employment

agreement for l m workers. Warner Brothers clai med that collective ba rgaining for

lm workers wa s illegal unde r New Zealand compet ition law, as many fi lm workers

were contrac tors. Equit y, b ased on previous court de cisions, arg ued that lm

workers were employees and, t herefore, enjoyed more employee protections. Unti l

the disput e was resolved, the Federation of Int ernational Actors (FIA) ca lled on its

members worldwide to cease working on e Hobbit. In response, New Zealand’s

Parliament passed the Employment Relations (Film Industry Work) Amendment

Act 2010 (“The Hobbit Law”), which desi gnated all l m and television indus try

workers as contractor s. This denied lm industr y workers basic employment rights,

includin g the rig ht to collect ive barga ining. The Government jus tied thi s step by

saying t hat the current uncert ainty about the employment st atus of lm production

workers dis incentivised o verseas investm ent into New Ze aland’s lm industry a nd

imminently risked Warner Brothers removing the production of e Hobbit from

New Zeala nd.

1 The 54th govern ment h as pa ssed 19 bill s in sing le sit tings in its  rst year o f govern ment, 12

withi n the rst 100 d ays in government .