Mr WETTENHALL (1 Nov 2007) (11.56 am): I rise to speak in support of the Judicial Remuneration Bill. The purpose of this bill is to establish a statutory mechanism for determining adequate judicial remuneration which maintains judicial independence by being independent of the executive and ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality appointments to the judiciary.

This will be achieved by abolishing the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal, by providing a statutory mechanism for the determination of all judicial salaries which establishes parity between the salary of a Federal Court judge and a Supreme Court judge and maintains the current relativities between the salary of a Supreme Court judge and salaries of other judicial officers in Queensland, and by preserving all current allowances and providing for their increase in accordance with current practice.

This mechanism is similar to the scheme that has been adopted in Victoria where the remuneration of Supreme Court judges is tied to that of Federal Court judges, which is, in turn, set by the federal Remuneration Tribunal. This proposal will effectively make the federal Remuneration Tribunal the arbiter of judicial salaries in Queensland. It will reinforce concepts of judicial independence by eliminating the opportunity of the Queensland government to make submissions to the determining body and by ensuring that the Legislative Assembly will no longer have the power to disallow an increase.

It will also mean the maintenance of the 85 per cent relativity with High Court judges, thereby ensuring that the Queensland bench continues to attract quality candidates and prevents the loss of experienced judicial officers and senior barristers to other jurisdictions with higher remuneration; the separation of the executive from the determination of judicial salaries; and a consistent national approach to the setting of judicial remuneration.

The regime for establishing salaries is set out in the bill. It establishes a statutory nexus between the salary and jurisprudential allowance of a Queensland Supreme Court judge and a Federal Court judge by providing that a judge of the Supreme Court other than the Chief Justice is entitled to be paid an amount for the year of a salary and jurisprudential allowance that is equal to the salary payable to a Federal Court judge for the year. The salary of other judicial officers will be set in accordance with current internal relativities. For example, the salary and jurisprudential allowance of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will be maintained at the current relativity of 112.5 per cent of that of a Supreme Court judge. The salary and jurisprudential allowance of the President of the Court of Appeal will be maintained at the current relativity of the salary and jurisprudential allowance of the Chief Justice, which is 97.5 per cent. The salary and jurisprudential allowance of justices of the Court of Appeal appointed after 1 August 1997 will continue to be the same as that of Supreme Court judges. The salary and jurisprudential allowance of the Chief Judge will continue to be the same as that of a Supreme Court judge. The salary and jurisprudential allowance of a District Court judge, other than the Chief Judge, will continue to be 90 per cent of that of a Supreme Court judge. The salary and jurisprudential allowance of the President of the Land Court will continue to be the same as that of a Supreme Court judge. The salary and jurisprudential allowance of member of the Land Court other than the President of the Land Court will continue to be 90 per cent of that of a Supreme Court judge.

The salary of the Chief Magistrate will be 85.5 per cent of the salary and jurisprudential allowance of a Supreme Court judge, although that does not apply if the Chief Magistrate is a District Court judge. This includes the salary component currently paid in lieu of a motor vehicle. The salary of the Deputy Chief Magistrate will be an amount midway between the salary of the Chief Magistrate and the salary of a magistrate other than the Chief Magistrate. This includes the salary component currently paid in lieu of a motor vehicle. The salary of a magistrate, other than the Chief Magistrate, will be 78.7 per cent of the salary and jurisprudential allowance of a Supreme Court judge. This includes the salary component currently paid in lieu of a motor vehicle.

The salary and jurisprudential allowance of the president of the Industrial Court will be the same as the salary and jurisprudential allowance of a Supreme Court judge; a Queensland Industrial Relations Commission commissioner will be paid an amount equal to 85 per cent of the salary paid to the president;the vice-president of the QIRC will be paid salary that is equal to 97 per cent of the salary paid to the president and jurisprudential allowance that is the same as the jurisprudential allowance paid to a District Court judge; and the deputy president will be paid salary that is 90 per cent of the salary paid to the president.

The bill will establish these allowances and their purpose and provide for them to increase annually from their current bases in relation to relevant judicial officers at the same rate as salary. The allowance will increase from 1 July each year, with the first increase after commencement backdated to 1 July 2007. As is current practice, the allowances will be permitted to accrue from year to year, up to a maximum of seven years for jurisprudential allowance.

The bill will also provide that judicial officers can elect to take the jurisprudential allowance as salary,as is currently the case. The bill will provide for an expense of office allowance and dictate its allowable purpose which will reflect current practice. The allowance will be payable to judges of the Court of Appeal,the Supreme and District courts, members of the Land Court and the president of the Industrial Court. The allowance is to increase from 1 July each year in accordance with the CPI ‘All Groups' level for Brisbane for the preceding financial year. The first increase after commencement will be backdated to 1 July 2007.

A long leave allowance was introduced for judges of the District and Supreme courts to make allowance for the fact that long leave in Queensland is calculated on a seven-year basis, whereas in the Federal Court it is on a five-year calculation. This bill will establish this allowance, its purpose and provide that it is to be 2.86 per cent of salary of relevant judicial officers. It will be paid on a pro rata basis at the same time as salary. As is current practice, it will be applied to the Chief Justice, the president of the Court of Appeal and justices of the Court of Appeal, justices of the Supreme Court and District Court, the president and members of the Land Court and presidential members of the QIRC.

Magistrates currently receive an additional salary component of $6,675 in lieu of the provision of a motor vehicle. This amount is in addition to the amount of salary which is equivalent to 85 per cent of the salary and jurisprudential allowance of a District Court judge, which is 76.7 per cent of the salary and jurisprudential allowance of a Supreme Court judge. In the future, this amount will be included in salary for the purpose of relativity with the salary and jurisprudential allowance of Supreme Court judges and the relativity will be increased to 78.7 per cent to account for its inclusion.

There will be amendments to the Judges (Pensions and Long Leave) Act 1957 to ensure that judges in other Australian jurisdictions are not disadvantaged by accepting appointment in Queensland. The Judges (Pensions and Long Leave) Act will be amended to recognise prior judicial service for the purposes of long leave entitlements and judicial pensions. The Commonwealth, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria recognise judicial service in other jurisdictions for the purpose of pension and long leave entitlements. The lack of recognition of prior service is a potential barrier to attracting experienced judicial officers from other jurisdictions.

Recognition of prior judicial service will only apply to judges and not to members of the Land Court or to members of the Industrial Court or the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission. These amendments will only apply to judges appointed after commencement of the amendments. Long leave entitlements which have accrued and been taken in the other jurisdiction will not count towards long leave in Queensland. There will be amendments to prevent double dipping by providing that a judicial officer who is entitled to a pension in the prior jurisdiction is not entitled to a Queensland pension. The judicial officer will, however, be entitled to superannuation guarantee contributions. I commend the bill to the House.