Ross Jami-Lee: Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ross Jami-Lee: Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 22 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2300. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 We seem to be on a roll tonight. We are having legislation after legislation being supported by the Opposition parties—the Labour Party and the Green Party. One might start to wonder whether we are actually doing the right thing if we are getting so much support from the Opposition but we just take it as a sign of approval. I am expecting the obligatory speech from Mr Prosser though from New Zealand First opposing this piece of legislation the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill. That seems to be the trend tonight.  
I think this is a very admirable bill and it is worthy of the House’s support tonight. It makes some important changes for juries and it protects jurors who are doing community service effectively on behalf of the nation. I do take the point that Mr Lees-Galloway was making that we should be encouraging more people to serve on juries. I have to say that we cannot get much more encouraging than making jury service mandatory. It is mandatory in the bill and the Juries Act itself really does talk about those who cannot serve on a jury because the assumption is that everyone else is eligible to serve on a jury. If the biggest problem Mr Lees-Galloway has is about potentially not being able to serve on a jury because he is a member of Parliament I am sure we can easily remedy that for him if he is wanting us to.  
The good changes in this legislation are really about the protection of jurors whereby their address details will not be available to defendants who are defending themselves or who have their lawyer in a position where the lawyer may wish to provide the address details to the defendant. That would not be allowed. It may not be a huge problem that we have seen happening a lot but there has been an incident where a juror was caused some discomfort and was harassed in a way by a defendant—in fact by somebody who I understand was convicted of a crime—and that simply cannot be allowed to happen. Jurors are doing this on behalf of the community for an effective justice system. We need jurors to be putting their time in to serve on a jury and I think if the State is requiring people to serve on a jury then the State should be protecting those people from any potential harassment going forward.  
Other changes around who can serve on a jury around home detention whereby somebody who is serving a home detention sentence of more than 3 months is unable to serve on a jury are also a welcome move. I think New Zealanders would accept that if one is sentenced for a crime then that sentence even if it is just home detention does lose one some rights and some abilities and serving on a jury is one of those. Changes around ensuring that people convicted of a custodial sentence of more than 3 years are barred for life from sitting on a jury are also a welcome move.  
I have just one final point before I conclude my brief call in support of this legislation. I have been listening to the comments that have been made around those who are aged 65 and over and the changes that are made there. I think what is important for us to remember is that at the moment if someone is aged 65 or older they can be excused from a jury. The only real change here is that rather than them having to be excused on a case by case basis it can be a permanent excusal which simply just makes it easier for the registrar and for the person involved if they wish to voluntarily be excused permanently.  
This is a short piece of legislation but it is important for those serving on juries. It is important to make this change for the justice system and I commend the bill to the House.