The Star: June 14, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday June 14 2018 19
Our People
Passion for justice
•From page 17
What we do lack is a sufficiency
in numbers at all levels
but particularly at the levels
where most of the work is done
and that is in the district court in
its civil jurisdiction, but particularly
in its criminal and family
jurisdictions. Both of those are
woefully under-judged in terms
of the number of judges and
both have significant and growing
back logs. There is much to
be said for that old saying, justice
delayed is justice denied. If I
look back over my 50-plus years,
the one thing that I would say
that has been a degradation of
the system is the length of time
between a case being started in
the court initiating papers and
it getting through to a decision.
What has happened, is it has
grown from a matter of just a few
months to a matter of years. That
is of great concern and it is not
fair to litigants, whether civil,
criminal or family, not fair to
witnesses and it only makes particularly
factual determinations
harder and harder for judges.
Have you ever considered
becoming a district or High
Court judge yourself?
No. I had an interesting experience
doing that in Tonga, it
JUSTICE: Nigel Hampton
QC was made a
Companion of the New
Zealand Order of Merit for
services to the law.
was the break from doing things
that I wanted to have happen.
I enjoyed it. But being at the
bar gives you a freedom, which
includes the freedom to speak
publicly on important issues,
which I have done a fair bit of in
my time. I think its important
particularly when you get to be
senior in your profession, senior
at the bar. That senior voice
needs to be heard on issues from
time to time. While you remain
at the bar and remain a barrister,
you have that ability still to be
heard. If you become a judge you
lose that, you become subject to
the dictates of where you’ve got
to be, what you’ve got to do. Having
been a barrister just about all
of my life, first in a firm but more
lately, for the last 30 years as an
individual practitioner, I value
that freedom too much. Being
able to work in your own profession,
in your own way and in
your own time is something that
I would not lightly give away.
I know you spoke out about
now liking the design of the
new Justice Precinct, has it
grown on you since you’ve been
working there?
It’s grown even more adversely
on me, not more fondly. I retain
my views about it. It is an important
constitutional aspect that
police and courts shouldn’t be in
the same building complex. That
is inappropriate and that still is
my most fundamental criticism
of that building.
Any plans to slow down and
retire?
No, whilst I retain my physical
health and I think have a reasonable
mind still and whilst my
memory doesn’t get too slippery,
I have no plans to slow down.
MPs back Maori
land plan at Purau
• By Sarla Donovan
PORT HILLS MPs Ruth Dyson
and Nuk Korako are backing a
city council plan to gift Purau
Maori Reserve to Rapaki
Runanga rather than retain
public ownership.
A city council report supporting
the transfer of the 1300 sq m
site was set aside after residents
raised objections at a recent
Banks Peninsula Community
Board meeting.
Purau residents Jill Rice, Graham
Christie and Thomas Kulpe
criticised the move as an act of
privatisation and said information
supporting the recommendation
was “biased, incorrect
and has omissions.”
Rapaki spokeswoman Yvette
Couch-Lewis declined to comment,
saying it would not be
appropriate at this time.
National List MP Nuk Korako
and Labour MP for Port Hills
Ruth Dyson both agreed with the
city council recommendation.
Mr Korako said that as a member
of Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke
“naturally I support the staff
recommendation . . . to return the
land to Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke.”
Returning an urupa (cemetery)
to the control of a body that
represented Te Hapu o Ngati
Wheke was not privatisation “in
the absolute sense,” he said. “It is
being returned to the democratic
control of a representative body.”
Ms Dyson said the site was a
Ngati Wheke urupa and there
had been “considerable unhappiness”
from runanga around the
peninsula about its desecration
over past decades.
“I also note that there is a significant
public reserve just 100m
from this site,” Ms Dyson said.
Mr Kulpe – one of the key
objectors – said he was not
surprised at the response given
Mr Kurako’s roots and position
on various Maori trust boards.
“And of course we’re talking
about 1400 sq m which doesn’t
look like a huge sacrifice. From
a political perspective the risk
of being labelled anti-tangata
whenua is much greater than
looking at the finer points of this
whole thing,” Mr Kulpe said.
He said one of the arguments
for revoking the land’s reserve
status – that it was an urupa –
was incorrect as this can only be
bestowed by application to the
Maori Land Court.
Meet Simon Bridges
Connecting with
communities
Thursday 21 June 4pm
Public meeting
Christchurch Bridge Club
21 Nova Place
Christchurch Central
Simon Bridges Leader of the Opposition
simonjbridges • simonbridges.co.nz
Funded by Parliamentary Service. Authorised by Simon Bridges, Parliament Buildings, Wellington.