2 Statement of Intent PART ONE Three year outlook President’s overview The outlook for the Law Commission for the next three years is similar to that for the past three years. New Zealand’s legal infrastructure is creaky and in a poor state of repair in some respects. Many features of it need urgent law reform attention. There is no shortage of topics for the Law Commission’s attention. The real problem is to decide what is most urgent. We are guided by the Government’s preferences in terms of priorities although we persuade them about topics that are urgent in our view. The Commission’s remit is clearly defined in the Law Commission Act 1985. The ambitions of that statute are far from realised yet. A great deal of progress has been made over the past 22 years, but much more remains to be done. The Commission is limited by its resources. It is a small government agency. And the tasks with which it has been entrusted are massive. But it provides a wonderful set of challenges for the people who work here. The staff are enthusiastic, highly competent and dedicated. Our aim is to project those qualities into the next The Law Commission continues to be extremely busy. Two of our largest projects have been given high priority by the new National Government. These are the simplification of criminal procedure and the sale of liquor projects. Both of them demand widespread consultation and input from many different segments of society. The Commission has recently tabled a report on the presentation of New Zealand statute law, an ambitious report that promises, if it is accepted, to improve the accessibility of New Zealand law and its presentation. We have completed work on a Limitation Bill that is the combination of three separate efforts the Law Commission has made over a period of 20 years. We have also tabled our first report on the sale of liquor project. This recommends cessation of the conscience vote in Parliament on sale of liquor matters. There will be two more parts to come of this report, with a discussion paper to be published in July.