Barker Rick: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Barker Rick: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8640] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 The Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill in the name of the Hon Clayton Cosgrove is an interesting piece of legislation for a number of reasons. Firstly I had some association with it when I was Associate Minister of Justice as did my immediate predecessor Paul Swain. Paul Swain said to me a short time ago that the wisest words he heard from Peter Tapsell were: “It doesn’t matter what portfolio you’ve got they’re all interesting.” 
The Associate Minister of Justice portfolio dealing with JPs might on the surface not seem particularly important to some. But I expand on the words of Peter Tapsell that all portfolios are interesting; I found this area of work very interesting indeed. I enjoyed my relationship with the Royal Federation of New Zealand Justices’ Associations while I held the responsibility for JPs. I enjoyed meeting justices of the peace from around the country and attending their conferences and I found them all to be very genuine well motivated good and decent New Zealanders who were interested in the welfare of their communities. 
I picked up from my predecessor Paul Swain the requirement for people nominated as justices of the peace to have recommendations and references from community groups. This was in the belief that if those people could not garner community support for their nomination then they would not have the support of the community. Paul Swain’s innovation has carried on until today and I believe that it ensures that we have justices of the peace who are well supported by the community—as they must be. 
Justices of the peace have been with us for hundreds of years. It is an old institution that we inherited from Britain. It has stood England in good stead and it stands New Zealand in good stead as well. JPs do an enormous amount of good work in their communities. They not only exercise judicial powers sitting in the court from time to time hearing warrants and doing other things that are very important to our criminal justice process but also do a lot of other smaller things that are very important to individual members of the community such as signing student application forms to say that the documents submitted are a correct copy and that the student has shown proper identification and authorisation. To do this the JP puts his or her stamp and signature on the document and the person receiving the application knows that that information is reliable it is gold standard it can be accepted and it is bankable. That is the quality of the JPs we have in New Zealand. 
I think this bill is good. It represents significant progress for justices of the peace and I know that the Royal Federation of New Zealand Justices’ Associations has been lobbying for this for some time. Like Clayton Cosgrove I have enjoyed the good services of Gavin Kerr and Alan Hart who have worked with me and other members of the federation to get this legislation through. 
On occasions it is difficult to get smallish bills like this through the House because very often the legislative programme is dominated by larger sometimes more contentious pieces of legislation. It is to the credit of this Government that it has gone through all of the outstanding matters and picked up issues such as the Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill and put them through the House. 
It is a credit to Clayton Cosgrove that he got the bill on the Order Paper so quickly. The previous Minister responsible had 3 years on the job and very little progress could be seen! Yes there was a lot of talk a lot of policy a lot of papers a lot of everything but members never actually saw the bill. It was only when Mr Cosgrove appeared on the job as the Associate Minister of Justice that the bill appeared instantly. This typifies the work of Clayton Cosgrove. He is good and effective but he does not say that the hard work has all been done beforehand. However he has done a marvellous job. 
I also want to sing the praises of Martin Gallagher. As the Associate Minister of Justice responsible for JPs I attended a number of JP conferences and meetings and Martin Gallagher was always there. Martin turned up and spoke to the justices of the peace. He did so because he was the chair of the Law and Order Committee— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: And a JP. 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: —and a JP as well. He took his responsibilities as a member of Parliament very seriously and made sure that he was in contact with JPs because that was part of his responsibility as the chair of the Law and Order Committee. I think that Martin deserves a particular pat on the back for his unstinting efforts in this area. I am sure that my comments will be reflected by the Royal Federation of New Zealand Justices’ Associations. 
This bill brings in a number of innovations. It updates the legislation. We now have a new position called JP (retired). This is an important innovation as often people want to continue to be JPs and do not retire because they would lose the recognition of the years and years of unstinting work they had done. So we are recognising that work which is what this Government does consistently. 
I also echo the words of Simon Power because I have said them myself before—we need to have greater diversity in our justices of the peace community. The search is always on to make sure that we have younger people. As the Minister associated with justices of the peace it never ceased to amaze me how often people would turn up who were 85 or 86 years of age—about the mid-point of their working career—and who wanted to have a career change. They wanted to become involved as a justice of the peace and to do things they had not done in the previous 86 years of their life. I admired them for their tenacity and their forward-looking approach but obviously we also want to have people whose working-age mid-point is a bit lower than that. 
Also we need more JPs from the diverse ethnic backgrounds that make up New Zealand’s community today. I have spoken with a number of these people and they see it as a particular privilege as new migrants to this country to be recognised in the community and by the State as a justice of the peace. They are very proud people who take their responsibilities seriously. It sends a powerful message to the community that they are part of the broader fabric of New Zealand society and that is an important point that we need to keep in our mind. 
This is very good legislation. I commend the select committee for its hard work in considering all the issues. I note that it has had quite a number of changes. The bill has been significantly improved and I commend the Minister who is now responsible for it Mr Cosgrove. It has been a rather interesting little relay team. Paul Swain handed the ideas and thoughts on to me I did quite a lot of the drafting then the third hand on the baton in the relay Mr Cosgrove saw the job finished. I congratulate him on that; it was a good job well done. 
I think that members of Parliament have worked very well together to bring about such a fine bill. It is a significant improvement that will mean a lot to justices of the peace throughout New Zealand. It is a sign that Parliament recognises what a wonderful job they are doing. Thank you.