11 Our report entitled the Review of Regulatory Framework for the Sale and Supply of Liquor: Part 1: Alcohol Legislation and the Conscience Vote (NZLC R106) is the first of three reports to be produced in the liquor project. The conscience vote has long been a feature of the Parliamentary process in relation to alcohol legislation and our report suggests that this practice, where Members of Parliament cast their votes free from the usual expectation of party discipline, can reduce the quality and effectiveness of the alcohol laws that Parliament enacts. However, as the use of the conscience vote is not a matter for the Executive Government the Commission makes no recommendations to it in our report. The publication of our study paper covering the development of a unified tribunal framework ( in which we collaborated with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). The paper examines a range of different options for reforming New Zealand’s system of tribunals. It proposes a new unified tribunal service led by a District Court Judge and a new legislative framework which will provide a consistent set of powers, rights of appeal, and rules of procedure for all New Zealand’s tribunals. The proposals for reform were developed in conjunction with the MOJ after a careful assessment of the existing problems faced by tribunals and an examination of the ways in which some other countries have dealt with similar problems. The paper also contains the Law Commission’s proposals for the proposed legislative framework. Further work is needed to develop this aspect of the framework, and although the project per se is now complete, the Commission is looking to receive comment on this aspect of the study paper’s proposals. The publication of eight issues papers was also a significant achievement in this year’s work programme. With the exception of the Review of Prerogative Writs (NZLC IP9), these papers were all well received and the Commission will be publishing final reports in 2009/10 following the analysis of submissions and the development of final policy and legislative proposals. The full list of issues papers published during the financial year is included in the Implementation of Law Commission reports The financial year was also characterised by the amount of work done to contribute to the implementation of recommendations from previous reports. Significant resources were expended in the development of a Bill implementing the recommendations in our 2007 search and surveillance report, S (NZLC R97), and the development of a new Criminal Procedure Act building on our 2005 report, Criminal Pre Trial Processes: Justice Through Efficiency