Another abuse of power

In the wake of Tuesday's open letter from legal academics condemning the Canterbury Enabling Act, the Herald seems to have woken up. Today they have a stinging editorial attacking the government's latest power grab, over the Rugby World Cup:

The World Cup legislation sets up an authority - chaired and deputy-chaired by a judge or an experienced lawyer - to fast-track applications for activities and facilities, such as hospitality arrangements and liquor licences, that are considered necessary to cope with demand during the event.

In bypassing the normal consent process, the bill says the authority does not have to hold hearings on applications and that its decisions can be challenged in the High Court only on points of law.

Also included is a process for urgent applications. This grants an extraordinary level of power to the Rugby World Cup Minister, Murray McCully.

He may ignore the recommendation of the authority and substitute his own decision. The bill says he must take into account the authority's view, as well as that of other ministers, and that he must pay heed to public safety and mitigate "any adverse impacts". But his view is the one that counts, and his decision is final.

The result: another Minister with arbitrary and unreviewable (though far more limited) power. Again, its a constitutional outrage. But that's what you get from National. When faced with a problem (an earthquake, a few rugby games, farmers wanting water), their first response seems to be dictatorship. And that is something we should all be worried about.