91 344.  Mr  B  J  Cameron,  in  an  article  in  the  New  Zealand  Law  Journal  in  1988, summed up the essence of law reform in a manner that cannot be improved by the evaluator.  He said:⁶⁵   Law cannot be divorced from politics.  The common origin of the words “politics” and  “policies”  is  reflected  in  the  reality.    Worthwhile  law  reform  is  therefore political.  That does not mean it needs to be party political.  Sometimes it may be, but  if  this  happened  more  than  rarely  with  law  reform  commissions’  reports,  it would  be  a  serious  danger  signal.    But  except  for  the  most  limited  kind  of “lawyers’ law” and that is hardly the stuff of law reform these days – policy issues are  involved  in  the  proposals  for  legal  change  that  law  reform  commissions consider.  Likewise a substantial proportion of law reform measures are likely to arouse opposition on economic or social or moral grounds.  Certainly this is true in New Zealand. 345.  Mr  Cameron  went  on  to  say  in  that  article  that  law  reform  will  not  succeed, however good the machinery, unless there is a Minister well disposed towards reform and with enough weight in Cabinet to get his or her proposals accepted.     346.  The Law Commission’s proposals  must take their place in the legislative queue and be assessed by the Government of the day in terms of its own priorities.    347.  The  Law  Commission  has  independence.    This  is  a  valuable  commodity  in carrying  out  its  responsibilities  under  the  Law  Commission  Act.    By  way  of example, Justice Sir Kenneth Keith told the evaluator that the Law Commission is  able  to  on  occasion  gain  consensus  during  its  consultative  procedures  that could never be achieved if the Law Commission were perceived to be within the formal Government and parliamentary system. 348.  The  Commission’s  independence  is  also   essential  to  securing  high  quality Commissioners and giving them standing in the policy-making community.  But the  Commissioners  occupy  a  very  different  position  from  the  public  servants.   While they must take into account the Minister of Justice’s priorities, they are not bound by them as the public servants are.    349.  However, there is a real dilemma in the independence of the Law Commission.   The  Law  Commission  can  exercise  its  independence,  but  it  may  not  be  very effective in influencing Government to adopt its proposals.  Indeed, the more independently  the  Commission  behaves,  the  less  likely  it  is  to  influence  the                                                 65   “Allies of a Kind : The Politics of Law Reform” [1988] NZLJ 18.