In the 2008/09 year we worked on 23 major projects and published three reports, eight issues papers and one study paper.  The Issues Papers relate to ongoing work on the Land Transfer Act 1952, the Civil List Act 1979, War Pensions, Privacy, Victims, Private Schools, Suppression of Names and Evidence in Court.  Bills from three recent reports were introduced to Parliament, bringing to six the number of bills in the current Parliament arising from Commission reports.  We also provided 56 reports to the Legislation Advisory Committee on bills, often followed by further work stemming from these reports.

Two very large projects will be demanding of our resources this year - Sale of Liquor and Criminal Procedure Simplification.  Two new projects are now getting underway (reviews of Trusts and of the Official Information Act 1982), and two projects will be started as resources come available (a review of the law of contempt and an inquiry into alternative models for prosecuting and trying criminal cases with particular reference to those involving sexual violence).  The project on Law relating to Private Schools will be completed very shortly with publication of a final report.  Other projects scheduled to end during this year include Privacy, Part 8 of the Crimes Act, and reviews of the War Pensions Act 1954 and the Land Transfer Act 1952.

In this Comment I want to introduce the three reports we published last year.  Two of them mark completion of the three year Statute Law project and the third is our first contribution to the new Sale of Liquor project.  I also discuss two of the three bills introduced to Parliament last year based on Commission work (The third bill introduced last year based on Commission work is the Inquiries Bill, stemming from A New Inquiries Act (NZLC R102), discussed in the last Newsletter).

Statute Law Project

In my opinion the New Zealand statute book is one of the most important parts of our legal infrastructure, if not the most important.  We, the people to whom the law applies, must be able to find out what the law is but instead the law is often difficult to find and difficult to understand when it is found.

The three year Statute Law project was completed with publication of two reports - Presentation of New Zealand Statute Law (NZLC R104) published 16 December 2008 and Review of the Statutes Drafting and Compilation Act 1920 (NZLC R107) published 4 June 2009.  In the foreword to the first report I wrote that the prime issues we are concerned with are how to present the law so that people can find it and how to ensure the law is up to date.

Our recommendations are not radical, rather they are practical proposals to ensure the statute book is accessible and regularly updated, and to maintain the integrity and efficiency of the Parliamentary Counsel Office.  New Zealand has been very fortunate with the drafting standards maintained and the calibre of staff in the Parliamentary Counsel Office and we worked closely with them in researching and developing the options in the first report.

The article below discusses the final recommendations in both reports, to which the Government will respond in November 2009.

Sale of Liquor Review

Probably our most demanding new project at present is the review of the regulatory framework for the sale and supply of liquor, which came on our books in August 2008.  It was heartily endorsed, in fact speeded up, by the incoming Government.  A primary purpose of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989 is to reduce the potential for abuse of alcohol in society and one of the Minister’s objectives is to reduce the impact of alcohol related problems on the provision of law and order.

The central issues for the Commission in this review are whether the pendulum has swung too far in terms of the availability of liquor leading to harmful effects for society, and whether we can develop legislative measures that will limit that harm.  We are now midway through a comprehensive review of the laws and policies relating to the sale, supply and consumption of liquor in New Zealand, a review that crosses the boundaries of several portfolios and necessitates very extensive consultation.

We made a strong start with publication of Alcohol Legislation and the Conscience Vote (NZLC R106) in May 2009.  Parliamentary consideration of alcohol related bills issues has always been highly contentious and politically divisive, and conscience voting for such legislation has been the norm for well over a century.  Our study suggests that this has reduced both the quality and effectiveness of the law, because of the adoption of unpredictable amendments and a resulting lack of coherence and structural logic.  This certainly reflects my experience with passage of the 1989 Act.

The decision on whether to adopt a conscience vote is one for each party caucus to make, not the executive.  Our report encourages all political parties to carefully weigh up the best way to ensure future legislative reform can be as effective as possible.

This report, together with our second publication, a consultation Issues Paper entitled Liquor in our Lives (NZLC IP15) published 30 July 2009, is discussed further in the article below.

Legislative work

Two bills introduced to Parliament last year will have a far reaching effect on legal processes, one relating to the criminal justice sector and one relating to civil law.  They arise from very substantive Commission projects. 

The Search and Surveillance Bill provides a principled and streamlined framework for the myriad of enforcement powers required by agencies for orderly Government.  The bill implements our 2007 report Search and Surveillance Powers (NZLC R97), one of the largest reports the Commission has published, and the culmination of several years of inter-agency co-operation and consultation.

The Limitation Bill, which clarifies, rationalises and updates the lengths of time within which various kinds of civil actions can be brought, will replace the Limitation Act 1950.  That statute was identified as in need of reform when the Commission was first established, and has been the subject of three Commission reports.  It is very pleasing indeed that, although it is over 20 years since the project began, Parliament is finally considering a new Limitation Bill.

These two bills are discussed in more detail in the article below.  (A third bill introduced last year based on Commission work, the Inquiries Bill stemming from A New Inquiries Act (NZLC R102) was discussed in the last Newsletter.)