Govt ‘may regret’ narrow drafting of act

Press, 16 July 1987, Page 33

Govt ‘may regret’ narrow drafting of act

PA Wellington Repealing the Public Safety Conservation Act could cause regret in the long term, Sir Robert Muldoon (Nat., Tamaki) said in Parliament. Speaking during the committee stages of the International Terrorism (Emergency Powers) Bill, Sir Robert said that the Government might eventually regret drafting the provisions of the bill too narrowly. “If you draw and pass an act as wide as the Public Safety Conservation Act, providing you use it very sparingly, no damage is done.

“But if you attempt, as is being done in this bill, to draft very narrowly the time may well come — and I believe it will come — when you’ll be caught with the fact that you’ve drafted excessively narrowly,” Sir Robert said. In situations where speed was “of the essence” and the House was not sitting “it is more than possible that this change will be regretted.” The Public Safety Conservation Act had not been used excessively, and if it had been abused there would have been “swift retribution” from the electorate.

He was also concerned that the Government would have no power to act if, for example, the country’s power sources were being threatened. The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, said that the “bludgeon” contained in the Public Safety Conservation Act was far too wide and lacking in discrimination. There was a wide range of legislation which allowed the Government to act in an emergency. He listed provisions in the Civil Defence, agricultural and industrial relations legislation.