JANET Mason, the counsel assisting in the Malimali Commission of Inquiry (COI) has clarified that she is not a New Zealand King’s Counsel.
She also says it would be inappropriate of her to comment on Justice David Ashton-Lewis’s remarks in a radio interview in Australia last month.
“That is absolutely not correct,” she said when asked about Justice Ashton-Lewis’s description of her as a New Zealand King’s Counsel (KC).
“I have never, ever passed myself off as an NZ KC. My title is Senior Legal Counsel.
“Justice Ashton-Lewis often said that my skills as a litigator were excellent, and as good as any KC he had met. I suspect he simply made a mistake when referring to me as a KC.”
On her views of other comments by Justice Ashton-Lewis including mention of helping the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka find “the crocodiles in the pond”, Ms Mason said, “It would be inappropriate of me to comment on the substance of Justice Ashton-Lewis’s comments as this matter is now the subject of a Judicial Services Commission (JSC) complaint.”
Ms Mason said she remained courteous and professional in her conduct during the COI.
“During my appointment as Counsel Assisting, I applied myself with the greatest sense of neutrality, objectivity and fairness in relation to Ms Malimali, and every other witness.
“In all my interactions with Ms Malimali, I was courteous and professional. During the proceeding, I observed His Lordship (Justice Ashton-Lewis) to be neutral and unbiased in his dealings with Ms Malimali, and all other witnesses.”
She said it would be appropriate if Justice Ashton-Lewis as the Commissioner, or both of them, were to advise the Prime Minister on how to implement the recommendations.
“In fact, it would be beneficial because we both know more about the issues than anyone else, given the seven months spent on these issues, and given that many of the persons expected to be involved in the implementation of the recommendations are conflicted, for example, the Solicitor-General, and the Attorney-General.”
