There’s no substitute for being inside a Parliamentary party if you have a consuming passion for improving the law. Some plans and policies germinate there. Other policy seedlings are transplanted in. Whether germinated within or transplanted they can be fragile. Great solutions can be punctured in a casual instant. Stupidities may consume months of effort if that puncturing shaft is delayed.
I badly wanted to put my 6 year Parliamentary apprenticeship to that good use. There are such opportunities and problems to work on – like restoring speed and certainty of consequence to offending, in fighting for ambition and quality in education, in committing to law that means what it says.
I’m disappointed but I deplore public whining. New Zealand gained little when we gave up the stiff upper lip.
So I’m looking on the bright side. I can earn more, and be master of my own time. I’ll find interesting clients and companies to work with doing things I’d otherwise never learn about. I enjoy company directing as well as public policy work.
When I left Parliament 3 years ago, I wanted to spend most of my time on public law (what Sir Geoffrey Palmer was best known for). I soon found that fear of vindictiveness from Labour scared a number of clients into keeping my help behind the scenes.
That constraint is now gone. With Sir Geoffrey chairing the Law Commission, and the reforming zeal of a government elected to change New Zealand in the face of a financial tsunami, there should be more than enough for public lawyers to do.
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A real pity you didn’t take the seat Stephen.
I’m sure the irony isn’t lost on you – if you had stayed in ACT you would have been back in Parliament.
Can we expect another run in three years?