Review of Earthquake Law Needed

The call by the New Zealand Law Society for a review of the Canterbury Response and Recovery Act has been welcomed by the Green Party.



“The Bill put before Parliament was deficient in a number of ways,” said Green Party spokesperson for the Canterbury Earthquake, Kennedy Graham.



“A review would give the country a chance to restore the necessary balance to the legislation that was lacking in the bill that went through the House under urgency.



“In the parliamentary debate, we identified six shortcomings that we sought to rectify through amendments. The Government acted on only one of these.”



The Greens voted for the Bill as a signal of support for the people of Canterbury, but called upon all New Zealanders to monitor closely the actions of the Government and local authorities under the orders-in-council issued under the Act.



“The Act as it stands contains some worrying provisions — especially the severely curtailed right to judicial review, the power to suspend almost all NZ law and the legal immunity granted to all those whose actions are covered by the Act.



“There is a need to rein these provisions back in. The sooner Parliament acts on this, the better,” said Dr Graham.



Last week the Law Society published an open letter of concern about the legislation and wrote to the Attorney-General with an offer to work with Parliamentary officials to address these concerns.



There are various options open to commence a review the Act. The Attorney-General could introduce constraints on the Act of his own initiative. A cross-party working group could be established specifically for this purpose. Alternatively the Attorney-General or the Law Society could convene a public meeting to consider the best way to proceed.



Any MP can submit a Member’s Bill to amend the Act.



“If nothing is done to rectify things, I shall consider putting forward a Member’s Bill to give Parliament another opportunity to amend the more egregious parts of the Act,” said Dr Graham.



“We are all working hard on the ground to assist in the recovery process. But we must not leave the legislation as it currently is.”