Minister fires new shot at judges

State Services Minister Trevor Mallard shocked members of a business audience in Wellington by saying it was a pity the Supreme Court had not been appointed on merit.

Disclosure of the comment adds to a chain of incidents that have strained the relationship between the Government and the Judiciary, in particular Chief Justice Sian Elias.

And it places new strain on the increasingly disregarded convention that MPs and the courts do not criticise each other.

Mr Mallard's comment is said to have drawn gasps of surprise at the closed-door seminar at the Wellington Club this week.

It was seen as an implied criticism of the Bench's ability. About 150 people were at the seminar, hosted by law firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.

Mr Mallard and former Prime Minister Jim Bolger - now chairman of New Zealand Post - were speaking about governance and competency in Government appointments to boards and the importance of appointing on merit.

He then said it was "a pity" the Supreme Court had not been appointed on merit.

The five members of the Supreme Court, which was established on January 1 this year, were the five most senior judges of the Court of Appeal.

The Government decided upon such a method of appointment after heat from Opposition parties about the potential for political abuse when five judges were being appointed at once.

No Herald reporters were present at the seminar, but the minister's remarks were relayed later.

Mr Mallard said he believed the discussion had been on the basis of Chatham House rules - not to be discussed or quoted outside the venue.

But he was said to have waived the rule when asked by a member of the audience. Dame Sian used similar reasoning after the Herald reported her as telling an audience at an international law conference in Auckland that Prime Minister Helen Clark had shown a "profound lack of understanding" about the importance of judicial independence.

She later told Attorney-General Margaret Wilson she had not known reporters were present. Several were at the conference. Mr Mallard's comments may have been a response to the latest Dame Sian utterings to have caused dismay in Government circles.

During a bail appeal hearing last week, she raised the possibility of Helen Clark, as Minister for the Security Intelligence Service, giving evidence to explain the classified intelligence information behind Algerian Ahmed Zaoui's detention as a security threat to New Zealand.

Mr Mallard said through a spokeswoman that the point he had been making was that the Supreme Court appointments had been the exception to the principle of merit-

based appointments. He had not recalled waiving the Chatham House rule.

The Government has not said whether the first vacancy on the Supreme Court will be filled through seniority or merit.

Act justice spokesman Stephen Franks said Mr Mallard's comment was"gratuitous and dumb" whether or not Chatham House rules applied.