Supreme Court bill passes final vote

The Supreme Court Bill was voted into law today after a raucous debate in Parliament and last-minute appeals for a referendum from Opposition parties.

Attorney-General Margaret Wilson, the bill's staunch defender, told MPs it was time New Zealand stood on its own feet.

"We must throw off, once and for all, the fetters of our colonial past," she said amid a torrent of interjections from National, ACT and New Zealand First.

"The development of New Zealand law has been stifled ... everyone must have access to justice."

The bill abolishes the right of appeal to the London-based Privy Council and from July 1 next year, a New Zealand Supreme Court will be the country's final court of appeal.

Opponents of the change argue there is insufficient support for it in Parliament, the Privy Council is a better court and public opinion should be tested in a referendum.

The bill passed its third reading 63-53, which would have been 63-57 if all the ACT MPs had been there.

The Government achieved that relatively narrow majority with the help of the Greens, and other parties said 63 votes in a Parliament of 120 was far short of what was needed for such an important change.

Ms Wilson said it had been on the agenda of different governments for 30 years.

More than 50 independent countries had withdrawn from the Privy Council and soon there would be only the Bahamas, Brunei, Mauritius and Tuvalu left.

"The Opposition may be the last to want to leave, but this government has more dignity than that," Ms Wilson said.

National's leader Bill English led the protest charge, saying the new court could not succeed without broad public support and the Government had condemned it to failure because it had refused to hold a referendum.

"This is being passed on a narrow, left-wing majority," he said.

"It is a disgrace ... the Government is contemptuous of public opinion."

Mr English said the appointment process for judges in the new court - they will be chosen by the Attorney-General on the advice of a special panel - should be replaced.

He called for a parliamentary committee to interview prospective appointees, and for their appointment to be confirmed by a vote in Parliament.

NZ First leader Winston Peters' bellowing speech damned Labour's seven Maori MPs for not voting against the bill.

"Can you hear the voice of Maoridom? There is a deafening silence," he said.

"I challenge them to speak for their people, to cross the floor on this bill."

Green MP Nandor Tanczos said his party was proud to support the bill.

"Having a final court of appeal in London is bizarre, and just not credible for an independent country," he said.

Mr Tanczos recalled that National had introduced a bill in 1996 with the same intention as the Supreme Court Bill.

"They oppose it now just because it is something the Government is doing," he said.

- NZPA