9                                                 implementation  in  every  law  commission  state”.⁹    The  issue  is  how  to  secure governmental  legislative  and  official  attention  once  law  reform  reports  are produced.      Justice   Kirby   has   said:   “Nowhere   has   this   issue   been   tackled institutionally  and  effectively”.    He  points  out  that  all  too  often  law  reform proposals  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  ministerial  and  legislative  pile,  where  they secure  less  attention  than  the  political  ideas  and  personality  and  party  schemes that dominate contemporary politics.  His conclusion makes sombre reading:¹⁰ “In  terms  of  this  logjam  in  our  institutions,  we  are  certainly  not  ‘there’.    In  my view, we are not even on the way to ‘there’.  We are no closer to ‘there’ than we were 30 years ago when I began my work  with law reform agencies.  No one is ‘there’.  ‘There’ seems to be an illusion.  Sometimes we think we see it.  Thus, law reformers cultivate officials and look for the ‘triggers of activation’ that will gain an advocate in Cabinet who will initiate official consideration and action on a law reform report.  But it seems amazing that our constitutional government should be so   dependent   on   chance   factors   of   that   kind.      If   it   could   be   explained   by controversy  and  difficulty,  the  impediment  would  be  more  understandable  and tolerable.”   The First Priority 22 It  is  for  these  reasons  that  on  becoming  President  of  the  New  Zealand  Law Commission  my  first  priority  was  to  make  representations  to  the  Government about  projects  completed  by  the  Commission  but  upon  which  no  governmental decision had been taken.  In my view the 2005 election has produced a political situation  ideal  for  law  reform.    The  Government  is  in  its  third  term  and  the legislation  relating  to  most  of  its  big  ticket  political  programme  has  been  dealt with.    23 I went through the Commission’s reports that hadn’t been dealt with.  In particular I was struck by the Rt Hon Justice Blanchard’s report produced, when he was a Law Commissioner in 1994, on Property Law Reform.  That was a reform that will make the law a lot cleaner, more certain and modern.  Yet nothing had been done with it.  It had not been rejected, it just had not been considered.  This is not 9   Justice David Baragwanath “The Role of the New Zealand Law Commission” (New Zealand Centre for Public Law, Occasional Paper 2, Wellington, 2001) 7.   10   Michael Kirby “Are We There Yet?” in Brian Opeskin and David Weisbrot above n 2, 433, 445.