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IN A MOMENTOUS law change the New Zealand Labour Government has severed another link with the UK - ending its citizens appeals to the Privy Council, in London.
With the aid of the Green Party the Government gained 63 votes out of 120 and defied 11th-hour opposition to the establishment of a new Supreme Court.
It abolished New Zealand's 143-year-old right of final appeal to the Privy Council in London, rejecting it as a fetter of a "colonial past."
In a bitter debate it was forced to fall back on the Green Party to squeeze through the Supreme Court legislation in the face of pressure for a referendum.
Attorney-General Margaret Wilson said a Supreme Court was overdue. "We must throw off, once and for all, the fetters of our colonial past," she said.
"The development of New Zealand law has been stifled... everyone must have access to justice. There have been significant changes in Britain, in the Commonwealth and in New Zealand, such that the Privy Council now faces an uncertain future," she said.
"The Opposition may want to be the last to leave, but this Government has more dignity and foresight."
However, Opposition parties said the new Supreme Court was condemned to failure without broad public support.
National Party leader Bill English called on the Government to let Parliament decide who should sit on the Supreme Court, amid accusations that Mrs Wilson would stack it with judges sympathetic to the Government's political agenda.
The appointments would influence the political and legal landscape for a generation, he warned. "It could be that in the next few months, Margaret Wilson and Prime Minister, Helen Clark will appoint 10 of the 12 senior judges of New Zealand," he claimed.
Mr English said there should have been a referendum. "The way this Government has dealt with the issue has been arrogant, elitist and contemptuous of public opinion".
The Green Party backed the Government in its rejection of a referendum on the Privy Council.