Mark Ron: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Mark Ron: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:4253] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I will take a line from Lindsay Tisch’s quote from Henry VIII and assure members that I will not keep them long. 
I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to indicate that we will support this bill. I know from all the discussions that have been had around the House amongst all parties on this Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill that there is unanimity on it and everybody is looking forward to progressing it. 
One of the things I found a little challenging when I became a fresh new MP was the number of people who came to my office asking— 
Christopher Finlayson 
: A long time ago! 
RON MARK 
: A little while ago. I still consider myself to be a new MP actually. I was often approached by people who wanted to become justices of the peace. I have often found myself in the situation of trying to determine whether people wanted to be justices of the peace because they wanted to do good in the community or because they simply liked the idea of having the initials JP after their name. It also became apparent when I had discussions with other members of Parliament who had been here longer than me and who had wrestled with this problem that not only was it a question of who should be nominated the number their age and their suitability in terms of their background that gave MPs some angst when they deliberated on these questions. The other question was how we encourage justices of the peace to leave the job when their time is clearly done. I guess to be fair that is a question that is often asked of MPs in this House: is it not time one considered another career; is it possible one has contributed all one can in this House and is it time for fresh young blood to come through? I see that within the National Party there is now a whole line up of fresh young highly qualified blood. We will probably see a moving of the old guard very very soon as they seek to adjust themselves from the back cross-benches forward into the front two rows. Maybe Mr Carter will go back to farming and Tony Ryall will find solace in his new relationships in life and find life more comfortable in another part of the world—I do not know. But renewal and rejuvenation is a question we all face whether here or in our professions outside of Parliament and that too is a question asked amongst those who serve the community as justices of the peace. 
I think the proposal in the bill that people who complete their term as a justice of the peace who step down and assume the position of a retired JP be allowed to keep that title is a very good proposal. It is an enlightened proposal that lends some dignity to those people in terms of the service they have given to the community. It recognises that service allowing them to move out of the field and allowing new people to come through. 
I refer now to the matter of training. I think we have all sat in Christchurch—I think I have seen David Carter there I have definitely seen Ruth Dyson there and I have seen Lianne Dalziel and Gerry Brownlee there—and had discussions with justices of the peace on numerous occasions. They have often expressed their desire to see formalised training put in place and have expressed concerns that the issues they deal with nowadays are far more complex than those they were asked to deal with when they first took up their appointments some 20 to 25 years earlier. The final recognition that training needs to be formalised and that a formalised career path needs to be established is I think something that needs to be discussed and dealt with in the select committee. A number of members from across the parties were talking about this bill only today and it was pretty well agreed that we saw nothing controversial in it. We saw agreement right across the floor and there was general agreement that we need to progress the bill as quickly as possible through the select committee and back to the House. We need to get it enacted and get the work completed. That said I thank you.