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FARE (Families Apart Require Equality)
January 20 2002
Commission Of Inquiry Must Investigate Court
Corruption
Press Release
"Corruption in the Court system is a common occurrence", FARE
spokesperson Darryl Ward said today. He renewed the call for a Commission of
Inquiry following disclosures on Page 2 of yesterday's Dominion that a senior
Christchurch psychologist, who was due to give expert evidence in defence of
Peter Ellis at his trial in 1993, was heavied into not giving evidence by a
Justice Department gatekeeper who had influence over the decision of which
psychologists received state funded work.
"It is well known that psychologists and others who work in the Family
Court routinely tailor their evidence because their state funded work dries
up if they do not follow the orthodoxies that the gatekeeper officials
require of them. This is a significant factor behind the Court's covert
discrimination against fathers and their children".
"Our Court system includes numerous court bureaucrats, counsels for
children, lawyers representing parents, counseling coordinators, counselors
and others who live out of each other's pockets, referring tragically
avoidable cases from one so-called professional to another, all of them
making tidy earnings off the back of the taxpayer. Anyone who threatens this
scam in either the Family or other Courts is quickly thrown off the back of
the gravy train as the Christchurch
psychologist found out. We have had numerous similar disclosures from lawyers
unable to truly represent children's bests interests when acting as Counsel
for Child as they would lose their state livelihood if they were to upset the
gatekeepers who hold the purse strings".
"We have been made aware of such corruption and the suffering that it
causes our children for over a decade by confidential disclosures from
numerous professionals trapped in the system. Now that such practices have
finally been made public, there can be no more excuses for the government's
failure to take action".
"Accordingly we demand the urgent convening of a Commission of Inquiry
to investigate such corruption in our Courts, with all hearings and evidence
being public, with independent Commissioners being appointed from outside of
the Courts and government departments to ensure that there is no
cover-up".
"This ongoing corruption is repugnant to justice, and must be thoroughly
investigated if we are to ever have any confidence in our judicial system
again", concluded Ward.
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