Mahuta Nanaia: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8651] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 I join in making a contribution to the Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill that is similar to that of my Government colleagues which is to support it. I also support the good work of the Minister Clayton Cosgrove in his stewardship of the bill through the House. Certainly it is important to recognise the broad range of support across the House for the intent of modernising legislation governing JPs. 
I speak on the bill for another reason. Earlier in March about eight hui were held within my district where people had the opportunity to raise the most pressing political issues. Along with those issues two others were raised. One related to the Coroners Act and the other to the Justices of the Peace Act and the role of JPs. Those two issues some might think are connected because the reflection of many of our kaumatua at those hui was that we needed more JPs as a result of many of our JPs passing on. So I too acknowledge the valuable role and contribution that former JPs have played within our communities and importantly the need to increase their number in communities like mine. 
I will pick up on a couple of points that were raised previously around the issue of diversity. We need to ensure that we are able to nominate JPs who represent more diverse communities—whether by age gender or ethnicity. It is all part of the picture. In doing so some of the changes geared within this bill bode well for the changing face of our communities and essentially for the JPs who come through. One might expect that in the training implicit in respect of those changes there will be mechanisms to be able to deal with more diverse communities and peoples—whether in terms of responding of the language or of relating to people from diverse communities. The other point around the issue of diversity that I think is important is accessibility. As has been said JPs are contacted at all hours of the day and night and they must be accessible. If we are able to increase the diverse look of our JP community then we will be providing greater access to people at necessary points in time. I certainly support that. 
A comment was made by my colleague Brian Donnelly about the need to increase the number of young JPs. I certainly support that. I have actively tried to encourage young people to become JPs but it has been my experience with young people—under the age of 35 maybe—that although on the one hand they might be interested in looking at what the role of a JP entails on the other hand things might be so serious that they feel they are not the best people to represent their community. I am not sure what other members’ experiences are but I get a lot of hesitation around the aspect of added responsibility. 
One of the things I appreciate about the existing process is the way the nomination form sits. When I first came into Parliament—and this was probably an innovation made in 1996—one had the ability as a list member to make a nomination but ultimately it went forward to the electorate MP for final sign-off. That gives a level of comfort to list MPs because the electorate MP has the responsibility to meet with the person to try not only to identify all the support and networks he or she is part of but also to attest to his or her suitability for this role. One comment I make as a Maorimember of Parliament in terms of us all looking to increase the levels of diversity of our JP community is to ask whether we as Maori MPs are able to nominate people from ethnic communities—migrant communities. I put that on the table. 
 I certainly agree with the intentions of the three key areas of the bill which are around improving the training prior to confirmation of a JP; having disciplinary mechanisms that provide if you like a grade 1 and 2 disciplinary procedure; and also the issue of retirement. The status “JP (retired)” will be very significant for a number of people within our own communities who have given long service to the community who have held the role of JP and who are now retired but still have a standing within the community. I think that that will be great recognition for them. 
Probably the last part of my contribution is about intent. One of the things we know at this point in time is that in terms of Maori representation we are averaging only about 10 percent but we have peaks and troughs in terms of nominations. So I encourage all electorate members of Parliament to increase their nominations coming through so that we can increase the number of Maori JPs in our communities and provide greater accessibility to our people. That is really important. 
Without saying too much more—as much has been said—I certainly support the intent of the bill and support the three key areas with a high emphasis on the training aspect which I think will better gear our JPs to respond to more diverse communities. In terms of going forward the bill is well overdue—50 years overdue. I certainly support the bill. 
Bill read a third time.