Attorney-General attacking Judges, not defending them

Labour’s lack of lawyers who have not lied or been forced to give up their practising certificate led to Dr Cullen going from history lecturer to Attorney-General.

He said just last Saturday “traditionally, the role of the Attorney-General was to defend the independence of judges “and I certainly have every intention of doing so” and “Parliamentarians have to be extremely careful about criticism of judges.”

Yet what did he do yesterday. He accuses the Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court of leaking documents to the news media. Now attacking a Chief Judge in Parliament, even if he had done that, is a very bad look for the Attorney-General. But even worse he got it wrong.

As the Herald reports, Judge Williams had not spoken to Jonathan Milne, and had not authorised its release because anyone who had requested it could have had it.

Milne confirmed he had openly sought it and received it from the registrar. He also sought Crown Law’s submission and received it. Will Cullen also attack the Solictor-General for leaking information to the press?

This is a huge blunder by Cullen. The Judiciary will have a total lack of confidence in an Attorney-General who smears a Chief Judge in Parliament for political gain, and even worse gets it wrong.