What is the Freedom Camping Act 2011 and what does it regulate?

It was also a pleasure to meet you too last week. Yes, I appreciate that my knowledge about the legislative aspects of freedom camping has helped you and to the best of my knowledge would answer the questions which you want me to answer on the Freedom Camping Act 2011. The answers to the questions which were mentioned have been answered below:

The Freedom Camping Act 2011 regulates freedom camping:

On such a land which was restricted or administered by the local establishments such as city, region, and local councils and

On such a land restricted or administered by the Department of protection under the Conservation Act 1987, the National Parks Act 1980, and the Reserves Act 1977 and the Wildlife Act 1953 (New Zealand Legislation, 2017).

On May 15, 2011, the New Zealand Minister for the Environment, Hon. Nick Smith, announced that a new law regulating “freedom camping” would be introduced in Parliament this month to address problems related to irresponsible campers. He belongs to New Zealand National Party.

The Act is the Government or Local Act as under this Act the freedom camping was seen to be defined as free camping which could be done anywhere on public land that was not restricted or prohibited (Library of Congress, 2011).

The Law has been defined as the structure within the residents’ permission to be governed having elected their law makers. The parliament legislatures by examining a bill, makes amendments to them, and agree to the final forms. It was then when the bill would become the acts of the parliament. Once the government takes the office then it recognizes a legislative programme that would enable it to put into practice its rules. Sometimes the government checks with the interested individual before a bill was introduced. Most of the acts of the legislature then start their lives as Government bill.

A bill surpasses through a number of stages before it could turn out to be an Act of Parliament. These were clarifies and recapitulates in a flow chart which would be defined below. The Government makes a decision for knowing how to give preference to the Government bills and frequently amends its preferences. All other bills pursue the formula which was defined in the Standing Orders (procedural rules) of the parliament in the House of Representatives. This guarantees that they could not be irrationally prohibited from making growth if they have the support of a mass of other individuals once they were before the House.

The Legislative process of initiating an Act includes a number of stages such as (Parliament of New Zealand, 2017):

Publicly MPs were appointed primarily to make or modify laws after which in the House of Representatives (HOR) the bill would be introduced wherein the MPs have time to interpret and judge it.

Then the first reading would be done wherein the MPs discuss and vote on the bill. Then the bill was sent to a select committee.

The public makes submission on the bill when the select committee pays attention to the compliances and the studies the bill in detail. It may propose changes which were necessary to be made.

Which party introduced the Freedom Camping Bill and what is the process involved in the legislative process?

In the HOR second reading would be initiated wherein the main debate on the main beliefs of the bill would be discussed.

At this point the MPs may be appointed to acknowledge or refuse a bill after which in the committee of the house the MPs would discuss and vote on the bill clause by clause.

In HOR the third reading would be carried out wherein the debate would be made.

Then at last the Governor General would sign the bill and make it an Act (Parliament of New Zealand, 2011).

As the freedom camping which was carried out under the Act was done in a location without any facility which was not a designated campground then also it was permitted in most of the public areas of the state under some conditions. But there has been certain ethical or social issue which have been seen and observed in the recent times which imposes limitations on certain places. The social issues arouse because of litter and human waste issues which makes efforts for encouraging certain payments for camping by unswerving tourists to commercial facilities (Local Government New Zealand, 2017).

Other issues which were caused as a result of camping in the areas which have no facilities could produce societal issues when the campers opt to inaccurately dispose of human waste, discharge of grey water from campervans while they were parked on the streets, lack of toilets, and many more.

Similarly, the ethical issues which arise out of such Act was the contradictory application and enforcement of the laws and rules which were made the government agencies and also the isolation of the areas. As ethical issue also comprises of the fact that people make noise and play loud music, people should switch off electrical appliances when not in use, make use of the water cautiously and speak to sightseeing operators about their eco-friendly performances as well.

As being a tourism company Eco Tours has certain business ethics towards not only the employees but also towards the public at large. These ethics were also seen to be defined as a form of useful ethics which inspects ethical values and moral or ethical issues that takes place in a corporate environment.

