Page 1146 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013

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Supreme Court judge. In fact, that is just further damning evidence of the fact that they are getting it wrong in another area. They should be seeking to fix the way they do appointments. I refer them to a bill that we put forward several years ago that would at least invite the community in, and at least allow for proper feedback and consultation, so that we get the absolute best appointments for our judiciary.

The fact that the government has not done some of those other things, the fact that the government has not followed good process when it comes to appointments and the fact that it has not had the right settings in place are not an argument against an extra Supreme Court judge. Any reasonable person looking at this would ask, “Will it fix everything?” No, it will not. But will it make a significant contribution? Yes, it will. We should be making other necessary reforms, but also increasing capacity.

Likewise, I am sure that, when they were making a case for a larger Assembly, many would say, “Maybe the ministers just aren’t able to get it done. Maybe some of those ministers just need to be a little more efficient in their time rather than seeking to have extra ministers and extra members in the Assembly.”

There is no doubt that this is needed, that this is a missed opportunity for the Assembly to require the government to do this, to send a very clear message to the government that we do need an extra judge. And as people wait—as they wait years, as victims of crime wait to get justice, as people accused of crimes wait too long to have their day in court, as people accessing our court system wait on important civil judgements—and as we see the uncertainty that exists for victims of crime, accused, business people and others accessing our courts, I think they will regret the fact that the Assembly has chosen to not do the right thing, that the Assembly has chosen not to put the proper resources into our court system.

There are always costs with these things, and it is not an insignificant cost, but let us look at the costs that are associated with delays in justice. The economic costs are massive, not to mention the intangible costs of people’s lives being put on hold as they wait for judgements from our courts.

The people of the ACT deserve better than what they are getting at the moment. This is one way of significantly improving the situation. We will not be supporting the amendment from Mr Corbell, but I commend the motion to the Assembly.

Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

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