A Cabinet minister has described a “particularly hostile” encounter with a celebrity doctor at a NZ First event in Auckland, claiming the man called her “despicable”, accused her of “killing hundreds of people” and that he smelled of alcohol and appeared “intoxicated”.
NZ First MP Casey Costello said she documented the exchange in her diary the next morning “because I was concerned by the aggressive nature of the confrontation” with a man she later learned was Dr David Galler.
It has also emerged that Galler’s partner Judge Ema Aitken – the woman at the centre of an unprecedented Judicial Conduct Panel hearing – will enter the witness box today to give evidence in her defence.
And two other judges who were dining with Judge Aitken at the exclusive Northern Club have been asked to give evidence about the night in question, after one of them refused to engage with special counsel.
Costello gave evidence this morning about her recollection of a “series of disruptions” at an NZ First fundraising event on November 22, 2024.
She said she was seated near the door of the Winter Garden room during a speech by then Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters when she noticed a “blonde, fair-haired woman” returning from the bathrooms through the adjacent foyer.
The woman approached the door and began yelling, “This is lies, you don’t know what you are talking about, this is disgusting”, Costello claimed.
“I did not recognise her at the time but subsequently learned she was Judge Aitken.”
The judge continued, “How can you be listening to this?”, Costello said.
“She was staring into the room and said, ‘This is lies’.”
Costello said she believed Peters had been speaking about the Treaty of Waitangi at the time, but under cross-examination accepted he might actually have been discussing the teaching of tikanga Māori in law schools.
Party secretary Holly Howard began shepherding the judge away from the door as she continued “talking loudly”.
Costello said she understood the judge had subsequently claimed she did not realise it was a political event or that the speaker was the Deputy Prime Minister.
“From my observation of events, the judge must have known it was Mr Peters who was speaking.
“The judge would also have been able to see Mr Peters ... given she said Mr Peters’ comments were lies.”
Costello then said a Pākehā man in his 60s or 70s appeared at the door after dessert.
“I could smell alcohol on him and concluded that he was intoxicated.
“He said, ‘You are despicable, I hope you are ashamed of yourself’.”
Costello said she asked Galler why he thought that and he allegedly replied: “You are responsible for killing hundreds of people. You should be proud.“
He also claimed the minister was “paid dues” by tobacco companies, Costello told the hearing.
She said that as a politician, she was used to robust encounters with people who held opposing views, but “this encounter was particularly hostile”.
She said the reason for her diary note was “principally because of the encounter with Dr Galler”, rather than that with the judge.
Yesterday, the panel hearing was played a video of a King’s Counsel being asked to leave the New Zealand First event, with Howard claiming the respected lawyer was “entitled”, “unstable” and she feared for her safety.
“I asked him to leave,” the party’s secretary said about the alleged incident.
She claimed Michael Reed, KC, refused to leave, took photos of those gathered, and threatened to sue her and a staff member if they touched him.
The panel is investigating the actions of Judge Aitken, who is accused of gate-crashing the function and making an “intemperate, rude” outburst in response to a speech by the party’s leader, Winston Peters.
Reed was with Aitken on the evening in question at a separate function in another room in the Northern Club.
Howard claimed to the panel that when she asked Reed to leave the NZ First function: “He refused to do so and became hostile”.
Asked during cross-examination, in a question that appeared to be tongue-in-cheek, if she thought Reed “was weaponed-up somehow”, Howard replied: “It’s possible. Political violence happens around the world we are in and we have to be careful.”
“I did not know this man from a bar of soap. He could have a significant mental health problem,” she told the panel.
When Reed entered the room, he began taking photographs, Howard said.
“Don’t touch me or you will be sued for a lot of money,” Reed is heard telling a Northern Club staff member in the video played to the panel.
”Will you tell Winston from me please that I’m upset about being a New Zealand First supporter. I’m on the mailing list," Reed continued.
He is seen dropping his phone before being escorted from the room.
“Can you be quiet,” Reed tells the staff member.
“I’m not disturbing anyone.
“I didn’t say a word. Not a word. I just stood there.
“I was just interested in seeing what was happening,” Reed said in the video.
Howard told the panel she was close enough to Reed that their shoes were touching as she attempted to direct him from the room.
“He had advanced on me to enter a private function. I had Cabinet ministers [in the room] and a man who was acting unstable,” Howard claimed.
“It was conduct I would not have expected to see inside a venue like the Northern Club. This is not Denny’s.”
Aitken’s lawyer, David Jones, KC, accused Howard of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between a written account she gave of the incident to the Northern Club days after the event, and her formal brief of evidence.
Jones claimed some of Howard’s evidence was “rubbish” and “a fiction”.
“Ms Howard, you are just creating a different version, aren’t you?” he asked.
Howard admitted there were “errors” in her earlier account but maintained she was telling the truth.
Jones then asked whether Howard wanted to “increase focus” on the judge so NZ First could “leverage” the incident.
“We get no leverage from this,” she replied.
The hearing continues.
Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.