Labour would give Teina Pora an inflation adjustment to his compensation payout says Little

Teina Pora was awarded compensation for his 20 years behind bars but it was not adjusted for inflation. Photo / Nick Reed

Labour's justice spokesman Andrew Little says he will drop the Government's appeal against a court decision in favour of Teina's Pora compensation claim if Labour forms the next Government.

The Crown has entered a notice of appeal against the High Court ruling that the Government should have included inflation in Pora's compensation claim - a step Justice Minister Amy Adams described as a "place holder" to allow the next government to decide what to do.

Little said Labour accepted the High Court's ruling and would withdraw the appeal if Labour was in power after post-election negotiations with NZ First.

"There's an obvious miscarriage of justice that the High Court ruled on and it could have been fixed. We will make good the recommendations of the High Court as quickly as we can if we are in that position when the government is decided."

He said Adams had spoken to him and he respected her case not to make a significant decision while it was a caretaker government. He said Adams told him there was a raft of advice lined up for the next government.

"I'm of the view that a compensation regime set up 20 years ago with dollar amounts has to be adjusted for inflation after 20 years at least because that is fair to people who have suffered a miscarriage of justice."

Pora took a judicial review of the decision not to include inflation in the $2.52 million compensation paid to him after he was wrongfully convicted of the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett. About $500,000 to $600,000 may be at stake.

The High Court had ruled that in making the original compensation order, the minister had made an error in interpreting the guidelines around compensation.

"That error caused, or was compounded by, further errors in the minister's advice to Cabinet and in the reasons for the Cabinet decision itself."

The Government had until September 26 to appeal that decision - and Adams said because of the election on Saturday the Government was acting in a caretaker role so had to take whatever steps were possible to allow the next government to make a substantive decision.

"Filing the notice of appeal means that all courses of action are preserved for an incoming government. If the incoming government does not wish to appeal, the notice can be easily withdrawn."

Pora spent 20 years in jail before he was released on parole in 2014.

His convictions were quashed by the Privy Council in 2015, and in 2016 he received $2.52 million and a government apology.

That payout was based on a $100,000 figure for each year of incarceration - a figure that had not been adjusted for inflation since it was first set, despite former High Court judge Rodney Hansen's recommendations to that effect.