The Unintended Consequences Bill

We have often heard the imperative to lawmakers - 'First, do no harm'. The ACT Party has described this in many ways; through our votes in the House against ill-conceived statutes and also through our consistent call for regulatory responsibility and reform.

In the case of political expediency - such as that which characterised the last Labour-led Government - hasty and populist law-making, though not acceptable, is easy to understand. In desperate times - whether caused through war, natural disaster or economic uncertainty - the public is especially open to legislative initiatives that appear to address their fears.

However, the wise politician should be wary of this short-term, ready acceptance, because - when the unintended consequences are weighed, measured and found to be wanting - the backlash will be palpable.

Kiwis know they live in one of the most over-regulated nations in the world. Most of us can cite an example of a 'dumb law' - one that had the best intentions on paper, but which created either increased compliance costs or made criminals out of ordinary citizens.

The statute books of the last two decades make grim reading: the prohibition of nuclear-propelled ships, the Resource Management Act, dog micro-chipping legislation, the Electoral Finance Act and the 'anti-smacking' law are just a few examples.

A cynic might well write that what is needed now is not just a push for regulatory responsibility but, rather, an Unintended Consequences Bill. This Bill would provide penalties for lawmakers, even retrospectively, who rushed through half-baked, poorly thought out or partisan legislation - especially using urgency to circumvent the Select Committee process, which subsequently delivered unsatisfactory outcomes for most Kiwis.

Of course, this is not likely to happen. But it is important to take stock of principles from time to time. To contemplate an apparently farcical event can provide focus on a more deeply-rooted problem. Our forebears fought and died over many centuries for the freedoms that we take for granted. No politician has the right to take these choices away, to inconvenience the many in order to address the few or to make potential criminals of ordinary citizens.

What does it mean to be free? To me, it means ordinary Kiwis saying 'enough is enough' - it means signalling to Government that they demand a higher standard of their legislature. Lest we forget that the greatest threat to freedom is the belief that there is no threat.

Lest We Forget - Operation Enduring Freedom
On Oct 7 2001, the first shots were fired in Operation Enduring Freedom - the US-led campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. New Zealanders are still engaged in bringing stability to the country.

The Bougainville Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) and subsequent Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) were brought about by the civil unrest on the island in 1990. The New Zealand Government agreed to a request to provide a truce monitoring group to oversee the cease-fire on the island.

This unit was replaced by the multinational PMG. The latter group was made up of both civilian and defence personnel from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu.

The Bougainville Peace Agreement decreed that all personnel should be withdrawn from the island by December 2002. However, the group's presence was extended and it withdrew completely by August 23 2003. The PMG was unarmed and focused primarily on facilitating the weapons disposal programme, in co-operation with the small UN Observer Mission on Bougainville (UNOMB). The peace has continued to this day on Bougainville.