Rights cases delayed as load doubles

Overworked, underfunded tribunal can’t tee up phone conference to plan hearing

Atribunal set up to hear breaches of human rights has become so overworked and underfunded it can’t even schedule a phone conference to plan a hearing, according to an email sent by a staff member.

The amount of work handled by the Human Rights Review Tribunal has doubled in two years but funding and staffing levels remain the same.

It has meant huge delays for those bringing complaints of discrimination, harassment and privacy breaches.

And for those who have brought cases, the Herald has learned of two that have had a three-year delay in having decisions delivered.

Associate Justice Minister Aupito William Sio told the Herald: “I am very conscious of the increase in workload . . . and have been briefed by the Ministry of Justice.”

He said two law changes were heading for Parliament, both introduced when National was in power, but recognised more needed to be done: “I am actively considering other ways to address the issues being faced by the tribunal.”

It can’t come soon enough for people seeking prosecutions of those they claim breached their rights.

Activist and blogger Martyn Bradbury said he was stunned to receive an email from a tribunal staffer saying it had no idea when his case against the police would progress.

He had sought a telephone conference with the tribunal and police to schedule the next steps in his case after police were found to have unlawfully accessed his data during the hunt for the Rawshark hacker.

The email sent to him stated: “The timing of a case management teleconference will depend entirely on the resources which the Government makes available to the tribunal . . . . no accurate estimate can be given as to when a teleconference will be convened.”

Bradbury filed his case with the tribunal midway through last year after finding police had unlawfully accessed his banking information, citing “computer fraud”.

The police inquiry appeared to have led to credit applications by Bradbury being handled and then rejected by the bank’s fraud unit.

Bradbury, who said he had nothing to do with the Rawshark hack, said the financial stress caused by the rejected application had huge mental-health repercussions, including deep depression and self-harm.

He said the delay “gnaws away at you”.

Barrister Simon Judd, who takes prosecutions on behalf of the Director of Human Rights Proceedings before the tribunal, said: “It can be very frustrating for the clients . . . waiting months or even years for a judgment. That’s pretty unacceptable.”

Judd said tribunal chairman Rodger Haines QC had been “open with the fact they have been struggling”.

It can be very frustrating for the clients . . . waiting months or even years. Barrister Simon Judd

In a decision last year, Haines said delays were caused by an “unprecedented increase” in cases, which had become more complex and were increasingly handled by complainants rather than lawyers.

He said there was also a need to change the law requiring him to personally sit on every hearing.

Kensington Swan partner Hayden Wilson — who represented Rachel McGregor in her sexual harassment complaint against former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig — said the increase in cases could reflect a greater awareness among the public of citizens’ rights.

“Delays in any legal process are far from ideal, but it is particularly troubling in an area where fundamental rights are being considered.”

Wilson said the tribunal and its staff were “working incredibly hard”.

“I simply don’t think that they have the resources available to meet the present demand, and I can’t see that demand decreasing in the near future.”

In the 2014/2015 financial year, the tribunal received 49 applications — but in 2016/2017 the number of applications was 94.

A calendar-year count of cases received, published by the tribunal last year, showed it had gone from 38 in 2014 to 93 in 2016.