Judiciary does have education

 DEPUTY Chief Justice Gibbs Salika says judges “must not be seen as the know-it-all”. 

Justice Salika told a court-user forum in Kokopo that a network of education system within the judiciary existed and that it was overseen by the Judicial Education Committee responsible to keep judges abreast with changes in laws and alterations in decision-makings not only in PNG but also abroad.

Salika said the progress of the network would have a greater impact on the judiciary if participation on a wider scale was encouraged.

He said the network was institutionalised and known as the PNG Centre for Judicial Excellence. 

The main objective is to up-skill judges, magistrates, court staff and even the garden boy and tea boy and, as officers of the judiciary, they wanted to serve the people, Salika said. 

He said the forum would compile views to ratify an approach that best suited the users once they entered the court premises. 

He said the forum wanted to find out the treatment portrayed by judges considering areas such as respect for one’s dignity. 

Salika is joined by Justice Ellenas Batari and Justice Salatiel Lenalia in the panel which has acknowledged the feedback and suggestions raised by relevant representatives of the people as users of the courts.