Judicial Conduct Panel established
Judith Collins announced:
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today.
“I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident on 22 November 2024 to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner,” Ms Collins says.
“The Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be set up to inquire into what happened. However, because of my role in making the referral, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith will act as Attorney-General on this matter, to avoid any perception of conflict of interest, bias or pre-determination on my part in the decision yet to be made.
“Mr Goldsmith will therefore now consider the Commissioner’s recommendation.
It is no surprise that the Commissioner recommended a judicial conduct panel. The choices were to dismiss the complaint, refer to the Head of Bench or recommend a judicial conduct panel.
The threshold for recommending a panel is “the conduct may warrant consideration of removal of the Judge”.
The AG does not have to appoint a JCP, but it is almost unthinkable one won’t be appointed if the Commissioner has recommended it. You can’t appoint one, unless the Commissioner has recommended it.
The JCP has three members appointed by the (Acting) AG after consulting the Chief Justice. Two will be judges, or former judges (or a barrister of at least seven years standing) and one will be a lay person. It is chaired by the retired judge or if there is not one, the senior most judge appointed.
The JCP has public hearings (I attended the last one) and they report to the Attorney-General whether or not the Judge should be removed from office. The AG then decides whether or not to remove them.
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