Presentation of New Zealand Statute Law (NZLC R104), published in December 2008, followed consultation on an Issues Paper with the same name published in September 2007 (NZLC IP2 2007).  Review of the Statutes Drafting and Compilation Act 1920 (NZLC R107) was published in June 2009.

In writing the first report, the Commission worked closely with the Parliamentary Counsel Office.  The introduction of the legislation website by the Office in 2008, providing free-of-charge, public, online access to legislation, was a massive improvement in the ability of all citizens to access legislation.  It has also provided the essential technology platform to make further improvements.

The first problem we identified is that related legislative provisions are by no means always in the same statute, instead they can be hidden where no one would think to find them.  Our report recommends that a comprehensive content index is developed.  At the same time we must also remove outdated legislation which simply clutters and confuses the situation.  The report calls for a thorough revision of the statute book to remove dead wood, get rid of inconsistencies, and ensure consistent drafting styles, an exercise last done in 1908, over 100 years ago.  In order to maintain accessibility as the statute book continues to grow, we recommend there is a systematic programme for revising statutes so they are user-friendly.

We are also concerned about retaining access to repealed statutes for historic and legal research purposes.  The Office has made a start on this task by making some 19th century statutes available electronically where access was particularly limited because of their fragile state.  A headline in the August PCO Quarterly reads “Shattering Statutes Now Online”.

Our second report is a review of the Statutes Drafting and Compilation Act 1920 that establishes the Parliamentary Counsel Office.  The Office is one of our constitutional safeguards, and its integrity and efficiency needs to be protected.  We found the Act needs updating and our recommendations are designed to ensure the Office is properly equipped to carry out its functions effectively, in conformance with modern management practices.

These recommendations are matters of detail, not of radical change.  For example the Governor-General appoints all drafting staff and we recommend that, while the Chief Parliamentary Counsel should continue to be so appointed, he or she should be the Chief Executive of the Office and employ all other staff.  We consider that the Office should continue to be outside the core state sector in order to maintain independence but that its description in the statute as an office of Parliament is inaccurate.  It is, and we consider should continue to be, under the control of the Attorney-General and take directions from Ministers.

An important recommendation is to update the statutory functions of the Office to better reflect their priorities.  For example the list should include the functions of publishing Acts and regulations electronically and carrying out a programme of revision of Acts.  We consider that the drafting of all regulations should be expressly mentioned, and also the provision of advice on drafting of tertiary legislation.  The function of giving free and frank advice is of such critical importance to the Office that we recommend it is spelled out in the list of functions.

The Government response to the recommendations in both reports is expected to be provided to Parliament by 20 November 2009.