Dunne: UnitedFuture won’t support courts audio-visual bill

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne will vote against the Government’s Courts (Remote Participation) Bill this evening at its Second Reading because “part of criminals being held to account is making them front up and appear in court”.

“That is a real part of justice being seen to be done, and an accused person being present and accountable – not just on a video screen – is actually an important value for society,” Mr Dunne said.

The Bill’s aim is to enable greater use of audio-visual links (AVL) in New Zealand courts, with defendants able to be tried by an AVL link to where they are being held, rather than being present in a Courtroom.

Mr Dunne says he believes defendants should have to be present in court, and he fears the move to AVL will lead to defendants being absent from courtrooms more often than not.

“The advice I have received from officials is that AVL is intended to make it easier to deal with violent or difficult defendants who may have to be restrained or subject to additional security when appearing in Court.

“If this is the primary reason for the shift to AVL, it is not good enough in my view – if security is an issue, then courtrooms need to be made more secure, rather than shifting the defendants out of them altogether,” he says.

Mr Dunne is also concerned about the “open-ended” nature of the move to AVL.

“The presumption will be that a trial will be held by AVL, unless a judicial officer in a particular case decides otherwise.

“Trials with absent defendants will therefore become the norm, to the disadvantage of the defendant and contrary to the public interest,” he says.

Mr Dunne says it is concerning that AVL equipment has already been installed in the Auckland District Court prior to the passage of the legislation.

“Passing the Bill to effectively validate decisions that have already been made is simply not acceptable,” he says.

Mr Dunne voted for the Bill at its First Reading in keeping with UnitedFuture’s undertaking to support all reasonable legislation as far as the select committee stage, so the public could put their views.

ENDS

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