Dean Jacqui: Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 13 September 2012. Volume:683;Page:5262. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 The Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill does improve the jury system’s administration and also helps maintain jurors’ privacy safety and security. Unlike the previous speaker Charles Chauvel I regard those aims as being particularly important and would note that this bill does deliver on those aims. 
Firstly I want to thank members of the Law and Order Committee who worked on this bill in a very collegial manner. It is a feature of the Law and Order Committee that we tend to focus on the substance of debates having got procedure pretty well tied down. We do have our differences in the committee—of course we do—but I just want to thank all members for their good work on this bill. I also want to recognise the work of the officials who assisted us on this bill. 
This bill follows measures that were rolled out in 2010 to make life easier for jurors. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: One of the better backbenchers. 
JACQUI DEAN 
: I can see it is getting awfully late for some of those junior members across the House but never mind it is almost home time for the young and the infirm. It is all right if it is getting too much for those who are getting on in years with early onset perhaps. Well never mind. We will get on with the bill and it will be over pretty soon. 
There are three main provisions in this bill: preventing certain people sentenced to home detention from serving on a jury and other matters; empowering registrars to permanently excuse people over the age of 65 from jury duty—and I want to pick up on that point in a minute—and protecting jurors’ particulars. First of all I will pick up on that point. Currently the jury list must contain the name the occupation the date of birth and the full address of potential jurors. Since 2008 self-represented defendants—those people who are representing themselves—have been prohibited from keeping a copy of the jury list or taking notes of the contents of the jury list but they could still inspect it under supervision. So they could still see it. 
The changes that were made in 2008 were designed to protect the privacy of jurors but there was a particular case a particular incident that highlighted the need to further restrict access to that information. A convicted murderer wrote to a juror and caused considerable distress to that juror whose name he saw on a list while representing himself in a trial. So this bill removes the address of potential jurors from jury lists. It allows the prosecution the defence lawyer and the court-appointed adviser to defendants representing themselves to have access to all the address information on request but it does restrict the information on that list from ever being seen by the accused. 
The bill extends section 14A(6) of the Juries Act and makes it clear also—and this is another provision brought in by the select committee—that misconduct in relation to jury lists may be treated as a contempt of court. A further aspect of this bill prevents certain people sentenced to home detention from serving on a jury. This closes a loophole that was discovered in the Sentencing Amendment Act that created home detention as a sentence in its own right but it failed to amend the Juries Act. 
Further this bill gives registrars the power to grant a person permanent excusal from serving on a jury on the grounds of age disability or chronic health problems. It seems to have escaped the Opposition that this is something that is acknowledging people over the age of 65 who might for whatever reason find it difficult or maybe they simply do not wish to serve on a jury anymore. 
Kris Faafoi 
: What did your leader say about older people during the election campaign? 
JACQUI DEAN 
: Sorry what was that? 
Kris Faafoi 
: What did your leader say about older people during the campaign? 
JACQUI DEAN 
: You see it seems to have escaped the Opposition that this provision in the bill recognises that there are people over the age of 65 who may have a disability that makes it really difficult for them to attend jury duty. I do wish members of the Opposition would give some consideration to people who have got disabilities because it must be really hard for them to receive a letter in the mail from the court registrar requiring them to serve on a jury and for them to yet again time after time—and we were told this during the select committee consideration—have to front up to the registrar or phone or write a letter and explain time and time again that yes they have a disability and no they do not wish to serve on the jury. 
This bill does a very good thing because it spares people having to do that. Why the Opposition does not see this as giving dignity to people over the age of 65 is completely beyond me but that is a matter for them. 
Debate interrupted.