Shaw James: Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShaw James: Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 25 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1960. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAMES SHAW (Green): That is all right Mr Deputy Speaker. It has been one of those weeks where my name—I was called “Mr Grey” by the Speaker twice the other day so I am just enjoying the references to “Fifty Shades of Green”. I rise in support of Dr Kennedy Graham’s Register of Pecuniary Interests of Judges Bill which is a very good if perhaps doomed piece of legislation.This week I sort of filled out my own pecuniary interests register—it did not take a long time unfortunately; it would have been a more interesting exercise if there had been more to put on it. But it occurred to me that although filling in the register could be seen as onerous and an inconvenience and although the time it takes to fill out our own pecuniary interests gets in the way of some of the other work we could be doing—Chris Bishop: Your vast asset wealth—that’s why.JAMES SHAW: —yes—the register is actually there to protect us. It serves us. It covers our backs and in fact that is the intention of Dr Graham’s bill. It is not designed to make things more difficult for members of the judiciary and it is not designed to get in their way but it is actually designed to remove from any doubt the perception that there may be conflicts of interest in their judicial role.We know that New Zealand has a world-class independent judiciary. The point of the bill is to strengthen the judiciary by further increasing transparency and by strengthening public perception and trust in the judiciary. Last year we progressed the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill through the House and as we did so it was noted by a number of speakers on that bill that New Zealand has for many years been in the top three countries—if not the No. 1 country—seen as being free of corruption according to the Transparency International index. It was also noted that in order to maintain this hallowed position we cannot afford to stand still. We have to continue advancing our standards and as technology changes and as public expectation changes we need to maintain our competitive positioning. As a New Zealander living in London for many years and working for one of the world’s leading assurance businesses I was very aware that I was accorded extra respect because I came from a country regarded as having one of the world’s least corruptible cultures. So we know that we cannot rest on our laurels and that was the intention behind Dr Kennedy Graham’s bill.On 1 November last year the Government signed up to the Open Government Partnership which includes in its declaration the following words: “We acknowledge that people all around the world are demanding more openness in government. They are calling for greater civic participation in public affairs and seeking ways to make their governments more transparent responsive accountable and effective.” Obviously this also applies to the arm of Government that is the judiciary. So we acknowledge that open government is a process that requires ongoing and sustained commitment. Dr Graham’s bill adds a dimension to this country’s ongoing quest for ever-greater openness accountability and public trust.So I recognise that this bill is not going to make it through the House but I do want to recall that when this bill started in its opening stages there was a great deal of collaboration both in the Justice and Electoral Committee and between the Greens and National and the Attorney-General was heavily involved in it. It was sort of widely acknowledged that it has good intentions. So as this bill finds its way to legislative heaven my colleague David Clendon will be moving an amendment to the Judicature Modernisation Bill in its Committee stage that will bring some of the principles of Dr Graham’s bill forward into that bill as well. So this bill does have good intentions. It is designed to enhance transparency and trust in the judiciary and we hope that David Clendon’s amendment makes it through in the Judicature Modernisation Bill. I commend this bill to the House.