The memorial to nobody
The Ministry of Justice has come under fire for building a $300,000 memorial to a dead judge without making clear who it is for.
The drama has entangled the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and caused the minister of justice to wade in.
The memorial to Justice Sir Robert Chambers was commissioned by then-minister of justice Amy Adams in 2016 after Chambers’ sudden death in 2013.
The garden, which sits outside the High Court at Auckland was completed earlier this year with a small grass patch, a bench, and large stone plinth with an inscription of Justice Chambers’ name.
However, shortly after its completion, the plinth was covered up until late last month where it was revealed again – without an inscription.
The final cost of the memorial garden was $342,888.
revealed in July there were rumours the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dame Sian Elias, was not happy with the memorial and had expressed her ‘‘views’’ about it.
On Monday, reported that prior to the memorial being made public, court officials contacted the ministry to say Justice Elias wanted to discuss the memorial with the ministry’s chief executive, Andrew Bridgeman.
In a letter later that month, Justice Elias asked Bridgeman to remove the plinth from the garden memorial saying it was ‘‘inappropriate’’, said.
‘‘It is a large funerary monument which is out of place on such an important public site and in such a prominent position. ‘‘It looks like a headstone. ‘‘It is of a scale that appropriates the space and, indeed, the historic courthouse,’’ she wrote.
She also said it was ‘‘wrong to leave the plinth in place’’.
According to the inscription was taken off the memorial due to an error.
‘‘Owing to a misunderstanding with the builder, the marble surfacing of the plinth was removed and destroyed shortly after the site was screened off. Given this turn of events we will replace the plinth facing with a darker marble and will add a small commemorative plaque and a bench seat,’’ said Bridgeman, reported.
Lady Deborah Chambers QC said she was ‘‘very upset’’ and confused by the decision to not have her late husband’s name on the memorial.
‘‘It’s a memorial to a great judge and that’s what they said they were doing. There’s now no mention of his name, I mean how ridiculous is that?’’ she said.
‘‘I actually think it’s insulting.
‘‘They’ve said: well this will be lovely for the family because we’ll have this lovely memorial that will remind you of Rob and so on.
‘‘Well the whole thing’s been destroyed as far as I’m concerned.’’
Justice Minister Andrew Little said he would be getting officials to look into the matter.
‘‘So much has happened and in fact so much has gone wrong, it’s got way out of control, the family is entitled to some answers about it,’’ he said.
‘‘It is meant to be a memorial to Sir Robert Chambers and the best I can do is now make some inquiries to find out exactly what has happened and what has gone wrong and how quickly it can be put right.’’