KiwiNZ: To those who have posted that you feel the payment for Jury service is too low are you willing to pay increased taxes to fund such an increase?

MadEngineer: Why should you get paid more?

http://www.courts.dotag.wa.gov.au/R/reimbursement.aspx

KiwiNZ:

MadEngineer: Why should you get paid more?

http://www.courts.dotag.wa.gov.au/R/reimbursement.aspx

Australian Government policy and law does not apply in NZ

MadEngineer:

KiwiNZ:

MadEngineer: Why should you get paid more?

http://www.courts.dotag.wa.gov.au/R/reimbursement.aspx

Australian Government policy and law does not apply in NZ

hence why I deleted the post as I thought I was looking at the kiwi .govt site. Took you a while to submit your reply! :p

MadEngineer:

KiwiNZ:

MadEngineer: Why should you get paid more?

http://www.courts.dotag.wa.gov.au/R/reimbursement.aspx

Australian Government policy and law does not apply in NZ

hence why I deleted the post as I thought I was looking at the kiwi .govt site. Took you a while to submit your reply! :p

KiwiNZ: To those who have posted that you feel the payment for Jury service is too low are you willing to pay increased taxes to fund such an increase?

Kyanar:

MadEngineer:

KiwiNZ:

MadEngineer: Why should you get paid more?

http://www.courts.dotag.wa.gov.au/R/reimbursement.aspx

Australian Government policy and law does not apply in NZ

hence why I deleted the post as I thought I was looking at the kiwi .govt site. Took you a while to submit your reply! :p

For what it's worth, you'll note that the government of Australia requires that employers continue to pay you, and do not fire you/make you redundant while you are on jury service.  New Zealand law does not require your employer to.  That's my point.  If it's your "civic duty" to attend jury service, it should be up to the government to ensure that you should be no worse off than if you didn't.  Either the government pays you the amount you'd otherwise be paid, or it should be your employer's "civic duty" to pay you while you're on jury service.  You'll note though that the Australian government actually even pays "average of the last 12 months" to self-employed people who are called to jury service, and pays vastly less to unemployed people than the NZ government does.

And no, KiwiNZ, it's not an exaggeration.  I personally know someone who got tied up in a 6 month jury trial.  If our employer at the time hadn't continued to pay him as if he was still working, that would have been financially devastating.  Potentially even bankruptcy inducing if he had a mortgage.

KiwiNZ: To those who have posted that you feel the payment for Jury service is too low are you willing to pay increased taxes to fund such an increase?

Nope, not at all.  If the Australian government can afford to pay average daily wage to jurors, then so can the NZ government.  And while e I looked their income tax is a bit higher than ours, their GST (the real income earner for the government) is 5% lower.  Maybe NZ needs to introduce CGT?

KiwiNZ: 

Last time I looked outside this was not Australia.

JimmyH: Making the employer continue to pay someone on jury service might be tolerable for larger employers, who can average the occasional cost across a large workforce. But it could be crippling for many smaller businesses. A small business with (say) two employees that had to pay full salary for (say) a six month trial, while they weren't working or bringing any money in to the business, could be enough to drive the business under in many cases.

I think payment should be made by the Crown and should be fair - ie a juror shouldn't expect to make on it, but neither should they be seriously out of pocket. Basing it on average earnings (as per IRD declarations) for the last 12 or 24 months, with some allowance for actual reasonable expenses, seems fair. While justice is important, the judges, lawyers and court officers aren't working for charity or minimum wage, why should the jurors be expected to?