Smith: Timid Govt tampers with justice

A lack of legal expertise in key ministerial positions means the Government tends to tamper with a legal system that needs “radical changes”, United Future justice spokesman Murray Smith said today.

“Essentially the problem is that the Government, with Justice and Corrections Ministers with no legal experience, doesn’t adequately understand the justice system and therefore lacks the confidence to move strongly when it should,” Mr Smith said in responding to the Government’s “wishy-washy” response to a Law Commission report calling for major changes to the courts system.

“We’re talking about a head-in-the-sand approach to the court system,” he said.

Mr Smith cited the Government’s setting up of parallel tribunals, as in the case of the building weather-tightness issue, as typical of the Government’s mishandling of justice issues.

“Rather than address core issues, we have a government that creates duplicate entities,” he said.

Mr Smith said the Government’s timidity was also evident in it not making substantial changes such as requiring defendants to give evidence, or face an adverse inference for not doing so.

“In essence, the Government needs to display more courage and vigour in approaching our legal system,” he said.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>