A Whangarei lawyer has called on the Government to act upon a High Court ruling that declared a ban on prisoners' right to vote was a breach of their Bill of Rights.
The declaration alone by Justice Paul Heath does not mean Parliament must repeal the ban, the court noted. Even when it finds Parliament has placed unjustified limits on rights it still has to apply that law. Self-described 'prison lawyer' and criminal, Arthur Taylor, along with four women prisoners from Christchurch, sought a High Court declaration in 2013 that a ban on voting was a breach of the Bill of Rights' Act.
Whangarei lawyer Kelly Ellis said the Government had to realise prisoners were humans too.
Ms Ellis represented Taylor in one of his trials in Auckland many years ago.
"We need to realise there's only one kind of person and they're called humans and all human beings should have basic rights afforded to them under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," she said.
"It must be very persuasive when a judge of Paul Heath's calibre makes a judgment like this and the Government would ignore it at its own peril."
Ms Ellis said prisoners have raised the issue of voting with her in the past but they usually had other pressing complaints. The Government said it would not change its mind despite the court's ruling.
A spokesman for Justice Minister Amy Adams said the Government was still considering the judgment, but said Parliament had considered the Bill of Rights implications when it passed the law in 2010. At that point, the Attorney General had given an opinion that it appeared to breach the Bill of Rights Act which Parliament was aware of when it passed the legislation.
"At this stage we're still considering the judgment but it's worth noting that, as the judge has stated, the finding that a piece of legislation breached the Bill of Rights Act does not invalidate the legislation."
In his decision, Justice Heath said the purpose of the declaration was to "draw to the attention of the New Zealand public that Parliament has enacted legislation consistent inconsistent with a fundamental right".
Until 2010, only prisoners serving terms of more than three years were prohibited from voting.
That law changed in 2010 to cover all prisoners after a member's bill by National's Paul Quinn, who is no longer in Parliament. Justice Heath said his decision related only to the blanket ban and not the earlier ban on prisoners serving more than three years.
The judge ruled the wider ban was unjustified. While rights could be limited if the limits were reasonable and justified, that was not the case in this instance.