PoO has noted this news from Stuff:
Two real estate agents committed unsatisfactory conduct by assuring buyers all earthquake damage was repaired and failing to investigate red flags that would have revealed an uncompleted retaining wall claim and a $37,350 Earthquake Commission payout.
The Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal found Harcourts Grenadier Ferrymead listing agents Callum Bevan Brownlee and Shaun Davey, alongside branch manager Richard Gregory Powell, committed unsatisfactory conduct following an appeal by the purchasers.
The decision, issued on September 16, 2026, reversed earlier findings by a Complaints Assessment Committee of the Real Estate Agents Authority, which had dismissed the retaining wall complaint against the agents and the supervision complaint against Powell.
The tribunal found Brownlee and Davey breached professional conduct rules by failing to inquire with the Earthquake Commission — now the Natural Hazards Commission — after red flags emerged regarding retaining wall movement and a $10,000 private insurance top-up payment.
The tribunal accepted that agents cannot be expected to comb through hundreds of pages of EQC files to locate isolated notes.
But it ruled that being alerted to retaining wall issues and a $10,000 insurance top-up triggered a duty to make direct inquiries with EQC.
It ruled in favour of the agents on several other counts, reversing a previous committee finding of unsatisfactory conduct against Brownlee and Davey regarding a sewer pump representation.
PoO was heartened by this news as evidence the tribunal is focused on matters other than the cultural indoctrination of real estate agents, and a check with the tribunal’s website showed that during September it dealt with a raft of issues unrelated to misthinking.
Its workload nevertheless serves as an unsavoury reminder that a veteran real estate agent, Janet Dickson, lost her licence after losing a challenge over a compulsory course covering Māori culture, language and The Treaty of Waitangi.
News media reported in September that the tribunal had rejected her appeal against a refusal to grant her an exemption from completing the course.
She has worked in real estate for more than 30 years and is a former REINZ Salesperson of the Year.
As Stuff reported:
Janet Dickson, who has been a licensed real estate agent since 2009, refused to complete Te Kākano (the Seed), a 90-minute online course made a mandatory part of continuing professional development (CPD) for agents in 2023.
She previously said completing it was a “matter of principle”, arguing it would not add value to her work and conflicted with her personal beliefs.
The tribunal’s ruling that the registrar’s refusal to grant her an exemption was lawful led to the prompt cancellation of her licence by the Real Estate Authority.
Her high-profile case prompted the government to pass the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill. This removed a five-year ban as the penalty for failing to complete continuing professional development and the controversial mandatory course was subsequently eliminated.
But those statutory changes did not retroactively restore her licence.
Dickson has indicated she is considering further legal appeals.
But inevitably there is significant support for penalising her and for compulsory cultural education (depending on which culture is involved).
This is reflected in a comment on the Ngamotu Advocate website which said:
It is amazing that you as a real estate agent wouldn’t do a course regarding someone’s culture. I live in Sydney and found it helpful knowing how different cultures hold certain beliefs and values. Whatever the area of work you need to be educated in the cultural beliefs of others. The only time I found it wasn’t ideal was if it was against the law of the country you are in.
It should be up to Dickson – of course – to determine whether she would be disadvantaged professionally by avoiding such a course.
And if there are merits in real estate agents knowing how different cultures hold certain beliefs and values – well, there should be many more merits if the course was extended beyond Treaty veneration to instruction in other cultures.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.
The decision, issued on September 16, 2026, reversed earlier findings by a Complaints Assessment Committee of the Real Estate Agents Authority, which had dismissed the retaining wall complaint against the agents and the supervision complaint against Powell.
The tribunal found Brownlee and Davey breached professional conduct rules by failing to inquire with the Earthquake Commission — now the Natural Hazards Commission — after red flags emerged regarding retaining wall movement and a $10,000 private insurance top-up payment.
The tribunal accepted that agents cannot be expected to comb through hundreds of pages of EQC files to locate isolated notes.
But it ruled that being alerted to retaining wall issues and a $10,000 insurance top-up triggered a duty to make direct inquiries with EQC.
It ruled in favour of the agents on several other counts, reversing a previous committee finding of unsatisfactory conduct against Brownlee and Davey regarding a sewer pump representation.
PoO was heartened by this news as evidence the tribunal is focused on matters other than the cultural indoctrination of real estate agents, and a check with the tribunal’s website showed that during September it dealt with a raft of issues unrelated to misthinking.
Its workload nevertheless serves as an unsavoury reminder that a veteran real estate agent, Janet Dickson, lost her licence after losing a challenge over a compulsory course covering Māori culture, language and The Treaty of Waitangi.
News media reported in September that the tribunal had rejected her appeal against a refusal to grant her an exemption from completing the course.
She has worked in real estate for more than 30 years and is a former REINZ Salesperson of the Year.
As Stuff reported:
Janet Dickson, who has been a licensed real estate agent since 2009, refused to complete Te Kākano (the Seed), a 90-minute online course made a mandatory part of continuing professional development (CPD) for agents in 2023.
She previously said completing it was a “matter of principle”, arguing it would not add value to her work and conflicted with her personal beliefs.
The tribunal’s ruling that the registrar’s refusal to grant her an exemption was lawful led to the prompt cancellation of her licence by the Real Estate Authority.
Her high-profile case prompted the government to pass the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill. This removed a five-year ban as the penalty for failing to complete continuing professional development and the controversial mandatory course was subsequently eliminated.
But those statutory changes did not retroactively restore her licence.
Dickson has indicated she is considering further legal appeals.
But inevitably there is significant support for penalising her and for compulsory cultural education (depending on which culture is involved).
This is reflected in a comment on the Ngamotu Advocate website which said:
It is amazing that you as a real estate agent wouldn’t do a course regarding someone’s culture. I live in Sydney and found it helpful knowing how different cultures hold certain beliefs and values. Whatever the area of work you need to be educated in the cultural beliefs of others. The only time I found it wasn’t ideal was if it was against the law of the country you are in.
It should be up to Dickson – of course – to determine whether she would be disadvantaged professionally by avoiding such a course.
And if there are merits in real estate agents knowing how different cultures hold certain beliefs and values – well, there should be many more merits if the course was extended beyond Treaty veneration to instruction in other cultures.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.
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