Arrogant Hulls attacks court independence again

The Brumby Government last night pushed legislation through Parliament giving the Attorney-General the power to appoint judicial officers in Victorian courts on short-term appointments of five years or less.

“Once again, an arrogant Rob Hulls is attacking the independence of our courts,” Shadow Attorney-General Robert Clark said today.

“Under these new laws, any appointee who incurs the wrath of the government can simply be dumped and not reappointed when their term expires, despite the fact that appointees will be expected to make decisions on cases in which the government is one of the parties.

“This latest move by an arrogant Attorney-General to undermine the independence of the courts follows his introduction of acting judges on limited term appointments who are dependent on the Attorney-General for how much work they are given and whether they receive a permanent appointment.

“It also follows the Attorney-General’s extraordinary attack on judges and magistrates in October last year when he accused them of being highly-paid public servants, not serving the community and not willing to be accountable.

“It is disgraceful that the Brumby Government has sought to further undermine the independence of Victoria’s courts and disappointing that the Greens have been taken in by the government’s bogus claim that judicial registrars are not judicial officers.”

The Courts Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill creates a new office of judicial registrar in the Supreme Court, County Court, Coroners Court and Children’s Court. It amends the Victorian Constitution to specify that Supreme Court judicial registrars are part of the Supreme Court alongside judges and associate judges.

Under the legislation, judicial registrars in the Supreme, County and Children’s Courts can exercise virtually all of the powers of judges to make decisions of the Court, if authorised by the rules of the Court.

Labor, with the support of the Greens, defeated Coalition amendments to give Supreme Court and County Court judicial registrars the same independence and security of tenure as judges and associate judges.

“While it is intended that judicial registrars will decide only more minor matters, their decisions are likely to include matters relating to costs and the disclosure of documents, which can seriously affect the parties to litigation.

“These sorts of decisions have previously been made by associate judges, who have security of tenure until retirement,” Mr Clark said.