Regular readers will know that I have nothing but contempt for Labour's record on human rights. The graph below - expanded from here with data from the Parliamentary website - explains why:
Section 7 of the BORA requires the Attorney-General to report to Parliament when a bill appears to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act. So what this graph shows is that Labour repeatedly introduced legislation so egregious that even Crown Law couldn't come up with an excuse - which given the legislation they've OKed in the past, is quite something. And much of that legislation was passed.
That's Labour's legacy: a culture of contempt for the BORA. And sadly, National now seems to be following in the same footsteps.
Update and correction (of sorts): It has been pointed out that this unfairly distorts Labour's record to some extent, as some of the bills receiving adverse reports are local and member's bills for which the government is not responsible. These amount to 1 local bill in 2008 and 2007, 1 members bill in 2006, 2 local and one member's bill in 2005, and 1 member's bill in each of 2004 and 2003. These make Labour's recent record look more normal, though it stil has some very high peaks. And it is worth remembering that they voted for some of those bills (e.g. Wanganui gang patches and Manukau graffiti).
