Thursday, October 21, 2010



Wilson goes

Supreme Court Justice Bill Wilson has resigned. Good riddance. His position was politically untenable from the moment the Judicial Conduct Commissioner recommended he be investigated. The integrity of our judges must be beyond reproach, their impartiality beyond doubt. Thanks to a poor decision around a potential conflict of interest, his wasn't. And that meant that he could no longer credibly serve on our highest court (or any other, for that matter).

The only question is why the government paid him a million dollars (including his legal fees in his pointless, vainglorious challenge to his removal) to go. Given Wilson's friendship with Attorney-General Chris Finlayson, it smacks of National looking after its mates with our money. Can't we for once sack someone without giving them an enormous golden handshake?