Ardern Jacinda: Appointments — Judicial Conduct Commissioner and Deputy Judicial Conduct CommissionerText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: Appointments — Judicial Conduct Commissioner and Deputy Judicial Conduct Commissioner[Sitting date: 02 July 2015. Volume:706;Page:5075. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour):I want to join with my colleagues in supporting this motion of two very experienced members of the legal fraternity who are taking on two very important roles. As my colleague David Parker has done I just want to acknowledge the tough role that they have. The Office of the Judicial Conduct Commissioner was established in 2005—based on legislation passed the year prior to that—with the very explicit role of enhancing public confidence; in fact that is one of its stated roles. One of its other stated goals is to protect the impartiality and integrity of the judicial system. I think that sometimes you hear the statement: “Who judges the judges?”. Making sure that we have transparency and oversight of judicial conduct is one way that we can add a greater layer of integrity to our criminal justice system. That is something that I think is to really be applauded. That we have I think good consensus across this House on roles like this is also to be applauded. So to have systems like this only adds weight I think to our judiciary.As has been said though this is not a group that plays any role in contesting the decisions of judges; that is a role for our courts and the appeal processes within our judicial system. This is solely about conduct. And we know the importance of this role. We have had high-profile cases in the past—Justice Wilson for instance in the Saxmere case where the Judicial Conduct Commissioner played a very important role in looking into whether or not there had been an issue of conflict of interest and he took a strong stance on that. That was a very important thing to occur.I do want to join my colleagues in thanking Sir David for the role that he has played since his appointment in 2009. It was due to finish in 2014 but he continued on. He had of course taken over from Ian Haynes who was our first commissioner.The workload of our commissioners is reasonable as well. There were 235 complaints in the year 2013-14. In the first year it was 223. We have seen fairly consistent rates of complaints. I think that consistency probably speaks to the fact that we have had a consistent level of performance. Only four of those complaints were referred to the head of bench so quite a few of those complaints were dismissed. As my colleague mentioned they will be sifting through vexatious complaints. But the fact that there has been a fairly steady rate—and yet we have seen some escalated—shows the worth and the value of this role.Also I want just to point out that there has been not one complaint—not one complaint—about the Youth Court since 2005. I think we should acknowledge the fine role—Hon David Parker: Voiceless youth.JACINDA ARDERN: Well it is either the voiceless youth or it is doing a good job. You could take a glass half-full or a glass half-empty approach on that one. I do want to note though that there were 95 cases unfinalised from the previous year. There was a note from Sir David about the pace that needed to be maintained in order to process complaints. It is always useful for Parliament to keep a watchful eye on whether or not we are adequately supporting the commissioner to do the work that they have been tasked to do.I want to finish though by acknowledging the role that Alan Ritchie is taking on in conjunction with Kathryn Mary Snook. They both have an extraordinary amount of experience—both have had roles on the Parole Board for instance. In the past Alan Ritchie has stood in for the Judicial Conduct Commissioner and his extensive experience with the New Zealand Law Society bodes very well I think for New Zealand’s justice system and for the role that he will now take on—equally with Kathryn and the role that she has played both in private practice and also in her role within the Office of Treaty Settlements for instance. I think the commission is in very good hands and I thank the Minister for his recommendation.Motion agreed to.