Utikere Tangi; Dean JacquiTANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker and thank you. I rise to take what I understand is the final call on this particular reading. You know we've heard a lot about remuneration over the course of the evening and so I'll add to that chorus by indicating that I am delighted to support the Remuneration Authority Legislation Bill. Can I acknowledge the member who's just resumed his seat Joseph Mooney. He has shared with us his experience in a judicial sense and I always think that when the House is considering legislation it's important to reflect on one's own interactions and experience over time. So it was a very thoughtful and welcome contribution from the member who has just resumed his seat.This bill as I understand it is an omnibus bill. That's another word that we seem to hear a lot of around the House particularly in the last couple of weeks where there are pieces of legislation where we're trying to pick up a whole range of little bits and put them together. For those perhaps listening at home who don't know what an omnibus bill is that's essentially what that is.The interesting thing to me is that when we look at the three branches of government which are fundamental to our constitutional arrangements here in Aotearoa New Zealand this bill actually targets a really important one and that's the judicial branch of government. Because we have the other two the legislative and the executive and the importance is trying to ensure that there are checks and balances on each. This particular bill goes to the heart of that in assisting that there is that check and balance moving forward because this bill does seek to recognise the judicial nature of the positions that many members in the House tonight have effectively touched on.When I look at this bill what's really important is the sense of independence but also fundamentally the significance of integrity because when we look at other judicial systems around the world a lynch pin largely is around the integrity of the judicial system.Kieran McAnulty: That's right.TANGI UTIKERE: It is right Mr McAnulty. And that's why it's really important that while we have independence in terms of the individuals who are appointed to these roles there is also integrity within the system that they are operating within.It's really important that not only independence but integrity assist in ensuring that the decisions that these individuals make certainly do have an impact on the ordinary lives of everyone in our community. And it's important that the way in which they are remunerated is independently assessed and that they are effectively remunerated for the services that they render largely on behalf of the community and the state in many particular circumstances as well.When we look at the background to this bill we know that this fell out of a review that was undertaken by MartinJenkins back in 2018. I have to say that I have actually read the MartinJenkins review report from 2017. I did it two years ago when I was a visiting Justice and the fees that were set for visiting Justices in New Zealand was part of the MartinJenkins review. So I have some confidence in that review process because it wasn't just a review that was undertaken and that's it; there was an opportunity for all of those statutory roles and office holders to feed into that process. So knowing that this was certainly a piece of work that was undertaken by MartinJenkins—you know it was 2018 but it has laid the foundation for this piece of legislation before the House this evening. What I would say is that the report itself was fairly lengthy because it didn't just look at the positions that we are looking at tonight but it had actually quite a broad range of statutory roles that the report looked into. And what we see in this bill are some of those where the report actually identified that there was justification for the shift away from the Cabinet Fees Framework to effectively placing those decisions around remuneration with the Remuneration Authority. The review itself was one that was conducted on a principles basis I guess and that I think fundamentally is a good starting point—that when you're looking at something that's meant to be independent that has a sense of integrity that it's aligned to one of the three branches of Government and that at the same time the way in which that is approached is from a principled level. And so it's important that that not only lends itself to starting out in the right place but actually the perception and appearance of things that would follow also drive home the importance and significance of that as well. I want to turn now to the various positions that are captured or covered by this bill. Colleagues have referred to community magistrates and I want to also support the fantastic job community magistrates do in districts and communities all around the country. In my own community of Palmerston North we don't have any community magistrates. Hon Member: Don't you?TANGI UTIKERE: No we don't and I'll tell you why we do not have those particular individuals. That is because we have hard-working judicial justices of the peace. Mr Simpson previously talked about 10000 or so justices of the peace there are about 320 of them who are judicial justices of the peace who are authorised by the Chief District Court Judge on an annual basis. They go through a process of appraisal and ensure that they effectively are tickety-boo and that's the basis on which they are able to discharge their duties.The difference between a judicial justice of the peace and a community magistrate is essentially as Mr Mooney has said the level of cases that community magistrates can deal with. They can sit on their own whereas judicial justices of the peace they can sit on their own when considering bail applications but they can only sit in pairs when considering most category 1 level of offences. So it's important that we do acknowledge the good work of community magistrates all around the country.There is one point that I also think is worth acknowledging in the bill tonight and that is that even though there would be an assessment of the level of remuneration undertaken by the Remuneration Authority if that independent assessment turned out to indicate that actually the level was lower than the level that those individuals would attract at the moment then there is provision for the level of remuneration to remain at the same level. So even though we have these hard-working judicial members statutory officers in these roles up and down the country by virtue of the fact that their pay or remuneration is assessed in a different way by a different entity and they would get less than that by no means should that mean they should receive the pay cut. So that's an important part of the legislation to see.I think this is a wonderful piece of legislation. I reflect on the contribution from all members of the House and I'm happy to commend this bill to the House.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is That the Remuneration Authority Legislation Bill be considered by the Justice Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Justice Committee.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members the House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow. Good evening.The House adjourned at 9.58 p.m.