[ACT] Chief Justice Not A Shop Steward -- Stephen Franks

[a...@parliament.govt.nz]

Chief Justice Not A Shop Steward

Monday 26 Jul 2004
Stephen Franks
Press Releases -- Governance & Constitution
(view HTML version at: http://www.act.org.nz/item.jsp?id=25901 )

Prime Minister Helen Clark's lordly dismissal of the Supreme Court's
judges' concerns should have drawn a spirited defence from
Attorney-General Margaret Wilson on their behalf, ACT New Zealand
Justice Spokesman Stephen Franks said today.

"But, instead, she called the Chief Justice a `shop steward' for the
judges. Shop stewards, are union trusties - site bosses on behalf of
the union, selected to enforce union discipline, to isolate and stamp
on strike breakers and other trouble-makers," Mr franks said.

"For the Attorney-General to compare the Chief Justice to a union
functionary is an astonishing calculated insult.

"In the Westminster system, the Attorney-General is supposed to stand
above politics in defence of the rule of law. She's Cabinet's legal
conscience. She's supposed to be the champion of the judges when they
are criticised, because they can't respond to political criticism
themselves. She's the lawyer for the rule of law, and the judiciary,
in government.

"Last year Ms Wilson pilloried me for questioning the Chief Justice's
involvement in the seabed and foreshore case. Now she's joining in to
trash the judges to save her political skin. Any principled lawyer
defends the `client' - even when it conflicts with her interests.

"Ms Wilson has never been a suitable Attorney-General. Much of the
judicial activism that Deputy Prime Minister Dr Michael Cullen
complains about has been over deliberately vague law favoured by Ms
Wilson. She expressly established the Supreme Court to `develop an
indigenous law'.

"It has suited Labour to saddle the courts with delivering the bad
news on unpalatable political deals. For example, the so-called
principles of the Treaty were never defined. The judges had to invent
something. While I do not support what they invented, the
Attorney-General should stop her colleagues from blaming them for
becoming inventive.

"Ms Wilson should let someone else become Attorney-General - someone
who's prepared to do the job required by our constitution. If Miss
Clark does not appoint a lawyer who will do the job, the judges may
cast off their traditional gag and retaliate for themselves. This is
a serious and unprecedented breakdown of our constitutional
conventions," Mr Franks said.

Stephen Franks MP
stephen...@parliament.govt.nz
Phone: 04 470 6636 / 027 492 1983

Fax: 04 473 3532

Chas Te Runa, Press Secretary
chas.t...@parliament.govt.nz
Phone: 04 470 6648 / 027 289 4080

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or
contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at a...@parliament.govt.nz.