Labour woos United over Privy Council

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

A bid to scrap legal ties to the Privy Council now rests with United Future as the Government tries to woo enough votes to secure a respectable win.

The Labour-led Government is understood to be working hard to secure both Green Party and United Future backing for the Supreme Court Bill, to avoid a major constitutional change being adopted by only a narrow parliamentary majority.

Labour, and its two-MP coalition ally Progressive Coalition, command 54 votes in the 120-seat Parliament, and could scrap Privy Council ties with the expected support of the nine Green MPs.

However with debate still raging about the merits of the proposal, the Government is now thought to be uneasy about passing the law with only a 63-57 vote majority. It now also wants the backing of the eight United Future MPs.

New Zealand First, National and Act have also complained about the risks of adopting constitutionally significant changes without a strong mandate, and want a referendum on ending Privy Council ties.

Opponents of the bill are concerned that the new five-judge Supreme Court will not be independent, and that the pool of judicial expertise in New Zealand is not high enough - particularly in commercial law.

Some Maori also fear losing access to the London-based Privy Council will undermine the independent oversight of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Neither the Green Party nor United Future has yet decided whether to support the bill.

While the Green Party is thought to be leaning towards offering support (after changes being drafted by the select committee), United Future is still debating the policy itself.

Leader Peter Dunne said his party was "close" to deciding which way to vote.

"There are other discussions taking place. From our point of view, the issue that we're still working our way through ... is really the whole issue - whether we remove the right of appeal to the Privy Council or not.

"It is that matter of principle that we will resolve shortly."

Linking the cutting of ties to the Privy Council to moves towards republicanism had not preoccupied his party but was "in the background" of their debate.

Mr Dunne believed the policy should not be adopted without significant support.

"It cannot proceed on the basis of a very narrow parliamentary majority, that would make it untenable.

"We're mindful of that in our discussions."

Attempts are also being made to get United Future and the Green Party to support the Opposition's calls for a referendum on the Privy Council to be written into the legislation, so the policy could not go ahead without the endorsement of the public.

Act MP Stephen Franks said while talks were still underway with Mr Dunne's party, he did not think the Greens now backed a referendum being written into the law.

He said the petition for a citizens-initiated referendum, launched by Act, NZ First and National, was still gathering signatures, although no figure is available yet.

He said more than 310,000 people need to sign the petition to force the Government to question the public on retaining the Privy Council, although the outcome of that referendum would not be binding.

Court moves

* A select committee report analysing a law change which ends appeals to Britain's Privy Council and sets up a New Zealand final appeal court is due this week.

* The proposed law faced opposition from some Maori and business leaders worried about a lack of consultation.

* They said it also lacked detail of how the new Supreme Court, comprising only local judges, would work.