KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark says her Government's anti-terrorism law was "a bit of a camel" from the time it was passed five years ago.
She readily admitted faults in the law when asked yesterday about Thursday's ruling by Solicitor-General David Collins that it could not be used to prosecute Tuhoe activist Tame Iti and others because the law was "incoherent" and "incomprehensible".
But she defended Police Commissioner Howard Broad's decision to seek prosecutions under the anti-terrorism law and noted that Iti and the 16 others arrested on October 15 still faced serious charges under the Arms Act.
The Terrorism Suppression Act was passed by Parliament under urgency by a vote of 106-9 in October 2002, with the support of all parties except the Greens.
Helen Clark told reporters at the launch of a new emissions testing system for Tourism Holdings' 2700 tourist vans in Mangere yesterday that "all of Parliament" was responsible for the act.
"I think the law became a bit of a camel as it wended its way through Parliament," she said.
"It began prior to September 11 to enable the Government to ratify two important international terrorism conventions.
"After September 11, the Justice Department, Crown Counsel, the Parliamentary Drafting Office all came in to write the law in a different way.
"It ended up as a law with its origin in international terrorism conventions but not particularly appropriate for domestic terrorism. That is why the Attorney-General has referred it to the Law Commission."
Attorney-General Michael Cullen accepted advice from Dr Collins that the commission should review the law, and Helen Clark said the commission would look at "how this legislation should deal with issues of domestic terrorism, if any."
She said the police had a duty to investigate when they believed that public safety was imperilled, but Parliament had always intended that there should be a high test to pass before charges could be laid under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
"That high test has not been met," she said.
"The Solicitor-General is a person of integrity. I believe those who were quick to rush to judgment about the system got it 1000 per cent wrong."
She said the police should now focus on the charges they wanted to bring under the Arms Act.
"The police worked on the best advice they could get. They worked very closely with the Crown Solicitor in Auckland in preparing the cases. But it always had to go to the Solicitor-General."
She said the 17 accused would still get a fair trial despite being publicly accused of "terrorism".
"New Zealand courts provide fair trials," she said.
"There are serious charges pending under the Arms Act. The police and Crown prosecutor will now have to put their case together."
She said the Government would persist with amendments to the current act, without waiting for the Law Commission's review, because the act needed to be updated in the light of changes in the designation of international terrorist groups.
"The legislation was not compliant with our responsibilities as a member of the United Nations," she said.
