Sovereignty of N.Z. ‘not at stake’

Press, 1 July 1988, Page 3

Sovereignty of N.Z. ‘not at stake’

PA Wellington The notion that New Zealand sovereignty is in any way at stake during the meeting of the Standing Committee of Attor-neys-General in Darwin was absurd, said the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer, from Darwin yesterday. “All that has happened is that there is a proposal before the attorneys for them to agree that New Zealand should be treated in Australian law on the same basis as an Australian state when it comes to the obtaining of evidence,” he said.

An article in the "Australian” newspaper on Wednesday said New Zealand would effectively become a seventh Australian state in criminal proceedings.

“The article is a total distortion and gives a misleading impression of what is actually happening,” Mr Palmer said. Under New Zealand law, evidence could be taken in New Zealand for use in an Australian court.

"The proposal being considered at today’s S.C.A.G. meeting would allow evidence to be taken in Australia for use in New Zealand courts,” he said.

“The practical importance of these provisions is simply that courts in New Zealand and Australia will be able to ask for evidence to be taken under oath in the other country and transmitted to the court which has requested it.

“This is a practical, down-to-earth proposal which should assist very greatly in obtaining the relevant evidence in court cases,” Mr Palmer said. “The suggestion that New Zealand is in the course of becoming a seventh state of Australia is fanciful.

“The policy of the New Zealand Government is to seek the closest possible economic relations with Australia. This means cooperation in a large number of areas and there is little doubt that this cooperation will grow constantly closer as the years advance.