Media release
21 June 2019
Politicians urged to be cautious in criticising judges decisions
The New Zealand Bar Association is urging senior politicians to be cautious when it comes to publicly criticising
decisions by the country’s judges.
The Association says upholding the rule of law and the independence of judges are fundamental principles that can be
eroded by public statements made to be popular and without the benefit of all information.
The Bar Association, the industry body for New Zealand barristers, is responding to politician comments that a 2007
decision by Judge Joyce QC to grant name suppression to a fraudster who subsequently reoffended was wrong and should
never have been made.
Joanne Sharp received name suppression after conviction for fraud offences against Tower Insurance and subsequently went
on to defraud the Ministry of Transport under the name Joanne Harrison. Judge Dale Clarkson has now lifted the
suppression order.
New Zealand Bar Association spokesperson, Jonathan Eaton QC, says debate about legal decisions is a good thing, but it
needs to be informed.
“Politicians wading in with bald and hindsight assessments that a judge’s decision was wrong is not only unhelpful; it
is quite unfair to the judge. Judges make decisions based on the application of facts as presented to established legal
principles. In this case, Judge Joyce QC did exactly that. That years later, facts have changed, leading to a
reconsideration of the earlier decision, does not in any sense mean the original decision was wrong.”
[Ends].