Introduction¹ 1 In this address I intend to say something about how the Bill of Rights came about, the experience that New Zealand has had with it over fifteen years and how the idea may be developed in the future. 2 When I was last in Washington DC I went to see Congressman Jim Leach from Iowa’s second District. I met him first years ago in the 1980s when New Zealand was having difficulties with the United States Republican administration over the nuclear  free  policy.  He  was  a  member  of  the  House  International  Relations Committee of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress and still is. He has always been helpful to New Zealand. When I got to his office he had some other guests visiting with him. He introduced me to them as “the man who gave  his  country  a  Bill  of  Rights.”  I  must  say  I  felt  rather  good  about  that accolade, as if I were some sort of New Zealand James Madison or even Thomas Jefferson. I would never be introduced in New Zealand in that way. Our political culture is different. Bills of Rights do not rate here. Indeed constitutional issues of any sort are little understood. 3 The Parliamentary Select Committee that examined New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements last year concluded that it was necessary to “foster more widespread understanding    of    the    practical    implications    of    New    Zealand’s    current constitutional  arrangements  and  the  implications  of  any  change.”²  The  New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 is a constitutional statute and is of great practical importance. Yet I doubt that many New Zealanders have much idea of the content of the rights it protects or how that protection is accomplished.   4 It is worthwhile in this regard to recall that the Bill of Rights debate in the 1980s was itself bedevilled by ignorance on all sides concerning New Zealand’s civics.                                                  1   I am grateful to Dr Andrew Butler for reading and commenting on an earlier version of this paper.  I have also derived advantage from my student Laura Carter’s unpublished paper Giving the Courts Power to Uphold the New Zealand Bill of Rights (LLB (Hons) Research Paper, Laws 505, Public Law, Victoria University of Wellington, 2005).    2   Constitutional  Arrangements  Committee  “Inquiry  to  Review  New  Zealand’s  Existing Constitutional Arrangements” [2005] AJHR I 24A 5.   2