The supplementary budget’s allocation for Crown Law addresses urgent staff retention and recruitment needs, aiming to boost lawyer numbers and improve remuneration.

Prime Minister Mark Brown defended the $1,838,628 additional budget for the Crown Law during the supplementary budget debate in Parliament last week.

The $68 million supplementary budget was eventually passed, though it faced scrutiny from Opposition MPs.

During the budget debate, the Leader of the Opposition, Tina Browne raised concerns regarding Crown Law’s appropriation, especially in relation to staff recruitment.

Browne said that staff recruitment should be prioritised to ensure Crown Law has the capacity to develop legislation for Parliament’s consideration, thereby enabling an increase in the number of sitting days.

PM Brown stated that Crown Law was in a dire state since August of last year, with only five lawyers employed. To date, 11 lawyers have been employed, in addition to two incoming senior counsels.

“I note the concern raised by the Leader of the Opposition and the Government has been working very hard to prioritise the need of the Crown Law to the extent that today, Crown Law now has 11 lawyers with an additional two senior counsels that are currently going through interviews as we speak,” he said.

“The recruitment and retention initiatives that we have put in place will see a staggering of increasing amounts over the next few years to bring renumeration levels up to the amount for our lawyers so I’m very happy with the appropriation.”

According to Brown, the Crown Law is expected to have up to 16 lawyers, including five new Cook Islands graduates, by the end of this calendar year.

In terms of the Crown Law appropriation in the recent supplementary budget, the Prime Minister confirmed that a total of $368,000 will go towards addressing the critical staff retention and recruitment needs.

The Appropriation Amendment Bill 2025 (supplementary budget) which was tabled and passed in Parliament last week, increased the 2024/25 Budget from $328 million to $396 million.

The supplementary budget also included an allocation of $2 million for the 60^th Te Maeva Nui preparations, $500,000 for critical road maintenance, and a total of $245,000 for the Ministry of Police.

With the police allocation, there is an allocation of $145,000 to re-establish community policing and $100,000 to strengthen the Police Advisory Committee.