Quinn Paul: Judicial Matters Bill — Second Reading 
Quinn Paul: Judicial Matters Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:8854] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker for inviting me to address the House on the Judicial Matters Bill. Although a number of people have referred to it as a bit of a clean-up bill—an omnibus bill just to tidy up things—it supports the work of the Judicial Conduct Commissioner. 
At the start of my speech will I pick up on the invitation offered to this side of the House by the previous Labour speaker Lianne Dalziel to explain why this bill had taken so long as she described it to return to this House. It may have passed the members on the other side by or gone above their heads but in fact this Government in its first year in office has been focused on a number of very urgent issues that needed to be addressed starting with the mess that the previous administration left this country in when we took office. It was very important that we spent time addressing the urgent matters that needed addressing. We had a full work programme. In fact our programme has been so full that in 2009 we passed in excess of 70 Acts which is almost a record as I understand it. A number of those Acts were in the area of law and order along with others in a number of other areas. So it is pretty clear why it has taken a bit longer to reach this second reading. It was simply because we had a number of urgent issues to address which we have done very successfully as the Prime Minister traversed in his speech on Tuesday. He spoke of actions that everyone on this side of the House is very proud of. That is why it has taken so long; one does not have to be Einstein to work that out. 
But of much more seriousness I was disappointed in Ms Dalziel’s contribution. I suggest that the next time she wants to comment on people in this House she first look in the mirror. I suggest that she perhaps reflect on the time when she lost her ministerial warrant and the reasons for which she did so. She should stop looking accusingly at members on this side of the House. It is time that she stood in front of the mirror looked at her own behaviour and asked herself why she was sacked as a Minister of the Crown. 
Having set that matter aside I will briefly outline for the House the main purposes of this bill. Firstly as others have referred to it establishes the Office of the Deputy Judicial Conduct Commissioner. Clearly this change has been brought about because whether we like it or not the experienced law fraternity are closely linked and well known to each other. So when people feel that they need to lay a complaint there may be an occasion where a complaint is laid against for instance a firm such as Minter Ellison in which the current commissioner Sir David Gascoigne is a partner. It would be unwise for him to investigate a complaint against that firm because although he may not have any direct conflict the mere perception of a conflict needs to be addressed in that process. That is the first critical issue to be addressed. 
The second purpose is to provide the deputy commissioner with the powers to run his or her office more efficiently so that he or she does not have to deal with a complaint when really there is no need to proceed with it. With those few remarks it gives me great pleasure to support this bill at its second reading.