Judicial conduct law awaits final determination

THE controversial Judicial Conduct Act is still pending a final Supreme Court determination on its validity.
It has now become obvious that the status of the referrer and interveners has changed following the elections and the change of government.When the matter came before Justice Catherine Davani yesterday, Tiffany Twivey, representing the speaker, asked for an adjournment for a further status conference because of changes in the status of parties.The referrer was the Morobe provincial executive then headed by governor Luther Wenge but Wenge has now been unseated by Kelly Naru.
The attorney-general then was Dr Allan Marat but Kerenga Kua has now succeeded him.
Another change is that of the parliament speaker’s post now held by Theo Zurenuoc.
Twivey said some submissions had not been filed because they had yet to receive instructions.
“Situations have changed,” Twivey said.She stressed that no one would be prejudiced
as other references intertwined with the Judicial Conduct Act had been halted
pending the outcome of the Judicial Conduct Act. Davani has ordered that all counsel appear before the court tomorrow to either vacate or confirm the hearing dates.There are three other pieces of legislations to be dealt with relating to the Judicial Conduct Act. They are the Parliamentary Privileges and Powers Amendment Act, the Supreme Court Amendment Act and Prime Minister and the National Executive Council Amendment Act.The provisions of Supreme Court Amendment Act stop the Supreme Court from giving directions to parliament on special references.
In special reference cases, the Supreme Court interprets matters and issues its opinion on constitutional matters.