Coleman Jonathan: Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill — In Committee 
Coleman Jonathan: Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:629;Page:1528] 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National—Northcote) 
: 
 As other National members have already laid out the fundamental point about Part 5 is that it is just an expansion of bureaucracy. It is a case of more Government regulation in an area of legal administration that is already perfectly well regulated. People actually want less unnecessary regulation in our society and on the statute book. But here we have effectively a de facto professional body that the Government is seeking to establish under the guise of a new profession. 
I argue that there are very set strict definitions of what constitutes a profession and a professional body. Certainly professional status should not be conferred lightly. Something like this I feel opens a gateway in a wide range of areas of New Zealand public life—such as those related to the health-care professions and the health-care industry perhaps—that frankly serves no good public purpose. 
Also I think that the establishment of a New Zealand Society of Conveyancers debases the work that the legal profession does. The legal profession is one of the world’s oldest. There is no question that the profession and the principles upon which it is founded have a long history. The legal profession has not sprung up overnight; it goes back hundreds of years. Our legal system which is based on the British legal system serves New Zealanders well. Property conveyancing is actually a relatively straightforward and simple matter and it is handled well by local solicitors. The job a local solicitor does is based on trust. It is based on a relationship that one builds up with that professional. 
What we do in Part 5 if we let it go through is just say that anyone can carry out conveyancing—anyone is free to handle the most important financial transaction of a New Zealander’s life. Where will that lead us? We have heard today that there will probably be eight or nine people in the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers and I just ask members here to consider how on earth that body will self-regulate—because self-regulation is one of the key functions of a professional body. 
Dr Richard Worth 
: They will all be on the committee. 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN 
: Exactly. All the conveyancers will be on a committee with their mates. So one of them will appear on a disciplinary matter and it will be a case of that person having a mate on the committee who is asked to discipline him or her and maybe even recommend legal procedures. I can tell members that no profession with that few people involved can seriously be expected to regulate itself. So to be honest establishing a New Zealand Society of Conveyancers is just another unnecessary level of bureaucracy. 
Another area that professional bodies handle is continuing education. I ask the Committee to consider how on earth those members of the Society of Conveyancers will keep up with developments in law. Quite simply they will probably have to call in the legal profession to come and help them with their continuing education. Quite frankly this new profession will need rigorous professional standards attached to it and I think we will find that its members are so busy muscling in on lawyers’ traditional work that they will not want to sit on a committee and listen to disciplinary cases. They will not be interested in establishing a new profession and in drawing the boundaries within which that profession operates. 
I read in the bill about gathering subscriptions from this profession. I would be surprised if the new Society of Conveyancers had an annual subscription higher than $500—they will not have much money.