The man behind the 100% Pure NZ campaign has been appointed to clean up the district courts.
Former Tourism New Zealand boss George Hickton started his position as the deputy secretary of district courts and special jurisdictions this month.
Ministry of Justice CEO Andrew Bridgman said the role was created to separate the management of the district courts from higher courts such as the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Hickton would be responsible for making the "old-fashioned" district courts more efficient.
In July, district courts had more than 63,000 active cases. The special jurisdictions had disposed 73,000.
"There is huge volume going through the courts," Bridgman said. "In one sense you could describe us as an old-fashioned paper business but we really want to go into a business that is a lot faster, more IT-based and has a greater understanding of services.
