Political interference a danger in new court, lawyers warn

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Auckland lawyers yesterday bombarded MPs with warnings that replacing the Privy Council with a home-grown Supreme Court risks exposing the judiciary to political interference.

The Auckland-dominated Criminal Bar Association told Parliament's justice and law reform select committee that New Zealand was too small for political impartiality to be guaranteed.

The committee was in Auckland to hear submissions on the Government's Supreme Court Bill, which would abolish the right of final appeal to the Privy Council in London.

"Most of our members feel the pool is simply not big enough," said the association's vice-president, Peter Winter.

He said an Auckland District Law Society survey of more than 600 society members found more than 85 per cent opposed the legislation.

The bill gained support from retired Court of Appeal judge Ted Thomas, QC, who told the hearing that the right of appeal to the Privy Council had become an embarrassment to a sovereign country, and was inefficient and ineffective.

He said 0.56 per cent of the more than 560 cases considered annually by his former court were taken to the Privy Council on appeal, and the cost of doing so made it the prerogative of the wealthy.

Overseas judges and legal experts regarded New Zealand's "homage" to the council with bemusement and sometimes derision, and the link should be severed as a matter of national identity.

But Auckland international lawyer Gregory Thwaite said the Privy Council had attacked unfair judgments from the Court of Appeal.

"There is no more damaging thing you can say about a judge than that he or she is not fair."

Asked by Act MP Stephen Franks how he felt emboldened to give such evidence when other lawyers had mentioned privately about fearing for their careers if they did likewise, he said he kept a practising certificate in California as insurance.

He said very few QCs had made submissions on the bill, and suggested they were "a bit like the citizens of Baghdad - they want to see which way it's going before they come out in the streets".

Civil liberties lawyer Graeme Minchin said the rest of the world was moving towards international legal forums, and the $15 million expected to be spent on setting up a Supreme Court and running it in its first year would be better used on widening appeal rights to London.

Supreme Court Bill

* Abolishes right of appeal to Privy Council

* Sets up Supreme Court of five judges

* One of the judges would be well-versed in tikanga Maori (customs).

* The new court will save money and increase access to appeals, says Attorney-General Margaret Wilson

* Opponents say the proposal is a "constitutional outrage" and want a referendum on it.