Knighted in 1991, Palmer returned to academia and established Chen Palmer & Partners. Set up the royal commission that recommended switching to the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system, passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1986 and laid the groundwork for the Resource Management Act.
The collection contains papers from the Christchurch Central Branch of the New Zealand Labour Party, Geoffrey Palmer's files as MP for Christchurch Central, Geoffrey Palmers Cabinet papers and Prime Minister's papers.