This determination is deemed to have come into force on 1 October 2018 and expires on 30 September 2019. It sets the salaries and the principal allowance for secondary residential accommodation in Wellington for the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Judges of the Court of Appeal, and the Chief High Court Judge and sets out the salaries for the other High Court Judges, the District Court benches (including the salary payable to a District Court Judge who is also the Chief Coroner), the Principal Environment Judge, the Judges of the Employment Court, and the Judges of the Māori Land Court.

The Remuneration Authority (the Authority) is required to have regard to the following when setting judicial remuneration and allowances:

• the need to achieve and maintain fair relativity with the levels of remuneration received elsewhere:

• the need to be fair both—

  • to the persons or group of persons whose remuneration is being determined; and

  • to the taxpayer:

• the need to recruit and retain competent persons.

In addition, the Authority must take into account—

• the requirements of the position concerned; and

• the conditions of service enjoyed by the persons whose remuneration is being determined and those enjoyed by the persons or members of the group of persons whose remuneration and conditions of employment are, in the opinion of the Authority, comparable with those of the persons or members of the group of persons whose remuneration is being determined.

The Authority must also consider any prevailing adverse economic conditions, based on evidence from an authoritative source, and may determine the remuneration at a rate lower than it would otherwise have determined.

During the last 18 months, the Authority has completed a significant review of its approach to setting remuneration, allowances, and superannuation entitlements for judicial officers specified under section 12B of the Remuneration Authority Act 1977. This determination implements the outcome of that part of the review that is related to the provision of salaries and allowances to those judicial officers.

The review took into account a wide range of information, including:

• submissions (written and oral) received from the various benches:

• the views of key stakeholders:

• remuneration data on comparable jobs in private sector legal practices with similar skills and experience and for groups from which it can be expected that the judicial officers could be recruited:

• remuneration data for senior positions in the public sector:

• remuneration arrangements covering judicial officers in international jurisdictions:

• terms and conditions of employment of members of the judiciary:

• information on the recruitment and retention of judicial officers:

• a survey of recurring and contemporary issues affecting the courts.

A key finding of the review was the importance of maintaining appropriate relativities between the salaries of the various judicial officer positions. While such relativities should not be regarded as fixed in perpetuity, the Authority recognised the risk in the significance that some might attribute to any change in relativities that have been stable for some time. For the District Court and specialist courts, where the superannuation subsidy is being changed in an associated determination, the remuneration increase is less this year. Overall, across all benches there is an increase of approximately 1.8% in remuneration.

Some positions such as the Chief High Court Judge, Associate Judges of the High Court, Principal Youth Court Judge, and Principal Environment Judge received a higher increase to address historic relativity issues. Rather than percentage increases, the Judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal received a flat rate increase based on the increase to the salary of a Judge of the High Court.

Up till now, judicial officers have been paid a principal allowance for general expenses (determined under section 12B(1) of the Remuneration Authority Act 1977). The Authority has determined that this allowance is redundant in this modern world. Therefore, from 1 October 2018, the grossed up principal allowance for general expenses has been incorporated into the salaries of judicial officers payable under this determination.

Following a legislative change, the principal allowance for secondary residential accommodation in Wellington has been extended to the Judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Although the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are based in the capital city, most of New Zealand’s lawyers do not live in Wellington. An element of pragmatism is needed in order to properly recognise modern family influences and to support the recruitment and retention of Judges in these courts. In this case, it is assumed that a Judge’s primary place of residence is the place where the Judge would normally live if not required to spend continuous periods in Wellington engaged on judicial business. For the purposes of the principal allowance for secondary accommodation, Wellington has been defined as the area within the boundaries of the Wellington Regional Council.

During the coming year, the Authority will be giving further consideration to its approach to determining the remuneration of the Principal Environment Judge, the Judges of the Employment Court and Māori Land Court, and the coroners (who are currently covered by a separate determination).