The new Permanent Secretary (PS) for Justice and Legal Affairs, Mr. George Hoa’au during his tour of national legal agencies was successfully briefed by the Hon. Chief Justice, Sir Albert Palmer.
Sir Palmer welcomed and impressed on PS Hoa’au the importance of the judiciary to our country. He further impressed that, “we must build the judiciary for those generations to come. Above all, building the justice system is a foundational pillar towards building a strong nation. And no one will do it for us but ourselves. We must re-build it by God Grace. And it starts with us changing our mindsets”. The Hon. Chief Justice, in particular made mention of the importance to consider increasing budgetary allocation for next year, and offer support for the Self- Autonomy objective. He hopes they will be priorities for PS Hoa’au to pursue their realisation this year.
In response, PS Mr. Hoa’au observed that “it is an honour to be given the opportunity to serve in the office of the Permanent Secretary for justice. A privilege that he takes seriously and why his first administrative priority is to get the basics right.” And an important basic for him is to listen and understand the current priorities, challenges of the judicial sector. As stressed to the other agencies during his briefing tour, PS Hoa’au mentioned that HQ has to continually ask itself, how it must effectively offer support and leadership to the judiciary this year. PS Hoa’au also had brief discussions with some High Court Judges.
The Hon. Chief Justice encourage PS Hoa’au to always welcome to visit his office and staff, whenever he needs help. He looks forward to a fruitful working relationship with PS Hoa’au this year.