Access to Justice Reduced With Legal Aid Cuts

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excerpt:

Barrister Marie Dyhrberg said that Mr Power had not qualified his comments by referring to "some" or "a few" lawyers. "He actually said 'lawyers' - meaning that in his view a majority or substantial number are committing fraud on the system by deliberately manufacturing false reasons for adjournments to obtain money which amounts to criminal fraud."

Ms Dyhrberg said that, unless the minister could substantiate his claims with specific examples to confirm that a majority or substantial number of lawyers had acted in this way, his statements could well amount to defamation.

She called on the minister to back up his claims by providing specific details of the names of lawyers and the times and places at which such behaviour had occured. Ms Dyhrberg said that the remarks also cast a slur on reputations of judges, as there was an implication that judges were either complicit with lawyers engaging in such behavious, or were incompetent in failing to prevent it. "The reality is that (the comments are) untrue. Only when there is a really good basis for an adjournment will you get it."

Campaign against the Taser

CATT spokesperson Marie Dyhrberg called on the Commissioner of Police to delay his decision on the Taser until the public has had the opportunity to view and comment on all relevant information about the trial, not just the summaries made available so far, which the Ombudsman has called "sanitised":

'I have read the summaries and compared them with the tactical options report accounts. In my view, many of the summaries are extremely brief, and have the effect of "sanitising" the original reports.' – Chief Ombudsman

The criticism has been welcomed by anti-Taser campaigners such as lawyer Marie Dyhrberg.

"The police have not been open and transparent. They have been very selective about in what information they have decided to provide to the New Zealand public," she says.

Full Public Disclosure

Anti Taser campaigner Marie Dyhrberg has claimed that the public are not being given all the information on tasers in the police trials of the weapon. The latest police report on the taser stun gun trial shows it has been discharged 13 times since the trial began in September last year.
Marie Dyhrberg said the report does not include vital information, including whether any injuries were sustained in many of the incidents and is seeking publication under the Official Information Act.