This is what the submission to the Select Committee from the National Council of Women in 1986 said about the difficulty they had in dealing with their branches: “A small but not insubstantial number of replies were of doubtful value because of evident ignorance of how the New Zealand system of government works beyond the  legislature.  This  was  particularly,  but  not  exclusively  in  relationship  to  the proposed   function   of   the   courts;   many   seem   unaware   of   the   whole   field   of administrative law. We consider that before effective consent can be given to the Bill  of  Rights,  steps  must  be  taken  to  educate  the  electorate  on  the  processes  of government.”³   5 Struggling with ignorance about how the law and the constitution work in New Zealand is an eternal problem. I first wrote Unbridled Power in 1978 and 1979 to try  and  dispel  the  ignorance  and  suggest  some  reforms.  The  work  is  now  in  its fourth edition and is extensively used at universities. But universities are not quite where it is at. Basic knowledge of this type has to reside in the general population.   The knowledge has to be imparted at secondary school level. In New Zealand we fail at this task. We will never make any progress in changing the constitution or even   understanding   it,   unless   knowledge   of   civics   improves   in   the   whole community.   6 I  have  not  always  been  in  favour  of  Bill  of  Rights  for  New  Zealand.  In  1968  I published an essay that set out the case for and against such a move, and came out against it. My conclusion was that New Zealand conditions in 1968 did not seem appropriate  for  the  introduction  of  a  Bill  of  Rights  in  the  form  of  superior  law because it would give a political role to the judges to strike down legislation that was  contrary  to  the  Bill  of  Rights.⁴  That  step  might  threaten  the  stability  and respect   that   the   judicial   system   enjoyed.   The   Judges’   decisions   may   be unpredictable.    And  in  our  small  and  sensitive  political  system  it  was  not  clear there was any need for it. It would, I concluded then, be contrary to the pragmatist traditions of New Zealand politics. There are many who would agree with those arguments still, but I am not one of them.                                                    3    Justice and Law Reform Select Committee, “Interim Report on the Inquiry into the White Paper - A Bill of Rights for New Zealand” [1986-1987] X AJHR I 8A 22. 4     GWR Palmer “A Bill of Rights for New Zealand?” in K J Keith (ed)  Essays on Human   Rights (Sweet & Maxwell (N.Z.) Ltd., Wellington, 1968) 106-131. 3