About the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties

1. The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties (‘the Council’) is a voluntary, not-for-profit organisation founded in 1952 which advocates to promote human rights and maintain civil liberties.
   
2. We wish to make an oral submission to the Committee.

Introduction

3. This bill makes the failure to disclose the location of the body an aggregating factor at sentencing and blocks parole for anyone who has been convicted of murder when the body has not been found when the parole board believes that the parolee knows the location of the body.
   
4. The Council opposes this bill because of the unjust limitation of Liberty of the Person.

The Attorney General’s Section 7 Report

5. The Council agrees with the Attorney General’s conclusion that this bill can not be justified in a free and democratic society, due to its excessive limitation of Liberty of the Person.
   
6. The Council remains firmly committed to seeing the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act elevated to supreme law, as equivalent legislation is in most other jurisdictions.  Under such a model the severe condemnation that this bill has received from the Attorney General would result in its automatic withdrawal. 

Recommendations

7. This bill can be salvaged by removing clauses 5 through 7, proposed section 28A.
   
8. Subsequently, if the Committee so desires, the Council believes that section 28 of the Parole Act could be amended as the Attorney General suggested to encourage the parole board to consider missing remains without removing that board’s discretion.  In our view such a change could be compatible with BORA.

Conclusion

9. The Council considers it the duty of the members of the Committee to either fix this bill or to recommend that it does not proceed.
   
10. The Council thanks members of the Committee for their time and consideration of our submission.