Preface by the Minister of Justice
Administrative tribunals have an essential role in our system of administration and justice. Each year they make a great number of decisions, some of major importance, affecting many people. In significant areas of the lives of New Zealanders they strike the balance between private right and public interest.
In August 1985 I asked the Public and Administrative Law Reform Committee to carry out a review of administrative tribunals. In September 1985 the Committee sent a questionnaire to departments administering legislation which established particular tribunals and later to the tribunals themselves. On the /replacement of that Committee by the Legislation Advisory Committee, the latter took up the task at my request.
As the introduction to the discussion paper mentions, the Committee has already reported to me twice on aspects of the review and the Government has agreed with the recommendations made in the first of the reports. As a result legislation will be introduced to abolish a number of appeal bodies and transfer their jurisdiction to the District Court. (See para.2 and appendix I.) The second report concerns the way in which certain licensing functions should be examined, a matter to which the Government is giving further attention as indicated by my statement about occupational licensing of 17 December 1989.
This paper relates to a third group of tribunals, some of them of major importance. In respect of those tribunals it raises two main questions, one particular, the other more general:
(1) should any of the functions be exercised by an existing court or another tribunal (with the consequential abolition of the tribunal in issue)?
(2) Should the tribunals or some of them be organised in a different way (for instance by being grouped into a general tribunal, into an Administrative Division of the District Court, or into several larger tribunals)?
As those questions and the paper indicate, the Committee is concerned with the overall structure of tribunals, including aspects of the appellate system. That discussion cannot be carried on in a vacuum and accordingly the paper provides some information about the tribunals considered and proposes criteria for the choice between different decision-makers. The Committee also seeks comments on those proposed criteria.
The Committee has already addressed aspects of the law and practice relating to tribunals in its Report on Legislative Change Guidelines on Process and Content (August 1987). That report which has been accepted by the government discusses four relevant questions:
When should a tribunal be used? How should the tribunal be constituted (including questions of the term and tenure of the appointment)? What procedures should the tribunal follow? What provision if any should be made about appeal and review?
The first question is further considered in the attached paper (paras 23-44) and the discussion of the other three matters provides part of the context.
This review is also to be related to other inquiries, including those into
- the structure of the court system by the Law Commission (see its discussion paper of December 1987)
- environmental legislation (see e.g. The Review of the Town and Country Planning Act 1977 by A Hearn QC, August 1987)
- occupational regulation (see my statement of 17 December 1987 Government Economic Statement (1987) 66-68 and e.g. the report of the Economic Development Commission on Motor Vehicle Dealers, December 1987).
The Committee welcomes submissions on the paper and answers to the questions raised in it. They should be sent to
The Secretary Legislation Advisory Committee Law Reform Division Department of Justice Private Bag Wellington
by 1 April 1988. Those who wish to supplement their written submission by meeting with members of the Committee should indicate that as well
Geoffrey Palmer January 1988