The NZ legal profession says powers delegated to ministers under the new Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act are potentially at odds with the rule of law.

Last week 27 legal scholars from NZ and overseas wrote an open letter to the NZ Government outlining their “deep concerns” about the legislation.

One signatory, Otago University Professor Andrew Geddis, told insuranceNEWS.com.au there are “deeper constitutional issues” raised by the legislative response to the Canterbury earthquake that haven’t been adequately addressed “due to MPs’ perfectly understandable focus on helping Canterbury recover”.

“We hope to focus attention on longer-term questions, encourage MPs to reconsider their actions in passing this legislation and perhaps cause future MPs to pause before responding in a similar way.”

The Law Society has also contacted the Attorney-General highlighting concerns with the new legislation.

Society President Jonathan Temm says that under the new Act an order in council may make exemptions from, modify or extend the provisions of any NZ statute, with only five exceptions.

“Lawyers and commentators have already pointed out that this could include the Crimes Act, legislation on taxation and revenue and many other statutes which have no connection to recovery work in Canterbury,” Mr Temm said.

“Our concern is that while everyone may act with the best intentions in the interests of Canterbury and NZ, there is still reliance on anyone using the powers conferred by the Act to define their own boundaries and restraints.”

The Law Society also points out the Act makes it difficult or impossible to obtain a judicial ruling on whether the powers in the Act have been used appropriately.