12
has a long running project on reforming the law on Entry, Search and Seizure. It
has another reference relating to Criminal Defences. It has recently completed a
review of the Customs Act. And it has a project concerning a Maori Entities Bill
to give Maori organisations the choice of a new legal framework for the purpose
of managing communally owned assets, or giving effect to communal rights and
responsibilities on behalf of the members of the group.
35
My third priority will be to develop a suite of possible Law Commission work
projects and to discuss the final selection with the Government. This should assist
in preventing too much spinning of the reform wheels and cut down the time spent
on particular proposals that have little chance of legislative adoption. Law reform
projects are like Bills. They are made to pass.
36
A three year electoral cycle makes things difficult. While it is necessary to
respect the political process and politicians, there are many aspects in which our
law needs to be kept up to date, to be developed and strengthened. Many of those
measures revolve around good law meeting the needs of modern society. They do
not have party political consequences or political fallout. It is this very quality
that often makes it difficult to secure legislative priority for carefully worked out
proposals. Yet the public interest can genuinely be served by advancing such
measures and finding ways to make these legislative improvements, devoid as
they may be of party political interest. We have to find better ways to make legal
changes that are non-controversial but helpful, and to secure the necessary
political support for them.
37
I believe the Law Commission has to be active in this area and explain its
proposals and market them to the policy making community. In New Zealand we
had a political commitment between the parties of that sort for many years. With
MMP we are in danger of losing it. Now is the time to reclaim it.
38
In the annual talks with the Government over the next few months, the
Commission will take on new references. A Cabinet Office Circular will be
issued asking Ministers to forward proposals relating to their portfolios to the
Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Hon Mark Burton. It is
particularly important for the Commission to have feedback from the Law Society
also on what projects it thinks are important and what other projects could be