The Act although gave a right to the people for doing camping in the local areas but it does not gave the right to them  to harm the basic rights of the people who resides in the nearby location as due to the issues which people create the basic rights of the residents was violated. As ethically the individuals must do a work or have a right to enjoy to such a extent to which the right of the other person was not violated. Also at the same time the individuals have a right ti keep their society clean as they have been socially responsible towards the community in which they live (Jelena, 2017).

So, as per the concept of the corporate social responsibility it has been a duty of a corporation to socially work in a manner by which it could keep the environment in which it lives to be protected and safeguarded for the future generation. So as per the code of ethics which have been designed for all the corporations and the Act it shall be the duty of the people to make sure that all the issues which were defined above must be kept in mind and must be avoided as if such issues were not taken in mind. As if such issues would prevail then the people would be penalized and punished for harming the society and disturbing the public by their acts.

What is the definition of freedom camping under the Act?

Also, the people must enjoy and camp must keep the place in such a state so that any other person who comes could have a clean and tidy place to camp there. The same issue which must be bear in mind of the people was to keep the toilets clean and flush the litter, dispose the waste in bin. Such kinds of issues must be avoided to make the states a better place to live and develop by following the ethical standards which was owed on them by the Act (Jelena, 2017).

This memorandum has been made with regard to clarify all the queries of Bruce which he ahs in regard to the Residential tenancy. So, the questions with regard to the residential properties which has been brought by Eco Tours and the applicability of  the Act would be discussed below.

The purpose of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) was to change and reaffirm the law in relation to the residential tenancies, to define the privileges and duties of the landlords and tenants of the residential lands; in order to institute a court to decide expeditiously quarrels among such individuals, to set up a fund in which bonds allocated by such people were to be held and to repeal the previous acts and their amendments. This has been found at the beginning of the Act before section 1 (New Zealand Legislation, 2017).

Section 12 (A) of the RTA includes Choice of procedures. It specifically states that in situations where an individual would be entitled to make a request to the court and also a complaint as per Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA) then people may take one but not both of the steps where an individual may:

• Summon in connection to those situations, the processes under the Act;
• Make in connection to those situations, an objection under the HRA.

And for the purposes of subsection (1) (b), an individual makes an objection when dealings in connection to that complaint were initiated by the petitioner or the commission (New Zealand Legislation, 2017).

Section 5(1) of the Interpretation Act 1999 (IA) specifically states that the significance of an enactment must be determined from its text and in the light of its purpose. And as per section 12(A) of the RTA the choice of procedures have been provided wherein it has been stated that the complaint could be made as per HRA. So, after having due regard with the IA it could be stated that it has a due effect on RTA only so the procedure would be followed as per this act and not with the HRA procedure and the text have been specifically stated in the act or RTA n which HRA was a part (New Zealand Legislation, 2017).

By applying section 5(1) of the IA it could be stated that as it has been clearly mentioned in the by law that, “No person shall discharge a firearm within 500 metres of a dwelling place.” So, it has been advised to Bruce that he could not make use of the untenanted or derelict property of Eco tours for the purpose of playing paint ball games as the areas in which the property is was a residential place. And it has been clearly stated by section 5(1) that the sense of an enactment must be established from its text and in the light of its purpose. So, as specified in the by law to not to use a firearm in 500 meters of a residential place Bruce could not make use of the Eco Tours place for paint ball games purpose as it includes the use of gun.

What are the stages of the legislative process that a bill goes through to become an Act of Parliament?

A regulation has been defined as a law or order which was made and upholded by an authoritative body. An Act of parliament has been regarded as a Bill that has been passed by parliament and granted a nod by the President whereas a regulation was a secondary legislation that was found linked with most of the Acts (Koshal, 2011). Similarly, if it was the lawful declaration of law that an individual needs then it was he Act that was needed but if it was execution then regulation would be required (Department of the Premier and Cabinet, 2003).

For example, Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms and Insulation) Regulations 2016. These regulations were made under section 138A and B of the RTA (New Zealand Legislation, 2017).

It was found in section 1 subsection 2 wherein it was stated that RTA came into force on 1 February 1987.

