Somare, Amet join reference

By JUNIOR UKAHA
SIR Michael Somare, Sir Arnold Amet and others will be interveners in the special Supreme Court reference to stay the new judicial conduct law.
Justice Don Sawong, on behalf of the bench, ruled that the interveners had genuine interest in the reference and that their participation would “contri­bute to full arguments on what is now a new set of laws”.
“In my view, there is no question that both Sir Michael and Sir Arnold have to intervene in this reference,” he said.
“The act, the subject of the reference, is designed to have the two judges removed so that would then render the decision in SCR 3 of 2011 and SCR 1 and SCR 2 meaningless.”
He ruled in favour of Sir Michael and Sir Arnold after Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, through his lawyer, argued on Wednesday that their applications be dismissed as they had no standing in the case.
Sawong said Sir Michael and Sir Arnold had “political interest” in the proceedings.