HUMAN RIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND 20 1 0 participate in the parliamentary process in order to make not encapsulate all the civil and political rights recognised their views known. This has the potential to diminish in the ICCPR, nor are economic, cultural and social rights public confidence in Parliament, both as a watchdog on protected. As such, persons seeking to claim violations of the executive branch of government and as a forum for economic, cultural, and social rights are precluded from public opinion to be heard. doing so before the courts. Participation is a foundation stone of democracy in a The Human Rights Committee stated in its concluding modern society. While voting is fundamental to participa- remarks, in relation to New Zealand’s fifth periodic review tion, so too is the ability to contribute in a meaningful under the ICCPR: way to the development of legislation. From time to time governments expedite legislative proposals through all the parliamentary processes, under a perceived need for ‘urgency’. This limits the possibility for public participation in several respects, for example by severely truncating select committee deadlines, 29 or in some cases by accepting submissions only from those expressly requested to provide them. 30 This practice suborns good democratic processes to the potential detriment of sound decision-making. This has led the Commission to advocate for at least 12 weeks as the minimum period for consultation on proposed legislation. 31 The committee reiterates its concern that the Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BoRA) does not reflect all Covenant rights. It also remains concerned that the Bill of Rights does not take precedence over ordinary law, despite the 2002 recommendation of the committee in this regard. Furthermore, it remains concerned that laws adversely affecting the protection of human rights have been enacted in the state party, notwithstanding that they have been acknowledged by the Attorney-General as being inconsistent with the BoRA. 32 Disabled people report an overload of legislative changes in the past two years, including significant amounts of Limited effect of constitutional safeguards legislation passed under urgency. Among the concerns While the Attorney-General’s section 7 report is probably raised by disabled people are the short periods of time the strongest tool against enacting laws inconsistent with in which submissions must be made; the complexity of BoRA, under the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty the submission processes; discussion documents being (and until there is an entrenched Bill of Rights), Parliament lengthy, difficult to read and rarely available in alternative is unconstrained in the legislation it can pass. Since formats; and, more generally, the lack of consideration of 1990, section 7 reports have been tabled in Parliament in the impact of law changes on disabled people. relation to 56 bills. Of these, 19 (mostly private members’ The use of government majorities on select committees to muzzle opposition critics (for example, by not allowing a minority report) has also been the subject of criticism. bills) were not enacted, and 10 were amended to address the inconsistency. However, 19 bills were enacted substantially unchanged, and eight remain before the House. The following examples demonstrate the limited Fundamental human rights must be effect of the reporting function: protected by the law (a) An amendment to the Crimes Act 1961 sought to While, generally speaking, New Zealand is committed to introduce two exceptions to the double jeopardy rule, the rule of law and the right to justice, legislation does whereby a defendant in a criminal case could not be tried 29 In practice this prevents NGOs from being able to consult members to inform their submissions. 30 For example, the limited timeframe for the public to make submissions on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill 2009; or legislation such as the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Act 2010 which was introduced under urgency and forced through all three readings in a single sitting; or the precedent set when a law such as the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 is enacted under urgency, abrogating established constitutional protections. 31 The Commission’s position is outlined on www.hrc.co.nz/nz/home/hrc/newsandissues/publicconsultation. 32 CCPR/C/NZL/CO/5 95