Delegated legislation has been regarded as significant in the wake of the rise in the number of legislations and technicalities included. But at certain times with the rise in delegated legislation, the desire for controlling would also builds up because with the increase in the power of delegation there was also the chance of abuse of power (Appleby and Howe, 2015).

But such delegated legislation could be controlled by the Parliament and the judiciary. Though overall, the parliament has power along with constitutional committees who take into account the delegated authorities made by a Bill (New Zealand Parliament, 2010).

Cases have been observed to be mostly fall in two categories, civil and criminal.

Basis	Civil Cases	Criminal Cases
Dealing	It deals with the quarrels among the organizations, individuals or both.	It Deals with criminal act or offence.
Burden of proof	The Burden lies upon the plaintiff (Difference Between, 2017).	The burden lies on the state (Difference Between, 2017).

So, the case of Vice Chancellor Massey University v Wrigley & Kelly would be regarded as a civil case as there was no criminal acts which took place and the case was only on point of confidentiality and good faith which do not form a part of criminal behavior (Bright Star, 2017).   

But at the same time private law has been regarded as that part of civil law lawful system which includes the associations among individuals whereas a public la deals with the associations among both the natural and the artificial individuals and states. Though, it has been stated that there have been some areas of law which do not seem to fit into either private or public la such as employment law as some of its parts like the employment contract relates to private law and the actions of the employment inspectorate deals with public law.   

But as this case has been regarded as a civil law case so on this basis it would be considered as a private law as civil law has been observed to be an area of practice under the private law.     

The case was initially heard in the tribunal as it was specifically mentioned in the hierarchy that it was the lowest court in which the court would be initiated for the first time by the employment relations authority. Then on the verdict of which the case was then the case was heard in the higher court by the employment court.

What are the societal and ethical issues related to freedom camping under the Act?

The courts have been observed to be arranged in a hierarchy because it has been regarded as a manner of arrangement of tribunals into different levels, jurisdictions and regions of responsibility (LawGovPol, 2014).

(Source: Court of New Zealand, 2017).

The courts in which the case was heard were the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court. These two tribunals have different roles to perform as per their responsibility and jurisdiction like:

• Employment Relations Authority: It assists people in order to resolve all the employment relationship quarrels. But these issues were not just confined to the issues which a worker may have with an employer such as unjustified dismissal or unpaid wages (Employment Relations Authority, 2017).
• Employment Court: The primary role of this tribunal was to resolve the quarrels that make take place among the employers and the workers in the trade at the place of work. It also has a role to take notice of and make verdict on the quarrels in regard to unreasonable dismissal, unlawful dismissal, prejudice and many more other cases (Essack, 2016).

The final verdict of the court in this case was that an employer who was carrying out a restructuring procedure should have granted two unsuccessful applicants with data concerning other applicants, such as data in the minds of selection panel members when it was demanded by the defendants (Bright Star, 2017).   

And the two potions which were provided by the court were that:

If an employer has rationalized its trade and was making a decision whether a worker whose situation was disestablished was appropriate for a substitute position, his extent of the pertinent data was likely to be restricted to data in relation to that individuals features and to the new positions;

If the employer was slimming down and selecting the workers for removal from office on the grounds of being without a job, the range of relevant data would likely to be wider and would usually comprise of data about the other members (Mephail Hibson and Zwart Ltd, 2011).

The case is useful in the lawful system as this verdict was regarded as a important verdict for employers because it has been defined that in the matter of any offer which could conclude in a notice, for being without a job or insufficient act or misbehavior, workers may be permitted to contact a wider range of data than beforehand deliberation if they ask for it, such as secret data in some situations (SBM, 2012). It has also raised fears privacy which would be destabilized in that job individuals may become less disposed to grant full honest replies as the data they grant may no longer be conclude in assurance or that certain might not apply for some jobs at all perturbing that their application might be uncovered (Bright Star, 2017).   

This case was significant one as far as the case of redundancy was concern because it was meant to be defined that in the matter of any offer which could conclude in a discharge, including for redundancy or insufficient performance or misbehavior, workers may be entitled to contact a wider range of data than beforehand thought if they ask for it, such as secret data in some situations (Bright Star, 2017).   

