WHY DO JUDGES SHRUG OFF THE PRESS? BECAUSE THEY CAN

Now here’s an interesting article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4267918/Jetting-judges-fly-at-taxpayer-expense

Yes, I know, jet-setting civil servants is not a new story. For me, the bit that’s really interesting, is this bit:

“Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias attended five trips in that period [the past two years], costing $74,490. On two of them, to Melbourne and London, she took along her husband, Hugh Fletcher...The Sunday Star-Times twice requested an interview with Elias to discuss the judiciary travel bill. Her spokesman, Neil Billington, said: 'I am sure you will get a response as soon as she is free to consider your request.'"

Weeeeeelllll, if that had been a politician, that politician would be running to the interview, to justify his position!! He’d then apologise to the people for the “possible” excessive spending and promise to be more prudent in the future. Or, he’d fall on his sword. If this was any other civil servant, he would be stating a very diplomatic case through a spokesperson, and having a private justification with his superior. Every employee in the private sector has to account to his paymaster for business expenses. But Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias (pictured right) is able to shrug off the press with contempt and arrogance: “When I’ve got time, I’ll think about it,” is effectively what she’s saying through her spokesperson.

So why don’t judges have to answer for their expenses? Because judges have no accountability to the people who pay those expenses – us, the taxpayer.

This leads us to the discussion about an “independent judiciary, free from political interference”. I accept that many political and social commentators believe that this is a fundamental principle and part of our democratic society. However, I’m not sure I agree with this principle, although I do believe in the democratic state. I had this topical discussion and debate on judicial independence with a police sergeant, who expressed that “we didn’t want to get to a Stalinist state.” Once I’d thought past the crassness of his black-white thinking, I realized that, indeed, there are the two ends of the spectrum when you debate judicial accountability: independent judges versus appointed puppets.

Of course, virtually no-one in a democracy wants our judges to be at the whim and mercy of our politically-motivated representatives in government, whose sole aim is merely to stay in power for the next three years. However, the “Independent Judges” principle only works as long as the judges are conducting themselves with dignity, fairness, humility, integrity, and freedom from corruption. And, frankly, that ain’t workin’ right now.

I believe that you can not have completely free judges in a democratic state, where the taxpayer pays for such excessive salaries and expenses – especially in times of recession. My personal experience, and from reading increasingly regular articles in the media, is that judges are far from perfect. And their behaviour is not improving. There are no checks and balances. There are no KPIs, no assigned objectives to meet, no feedback loop. That means, in the accountability debate, we need to place judges somewhere in the middle of the two extremes I described above.

The Judicial Conduct Commission is a start, but it is still “crumbs from the rich man’s table.” [Luke 16:19-31]. The Judicial Conduct Commissioner, Sir David Gascoigne, seems to lack the courage, will, or (this year, he says) “resources” to push his task to its assigned purpose – to bring accountability to the judiciary. Since its formation in August 2005, no judge has ever been officially or publicly impeached, cautioned, disciplined, sanctioned, dismissed or fired. As a result, poorly performing judges won’t change their behaviour – there is absolutely no reason or incentive. They will still be arrogant, contemptuous, excessive, or corrupt.

So, what can you do to bring more judicial accountability to the people?

• If you have had a court case and experienced judicial sarcasm, disdain, pre-determination, apathy or worse, submit a complaint to the JCC. Ensure the court audio recording is secured quickly, then keep asking for progress on your complaint.
• If you wish to submit a complaint against a judge, make sure you go EXACTLY through the process, or your case will be dismissed out-of-hand: www.jcc.govt.nz/PDF/JCC-booklet.pdf
• If you haven’t submitted a complaint, write to Sir David Gascoigne at judicialconduct@jcc.govt.nz. Ask him why the “unfinalised” cases from the year are merely rolled over to the next year. Ask him why no judge has ever been disciplined.
• Write to your MP and tell him what you’ve learnt. Ask your MP what they would intend to do about making judges more accountable to you, the taxpayer. Continue that dialogue and maintain the pressure.
• Write to Simon Power, our current Minister of Justice (Hah! There’s a contradiction in terms!). Ask him why he continually ignores the issues here and is doing nothing about it. Read this article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2429188/Judges-go-under-microscope

Good luck, and God be with you.