Bankside barrister Aidan Cameron, together with Rowan Butler of Mills Lane Chambers, has acted for the Attorney-General in Sanctuary Community Organic Garden Mahi Whenua Inc v Attorney-General [2026] NZSC 39, in which the Supreme Court on Tuesday 28 April dismissed an application for leave to appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeal.
The proceeding concerned a community garden in Mount Albert, Auckland, located on former Unitec Institute of Technology land. In 2018, Unitec sold the land to the Crown to facilitate development for housing, which engaged the Crown's obligations to Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau under the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014.
The applicant society, which manages the community gardens, lodged a caveat against the title claiming that a clause in a variation to the sale agreement created an interest in land in its favour – either an easement in gross or a profit à prendre.
The High Court upheld the caveat, but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in Attorney-General v Sanctuary Community Organic Garden Mahi Whenua Inc [2025] NZCA 691. The Court of Appeal found that the relevant clause reflected an agreement to consult and collaborate with identified parties about the preservation of the gardens – not an existing agreement to preserve, and not a grant of an interest in land.
The Supreme Court declined leave to appeal, finding that the proposed appeal would turn on the application of settled interpretive principles to a bespoke contractual clause, and that no questions of general or public importance or commercial significance arose.
The Court also found the appeal had insufficient prospects of success to warrant leave on miscarriage of justice grounds.
Aidan Cameron and Rowan Butler were instructed by Te Tari Ture o te Karauna | Crown Law Office.
Further Reading
Supreme Court judgment, 28 April 2026.
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