Finlayson Christopher: New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Finlayson Christopher: New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:630;Page:2551] 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) 
: 
 I had not intended to take a call but I thought a number of points could usefully be made about the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Amendment Bill which as my colleagues have said the National Party supports. It is very short technical legislation that essentially amends section 12 of the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Act to enable decisions of the Supreme Court to be reported in the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
—which as Dr Worth said are the official series of law reports. 
As my friend the MP for North Shore said the bill is a bit of a late development. In fact this should have been done a couple of years ago. It is another example of what I call sloppy or inadequate drafting by this Government’s team. The point is—and this needs to emphasised—that the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 have already been publishing decisions of the Supreme Court. For example those in the Zaoui case took up almost an entire part of the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
. So it is a case—to get into the Latin mood—of ex post facto. It is being done now it should have been done earlier and it was not done earlier because this Government has difficulties with attention to detail and that is disappointing. Essentially that is what the bill amends. 
In the Committee stage I made a brief comment about new section 12(6) inserted by clause 3 which provides that the Chief Justice may on occasion authorise an individual a firm or a company to publish reports of the Supreme Court. I ventured to suggest that I thought that was a bad idea. I do not know where that provision came from; its background was certainly not explained in the Committee stage. I would have thought that the Council of Law Reporting should have the sole responsibility for publishing reports of Supreme Court cases unless the job is not being done in a speedy and effective manner in which case the council of the New Zealand Law Society can authorise another company or firm to publish law reports. 
Occasionally in the history of the Council of Law Reporting the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 have got behind and the council of the New Zealand Law Society has been required to authorise competitors to publish reports. For example I know that when the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 were getting a bit behind the action the council of the New Zealand Law Society authorised Brooker’s a distinguished legal publishing firm in New Zealand to start publishing the  
Procedure Reports of New Zealand 
. This has also happened in the past with the  
Family Reports of New Zealand 
 and the  
Criminal Reports of New Zealand 
. 
To most people law reporting is a rather boring occupation and does not seem to be of any great moment. But Dr Worth made a number of important points that are worth reiterating. I begin by going back to what I said in my speech during the third reading of the Judicature Amendment Bill (No 3). I talked with reference to what Sir Geoffrey Palmer said last week about the importance of accessibility to statute law in New Zealand. It is fair to say that this country’s Parliament is one of the fastest and most prodigious lawmakers in the West and complaints are often made that New Zealand’s statute law is not as accessible as it should be. 
The other great source of law in New Zealand is as Dr Worth said the common law. For many years the common law has been reported in the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 and before that in the  
Gazette Law Reports 
. In the early years of this country private individuals and firms reported New Zealand law reports. It is incredibly important that in terms of the development of the common law judges lawyers law students and public officials have access to up-to-date reports of New Zealand cases because the common law changes through the decisions made by judges in the various courts. A major problem has occurred over the years when from time to time reports of the cases that have been decided by judges have not been readily available. That is why we have a Council of Law Reporting that is why we have the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 and that is why we have other types of law reports. So it is incredibly important that the decisions of the courts are properly recorded and are readily available in a high-quality series of law reports for lawyers and judges. 
When I was making that statement I heard the member for Dunedin South groan and I was not quite sure what he said. If he would care to repeat himself I would be quite happy to answer him. He has fallen silent again. 
Hon David Benson-Pope 
: Stand up straight! 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON 
: He is getting back to his schoolboy tactics of telling me to stand up straight. I will do so because knowing that member’s past I would be frightened of what might happen if I did not subject myself to his bullying. 
That is why we have the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
. 
Hon Member 
: No backbone! 
 The member says I have no backbone. This is technical legislation and I find it very disappointing when I am trying to help educate the member for Dunedin South on these very important points— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: An impossible task. 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON 
:—it probably is an impossible job as my friend Mr Auchinvole says—that he continually makes cruel rude and vicious comments. One can understand why he was so loved as a teacher at Bayfield High School. 
Putting that to one side I conclude by emphasising the important role that the Council of Law Reporting plays. It has a major task to produce—not just in physical form but also in electronic form—up-to-date high-quality reports and I must say that it has been doing a very good job over the years. It will continue to do a good job with reports of the Supreme Court. One of the innovations that has come in under Bernard Robertson the editor of the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 is that in the Supreme Court Mr Robertson or a reporter for the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 will often be present to listen to and record the argument. That too has its place in the development of the law. When one goes to the Privy Council one sees that a reporter is there to take down the argument. It also now happens in the Supreme Court and that is a very good thing. 
So as my colleagues on this side have said National supports the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Amendment Bill. The bill makes a minor change to law reporting by permitting Supreme Court proceedings to be reported. This should have been done a couple of years ago as should one of the changes in the Judicature Amendment Bill (No 3) but the important thing is that it is done now so the  
New Zealand Law Reports 
 can continue the fine work it has been doing for many years. 
Bill read a third time.