Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act
Like many, I’m pretty incensed at the passing of the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA) in the last 24 hours or so.
For those who need context, please read these two posts, one from Idiot/Savant, the other from KiwiPolitico. Basically, the act allows the governor-general (at the request of Gerry Brownlee, a Minister of the ( Read more... )
That didn't end well for Germany.
In September of 2010, the New Zealand Parliament passed the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill granting the Executive the authority to ignore all but a handful of laws without the participation of the Parliament or the courts for 18 months.
This law makes Gerry Brownlee, a friend only to the rich, dictator of New Zealand. Parliament simply asks us to trust that he won't abuse this power. The best case scenario is that Christchurch gets saddled with a bunch of short-sighted building projects. The worst case is unthinkable.
As Graeme Edgeler, Public Address's legal blogger writes:
1. why does the Government - without first going to Parliament - need the power to unilaterally decide that murder isn't a crime in Auckland to assist with the reconstruction of Christchurch?
2. why, if the Government did decide that murder shouldn't be a crime in Auckland, should this obviously and stupidly unreasonable decision not be able to be over-turned by a Court?
He goes on:
I have often wondered what it would take for me to swear off a political party forever. It would be a very rare circumstance. Plenty of things would stop me voting for a party. I wouldn't support a party that intended to reintroduce the death penalty, for example, but swearing off a party forever is quite drastic. I usually came down with an answer like "ignoring section 268 of the Electoral Act and extending the term of Parliament without a super-majority".
I think we have a new winner. If anything even remotely dodgy is done under this law, I will hold every MP who voted for it personally responsible and never ever vote for a party which has a single one of them on its list. And I will encourage everyone I know, and anyone I don't who'll listen, to do the same.
I'm with the lawyer on this one.
I also note the irony of the New Zealand Herald, the paper infamous for burying it's head in the sand looking for dirt on the left while the right rides roughshod over parlimentary procedure in support of big business, editorialises against this legislation: Far-reaching powers hide worrying risks.
"The only real safeguard is media vigilance and public outrage over any misuse of the law; for example, the go-ahead for infrastructure or buildings that before the earthquake were attracting strong opposition."
But don't wait for Gerry and/or National to misuse it. This law goes against every democratic and egalitarian value that New Zealanders hold dear. I urge you all to do as suggests in his post on the Act [...]
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