NZ: Call for Clark to be charged with contempt over 'intimidation'
STUFF
N A T I O N A L N E W S S T O R Y
Call for Clark to be charged with contempt over 'intimidation'
15 March 2004
Prime Minister Helen Clark should face contempt charges for mounting a campaign of intimidation against the judiciary, National's justice spokesman Richard Worth said today.
Miss Clark has criticised Maori Land Court Judge Caren Wickliffe for ruling the court should proceed with a large Maori East Coast coastal claim, despite government plans to stop the court granting private title to the foreshore and seabed.
Miss Clark said she thought the Maori Land Court had "rather better things to do with its time". She pointed out that an appeal to the Privy Council over an earlier case was under way, and the Government intended to legislate on the issue anyway.
Miss Clark also criticised Judge Wickliffe for not standing aside due to a conflict of interest.
"The judge is of Ngati Porou descent, and this case concerns Ngati Porou.
"I understand she is standing aside from any future dealings with it, the question is whether she should have stood aside before now."
The decision covers 11 Maori groups, who want the Maori Land Court to grant them freehold title to about 200km of coastline between Gisborne and Cape Runaway.
Mr Worth said Miss Clark's attack was inappropriate.
"I think Clark has crossed the line. This is the second thing she has done, she thought the Waitangi Tribunal recommendations were worthless," Mr Worth said.
"She has now embarked on a campaign of intimidation against the judiciary. It may be okay to embark on such campaigns against political opponents, but the ground has shifted now.
"She is involved in the constitutional area of separation of powers, where traditionally the legislature, the executive and judiciary remain distinct.
"It's hugely dangerous in constitutional terms."
The solicitor-general should apply the same rules to Miss Clark as he had to fellow National MP Nick Smith for discussing a Family Court case, Mr Worth said.
Mr Smith is currently awaiting a judgment on contempt charges for publicising a constituent's case in the court. Family Court proceedings are shrouded in suppression orders.
"There's one law for Labour and one law for National in all of this... perhaps," Mr Worth said.
"What should happen is the attorney general should refer these issues to the solicitor general for action.
"The chances of (attorney general) Margaret Wilson doing that are as remote as rarified Himalayan heights."
Mr Worth said the courts should stand firm and not be intimidated by Miss Clark.
Judge Wickliffe last week called the 11 applicant groups who lodged claims in the Tairawhiti region together for a judicial conference.
She rejected Crown Law submissions that a hearing should be stayed because the Port of Marlborough had lodged an application to appeal against the Court of Appeal foreshore ruling.
That decision raised the prospect of the land court issuing private foreshore and seabed title, in turn prompting the Government to move to prevent coastal privatisation through legislation.
In her judgment, Judge Wickliffe also rejected the Crown's argument that a stay was justified because of plans to draw up legislation on the issue, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
The Land Court has set down two further applications for hearing foreshore claims next month, in Hawera and Wanganui.
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