Constitutional Recommendations

The Constitutional Review Panel has made a number of recommendations to Cabinet. Mostly they are general stuff about further talking, but a few specific views emerge. They include:

• notes that although there is no broad support for a supreme constitution, there is considerable support for entrenching elements of the constitution
• notes the consensus that our constitution should be more easily accessible and understood, and notes that one way of accomplishing this might be to assemble our constitutional protections into a single statute
• notes the Panel’s advice that the current arrangements for the representation of Māori in Parliament should remain while the conversation continues
• sets up a process, with public consultation and participation, to explore in more detail the options for amending the Act to improve its effectiveness such as adding economic, social and cultural rights, property rights and environmental rights; entrenching all or part of the Act
• does not undertake further work on the size of Parliament 
• notes a reasonable level of support for a longer term
• sets up a process, with public consultation and participation, to explore a fixed election date in conjunction with any exploration of a longer term
• notes a level of concern about MPs leaving the parties they were elected with, especially list  MPs, but no consensus about a solution
• recommends the Government invites Parliament to differentiate between types of urgency and to minimise the use of the urgency truncating select committee consideration of bills

Some worthwhile stuff there on bringing the constitutional acts into one statute, and looking at a longer term with a fixed date. Including property rights in the Bill of Rights Act has appeal also.