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The National Party has accused Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer of compromising his position by making a political donation to the Labour Party.
Electoral Commission documents show the former Labour prime minister donated $10,395 last year.
National's shadow attorney-general Chris Finlayson today said Sir Geoffrey, who was appointed head of the Law Commission by Justice Minister Mark Burton in 2005, had compromised his independence by making the donation.
"Presidents of the Law Commission should be apolitical, whatever their past," he said.
"It looked like cronyism when Labour appointed him and this looks equally as bad.
"I don't care if he thinks he can separate his personal support for Labour from his job -- the fact is he can't and he must be seen to be independent."
Mr Finlayson, a former barrister, said Sir Geoffrey had previously spoken about the need for the Law Commission to be completely independent.
As Justice Minister in the David Lange-led Labour government he had said the commission would be "more independent of the Government than any other law commission in the Commonwealth".
- NZPA
