²⁴Mark T ushnet, W eak-Form  Judicial Review: Its Implications For Legislatures, Victoria University of W ellington, New Zealand, Faculty of Law, New Zealand Centre For Public Law, 28 and 29 November 2003.      ²⁵Princ ipally by informal scrutiny of proposed legislation by the Law Reform Division of the former Department  of  Justice  and  the  advice  provided  to  the  Cabinet   Legislation  C omm ittee  as  part  of  its consideration of Bills prior to introduction. 14 placed  to  engage  in  informed  debate.  The  vetting  process  is  rigorous.  It  is  not uncommon for the number of separate opinions on Bill of Rights issues in regard to a particular Bill to reach double figures. Draft Bills undergo substantial change in the  face  of  Bill  of  Rights  objections  raised  during  the  policy  development  and drafting processes. Section 7 reports impose a high level of political accountability on a government. No Minister in charge of a Bill wants to  have to face a section 7 report if he or she can avoid it. 22 Scrutiny of proposed legislation for consistency with what Professor Mark Tushnet describes in his paper, also delivered in this lecture theatre as part of the programme of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law’s first annual c onference on the primary functions of government, as “first g eneration classical liberal political rights”²⁴ did not begin in New Zealand with the enactment in 1990 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. It was done in a less structured and perhaps less focused way by other means.²⁵ What the statute has done, however, is elevate the importance of Bill of Rights values in the legislative context. These values now have greater legitimacy. That legitimacy has been brought about, not incrementally through the cautious development  of common law principles, but by a single event, the passage of an Act of  Parliament.  Parliament  has  placed  a  constraint  on  the  executive.  It  has  also directed the courts to “rea d down” potentially inconsistent enactments by giving preference to the least infringing interpretation. It has also devised a mechanism designed  to  ensure  that  Parliament  will  be  able  to  address  any  Bill  of  Rights