Mr Couch’s line ‘a bit strong'

Press, 7 September 1982, Page 6

Mr Couch’s line ‘a bit strong'

Parliamentary reporter and Press Association

Comments by the Minister of Police, Mr Couch, that some District Court judges had allowed themselves to be intimidated by protesters, may - have been “a bit strong,” said the Acting Prime Minister. Mr MacIntyre, yesterday. To clear the matter up, the Cabinet had decided to issue a statement, Mr Maclntyre told a press conference. The statement said that the Cabinet was aware of the difficulties faced by District Court judges in dealing with attempted interference and interruptions. All judges had always had, and would continue to have, the strong support of the Government in dealing with such challenges to their authority. Mr Maclntrye said the statement should not be seen as censuring Mr Couch, whose remarks had been made in a "special environment,” because he was addressing retired policemen. He felt he was protecting his policemen. "The Cabinet felt that there was something that needed clearing up, that sonje of Mr Couch’s statements could have been a bit strong,” Mr Maclntyre said.

District Court judges had faced some “troublesome times" recently, with most of the trouble coming from

"politically motivated people who had been involved with the Springbok tour and Bastion Point protests. "When matters reached a stage where a, judge is forced to use his powers to punish those responsible for contempt of court they then complain that this is political suppression. Such behaviour is completely unacceptable," said the Cabinet statement. To counter this, the judges needed to have further powers, said Mr Maclntyre. Mr Couch’s criticism was “outrageous,” said Labour's justice spokesman, Mr F. D. O’Flynn, yesterday. “I think it is outrageous for Mr Couch to say that judges have been intimidated by protesters,” he said. “It is particularly bad when it is said by the Minister of Police. “What he needs to remember is that the courts are not an extension of the police as he seems to be suggesting. They are independent bodies interposed between the public and the offenders." Mr O’Flynn also attacked the Minister of Justice, Mr McLay, for not defending the judges, as that was his role.

he said. As well •as saying that judges allowed themselves to be intimidated by protesters,

Mr Couch attacked them for their “lottery decisions at the hands of someone who believes it is more important to be kind to criminals than fair to the law-abiding.” Mr O'Flynn backed Government moves to tighten legislation on contempt of court, agreeing that it had worsened in recent years. The Government has announced that it intends to introduce legislation to raise from $l5O to $lOOO the maximum fine that District Court judges can impose, and to allow a judge to exclude an unruly defendant from the preliminary hearing of an indictable offence. Social Credit’s spokesman on justice, Mr Martin Hine, said that Mr Couch’s comments "were clearly in contempt of court themselves." They were designed to undermine public confidence in the courts and were “especially damaging,” coming from a Minister of the Crown, he said. To increase the penalties for contempt of court, was “laughable.” “The threat to our judici-

ary comes more from the politically motivated statements from Government Ministers outside the courts than from the behaviour of defendants inside the courts,” said Mr Hine.