Source: Radio New Zealand
Some Auckland duty lawyers won’t work for a week to highlight poor pay and working conditions. RNZ / Dan Cook
An Auckland duty lawyer says he and some of his colleagues will not work for a full week next month, as they battle poor pay and working conditions.
Duty lawyers are paid by the Justice Ministry to give free legal advice to those appearing in court who could not afford a lawyer.
Dennis Ansley has been a duty lawyer for over 38 years in Auckland.
For the last three years, Ansley said he had been pushing the government for a better hourly pay rate.
“It’s very low,” he said.
“It’s about a fifth of what I could charge if I was charging in private practice.”
Ansley said duty lawyers could be getting paid twice what they were currently, if their pay was adjusted for inflation over the past 25 years.
Dennis Ansley. Supplied
“Out of frustration, what we’re doing next month is we’re taking industrial action, we’re not making ourselves available for duty for one whole week in January,” he said.
He said he had support from at least 75 percent of his colleagues at Auckland, as well as support from other parts of the country like Christchurch, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.
“What we’re trying to do is give the government a message that if you don’t come to the party and talk to us, and try to make our job conditions better and our pay rate better, we’re going to show you how important we are and how vital our work is.”
Ansley said it would be chaotic for the courts if they stopped working.
At Auckland District Court alone, duty lawyers helped 60-80 people a day, according to Ansley.
He was hopeful the action would spark change.
“By doing nothing, we’re not going to get anywhere,” he said.
“Most of us are fed up, we’re doing this important job but not getting recognised properly for it.
“By not having a majority of duty lawyers being available for a whole week, it’s going to create a real shortage of people on the ground, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, they’ll probably have to put cases off, they may have to just concentrate on the overnight arrests and maybe do very little.”
Ansley said he had spoken to a number of judges who were supportive of the action.
“They know how vital we are to the running of the court,” he said.
Ansley said many of the people coming through the courts had mental health issues, and it had grown worse over the years.
“Pretty much every second person we deal with has mental health issues,” Ansley said.
He said that had made their job more difficult, and seen the number of both physical and verbal assaults increase “astronomically”.
“To get abused on the job is not pleasant,” he said.
“When you’re sworn at on a regular basis, and all you’re doing is your job and you’re trying to help someone, it’s pretty difficult to deal with at times.”
Ansley said he had been threatened and another colleague had been assaulted while on the job.
The condition of the building itself was an issue.
“It’s a very old court, we’ve had flooding issues, we’ve had black mould as well in the custody area where we work, we’ve got problems with the air-conditioning, so during the summer time sometimes the heat is unbearable.”
Ministry of Justice national service delivery group manager Tracey Baguley said it was aware of the planned industrial action.
She said it recognised the role duty lawyers played in ensuring access to justice for those appearing without representation.
“The Ministry’s priority is to maintain continuity of service for court users during this period and are actively working through options to ensure there is limited disruption, if any,” she said.
“The Legal Aid Triennial review includes a review of remuneration across the legal aid scheme, including proposals related to the duty lawyer service that were outlined in the discussion document. The proposals are currently with the Minister for consideration.”
A spokesperson from Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s office said he was being kept updated on the situation.
At Auckland District Court, RNZ spoke with those who had just seen the duty lawyer.
One man said turning up to court alone could be daunting, but that the duty lawyer staff were helpful. Another also commented on the good level of service provided.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
