Parliament is technically able pass the proposed bill, however there are safeguards in place which, while cannot

stop the bill from passing, can slow it down and make it more difficult to make law. The proposed bill breaches the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in: Section 15 - Manifestation of religion and belief, by infringing on citizens right to freely spread and teach religion, Section 16 - Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, by banning unregistered meetings of more than 20 people, and Section 19 - Freedom of discrimination, through tax changes which discriminate based on grounds of religion and employment. The Bill of Rights act is not entrenched, so technically Parliament can override it, but this is unlikely to happen as Parliament will be hesitant to pass a law which subverts fundamental human freedoms. The Attorney General is meant to prevent conflict with new statutes and the Bill of Rights Act by examining new bills as they are first introduced to the house and reporting any inconsistencies to parliament, which is meant to trigger a full Bill of Rights investigation. However, if a Minister anticipates a Bill of Rights clash, he can omit the specific passage from the introductory bill but inset it later by supplementary order. So it is possible to circumvent this form of protection for the Bill of Rights Act. To try to prevent the bill becoming law, Bart could appeal to the select committee with his concerns and encourage his followers to do the same. This could influence the findings of the select committee which are then presented to the House. He could also try to publicize the violation of the bill of rights act through the media to turn public opinion against the bill. While it is highly unlikely Parliament will be persuaded to abandon the bill, if they are made aware of its negative consequences they may think of modifying it. To try to prevent the bill from being enforced, Bart could modify his Jedi Way seminars so that they evade the definition of Religion set out in the bill. He could do this by calling his program a film appreciation society or a self help system to give it a legitimate, non religious purpose. This could be enough to protect Bart from being considered a preacher, but he could potentially be fined and have to argue his case in court. His first defense would be to attempt to convince the judge that his Jedi Way seminars are not religious in nature and not included by the bill. When interpreting the law, the court use the purposive approach, Section 5(1) Interpretation Act 1999, which states The meaning of an enactment must be ascertained from its text and in light of its purpose. Bart could argue that the persecution of Jedi is not the purpose of the law, which is intended to catch religious ministers involved in crime.