Gallagher Martin: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Gallagher Martin: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:3974] 
MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) 
: 
 I acknowledge the contribution by the previous speaker the by and large good spirit in which it was given and the very comprehensive history of the role of justices of the peace. I also thank him very much for his very sincere expression of goodwill for my future but I assure the member that I want to be serving my Hamilton community in my current role for a number of years yet. 
I think praise is in order for the current Associate Minister of Justice the Hon Clayton Cosgrove because he has achieved the introduction of this bill on to the Order Paper of this Parliament. He is not a Minister who just goes along to a conference and gives a nice speech—he did that very well I believe on the West Coast—he has actually been able to achieve getting this bill into the House. He is a Minister who does not just give speeches. He works very well with the royal federation. In that context I observe all the very good work of Rick Barker Mr Cosgrove’s predecessor in this regard. 
I will not be partisan tonight. This is the one time in the Parliament of this country when we are talking about justices of the peace legislation when this Parliament should be absolutely non-partisan. We should be focusing our speeches on honouring the wonderful volunteers throughout our country who have given service as justices of the peace. 
I observe the observations of the president of the Royal Federation of New Zealand Justices Associations Mr Gavin Kerr JP who in welcoming the introduction of the Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill to Parliament paid tribute—and I am reading from the federation’s media statement—to the Associate Minister of Justice the Hon Clayton Cosgrove for expediting the introduction of the bill. It states: “We have greatly appreciated his guidance”—I know that Richard Worth will join me in this—“and support for our important work especially since he took on the role of Minister with responsibility for justices of the peace.” etc. 
I know that Richard will support me and in this moment of non-partisan debate will join with me in congratulating Clayton Cosgrove on getting this bill on to the floor of the House. I pay tribute to Richard’s very good contribution. He gave a very good exposition of the historic and very honourable role of justices of the peace in our society and in our jurisprudence. 
This bill also gives us an opportunity to reflect on the fact that there is a role for a community-spirited layperson in our judicial system. In terms of some of the very interesting and very good observations that Dr Worth was making on the Law Commission’s recommendations I believe that we move away from and give away the role of the JP at our peril in terms of the totality of our judicial system. That is an issue that I know the Minister will address particularly in terms of the court work of justices of the peace. I know that Richard Worth expressed concern in terms of some of the financial costs to those JPs who do work in the courts but I genuinely do not believe that the legislation is the mechanism by which that financial recompense should be addressed. I am totally aware that the Minister is working with the royal federation on that particular issue. Certainly I would say that the issue of remuneration is important in that we want to encourage a broad cross-section of JPs to serve in that particular role. 
I take the opportunity in this first reading to pay huge tribute to my own Waikato Justices of the Peace Association. I pay tribute to former royal federation presidents Mary Symmans and Bob Armstrong for their great work and their constant lobbying to get this bill in. Clayton Cosgrove talked about the spirit of volunteerism. The late Mick Goldsbro’ who was 101 or 102 was a serving justice of the peace for many many years. What a wonderful privilege it was to go to Hamilton with the Minister to launch the JP training CD-ROM in Mr Goldsbro’s presence. I was so grateful that we did that with the late Mick Goldsbro’ and his family while he was with us on this earth. He was a good example of a wonderful life of community service. In a way if the Minister will allow me to say Mr Goldsbro’ is kind of the inspiration for this bill. 
There is no doubt the legislation is long overdue for overhaul. As chairman of the Law and Order Committee to which the bill will be referred I look forward to hearing the submissions and I certainly look forward to the very comprehensive submissions and advice of the Royal Federation of New Zealand Justices Association. I commend this bill. 
Debate interrupted.