Soper Lesley: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Soper Lesley: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8649] 
LESLEY SOPER (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to be able to call some of the over 10000 JPs in New Zealand good friends of mine. I say thank you to all of them for the diverse work they do from the core tasks of witnessing documents and issuing search warrants to the work done by some JPs in hearing summary offences and presiding over preliminary hearings. 
Our JP system is an institution built on a history of service to communities throughout New Zealand—and on volunteerism. Let us not forget that the first-ever JP in New Zealand was appointed in 1814 and it is good to report that last year equal numbers of men and women were appointed as JPs. Overall our current 10700 JPs are increasingly reflecting the diversity of New Zealand society in terms of gender age and ethnicity. I note that we have our first-ever Nepalese JP. I am also pleased that Clayton Cosgrove—a good Minister—has thought to recognise the significant amount of time and effort of long-serving JPs by writing into the bill a provision that allows former JPs who have served for at least 10 years to apply to use the title “JP (retired)”. They deserve to have that privilege. 
It is significant that the Royal Federation of New Zealand Justices’ Associations was consulted throughout the bill’s development and has had a very keen interest in its passage. This is a good bill that modernises the legislation for the first time in more than 50 years. The Labour-led Government is very pleased to introduce improvements that will greatly support the vital role that JPs have in New Zealand communities and it is good to record that the bill has had support from all sides of the House. 
I have already mentioned the new retirement provisions. The other key features of the bill are around training and discipline matters. There is a new requirement that all newly appointed JPs undertake training prior to being appointed by the Minister of Justice and taking their oath. That is designed to standardise the initial training support JPs in their role and also assist them in understanding the responsibilities and significance of the JP role. It will greatly enhance the professional approach from JPs and I believe lead many to take on further training as well. 
Part 2 of the bill introduces a new disciplinary regime that includes a range of sanctions where the conduct of JPs is considered to be inappropriate. That will assist in preserving the good name of the office of Justice of the Peace in this country and very important in maintaining public respect and confidence in that office. It is not that there are many complaints against JPs but it is important to have robust processes there if and when we need them to be used. The current Act provides for the removal of a JP only by the Governor-General and lacks any statement of express grounds for removal. The new Act will empower the Governor-General on ministerial advice to remove or suspend a JP on any one of a number of serious grounds such as neglect of duty misconduct and conviction of an offence punishable by imprisonment. Having those sorts of provisions definitely gives the public extra reason to have confidence in our good JP service. The new provision also provides for the possibility of further training or counselling where appropriate and those are good additions that have not been there in the over-50-year-old current Act. 
This is a very good bill to reform the 1957 Justices of the Peace Act in key areas and the reforms are all improvements for a valuable and much-respected group of hard and I would say selfless workers. I am pleased to be speaking in the passage of the bill. I congratulate the Law and Order Committee the Minister and the JPs association on a very good bill that deserves the wide support it has. Thank you.