Common Law	Legislation
It was regarded as case law or standard example which was defined as a law as it was established by the judges and tribunals.	It has been regarded as a rule which has been passed by a government or principal body.
Case law has been defined as the study of lawful precedents which have been lined upon by the judges of an administration.	Legislation has been regarded as the procedure of a bill fetching a law by way of the governing body of the state.
Example, Procedural law.	Example, Checks and balances.

Basis	Courts	Tribunals
Rules of Evidence	They are sacred to the courts	Tribunals adopt a relaxed approach to these regulations.
Power	They have power to adjudicate in a number of matters	Tribunals specialize in specific areas.

For example a tribunal may be International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. These two have different roles to play such as:

The ICTR has a revolutionary role in the organization of a believable global criminal justice system, creating a considerable body of jurisprudence on genocide, crimes against civilization, and many more.

The primary role of the Employment Appeal Tribunal was to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England.

References

Appleby, G. and Howe, J. (2015). Scrutinising parliament’s scrutiny of delegated legislative power. Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 15, 3-40.

Bright Star. (2017). Vice Chancellor Of Massey University V Wrigley And Kelly. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.brightstar.co.nz/content/whitepapers/2012/Andrew%20Shirnack%20paper%209.3.12.pdf

Court of New Zealand. (2017). Diagram. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/about-the-judiciary/structure-of-the-court-system/diagram

Department of the Premier and Cabinet. (2003). Differences: Acts and Regulations. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.slp.wa.gov.au/faq.nsf/Web/Topics/C39627DF9C3527E348256CA8000DCBE5?opendocument

Difference Between. (2017). Difference Between Civil and Criminal Cases. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-civil-and-criminal-cases/

Employment Relations Authority. (2017). Home. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.era.govt.nz/

Essack, Y. (2016). Roles and Responsibilities of an Employment Tribunal. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://toughnickel.com/business/Roles-and-Responsibilities-of-an-Employment-Tribunal

Jelena. (2017). Vanlife Ethics. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from:  https://thetravelleur.com/index.php/vanlife-ethics/

Koshal. (2011). Difference Between Act and Regulation. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-act-and-vs-regulation/

LawGovPol. (2014). Advantages Of Court Hierarchies. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://lawgovpol.com/advantages-court-hierarchies/

Library of Congress. (2011). New Zealand: New “Freedom Camping” Laws Aim to Protect Pristine Areas. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/new-zealand-new-freedom-camping-laws-aim-to-protect-pristine-areas/

Local Government New Zealand. (2017). Model Freedom Camping Bylaw. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.lgnz.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Our-work/Model-Freedom-Camping-Bylaw.pdf

Mephail Hibson and Zwart Ltd. (2011). A Hopeless Case. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.mgz.co.nz/media/uploads/files/july-2011-196.pdf

New Zealand Legislation. (2017). Freedom Camping Act 2011. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2011/0061/latest/DLM3742820.html

New Zealand Legislation. (2017). Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms and Insulation) Regulations 2016. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2016/0128/16.0/DLM6856201.html

New Zealand Legislation. (2017). Residential Tenancies Act 1986. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/whole.html#DLM94283

New Zealand Legislation. (2017).Interpretation Act 1999. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1999/0085/latest/DLM31469.html

New Zealand Legislation. (2017).Residential Tenancies Act 1986. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/DLM95019.html

New Zealand Parliament. (2010). Chapter 29 Delegated Legislation. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/parliamentary-practice-in-new-zealand/document/00HOOOCPPNZ_291/chapter-29-delegated-legislation

Parliament of New Zealand. (2011). Freedom Camping Bill — In Committee. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/49HansD_20110816_00001074/freedom-camping-bill-in-committee

Parliament of New Zealand. (2017). The Legislative Process. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.parliament.nz/media/2161/parliament-brief-the-legislative-process.pdf

SBM. (2012). Employee requests for information in a restructure. Retrieved on 7^th March’ 2017 from: https://www.sbmlegal.co.nz/Publications/Article.aspx?articleId=30