Collins Judith: Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Collins Judith: Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17967] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Justice 
: I move  
That the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the Juries (Jury Service and Protection of Particulars of Jury List Information) Amendment Bill be referred to the Law and Order Committee for consideration that the committee report finally to the House on or before 8 August 2011 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 and 190(1)(b) and (c). 
This bill builds on earlier changes that the Government has made to improve jury services by increasing privacy and security for jurors enhancing operational efficiency and restricting people who are sentenced to home detention from serving on a jury. This Government takes the safety of jurors seriously. 
Last year a self-represented accused corresponded with persons whose names and addresses were on the jury panel for his trial. This bill amends the Juries Act 1981 to restrict access to juror address details. Juror address details will be available to the prosecution and counsel for the accused in order to ensure that they have the information necessary to make jury challenges. If an accused is self-represented a registrar may appoint a lawyer to represent and assist the accused during the jury formation process. These court-appointed lawyers will also be entitled to access juror addresses. However this bill will prohibit those entitled to access the juror address information from showing the addresses to the accused or any unauthorised person thereby enhancing the safety of the jurors. 
The bill makes other amendments that will enhance the jury system including a provision for registrars to grant a permanent exclusion from jury service for persons so disabled or chronically ill that they are never going to be able to discharge their duties as jurors and persons aged 65 and over who no longer wish to serve or are unable to serve on juries. Currently people in these categories need to apply for an excusal each time they are summonsed to jury service because there is no power under the Juries Act to grant a permanent excusal. The Juries Act and the changes proposed in this bill continue to allow persons aged 65 and over to be available for jury service if they so wish. There will also be some cost savings for the Ministry of Justice because ongoing applications for excusal for some of these people will be unnecessary in future. 
The bill also restricts the eligibility of those sentenced to home detention to serve on a jury which places home detention on the same footing as an equivalent prison sentence. This recognises that people serving a sentence of home detention have committed serious crimes and should be restricted in their ability to determine another person’s guilt or innocence. A further amendment removes an anomaly in the Juries Act by repealing references to corrective training which was abolished over 5 years ago. This bill will improve the jury system’s administration and integrity and help maintain jurors’ safety privacy and security. I commend this bill to the House.