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Speaker 1: For the past eighteen months, journalists have been trying to

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Speaker 1: get speaking of judges, trying to get holds their hands

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Speaker 1: on what's called the Red Book. Now, this is a

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Speaker 1: list of perks that district court judges receive, and it's

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Speaker 1: all courtesy at tax payer. They finally agreed to release it.

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Speaker 1: On top of the three hundred and seventy thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: salaries that the judges get has been revealed. We're paying

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Speaker 1: relocation costs, new carpets, new curtains, real estate fees, school uniforms,

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Speaker 1: cotdo club, partner allowances, a whole bunch of other stuff

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Speaker 1: with me now is retired district court judge Rosemary Radale

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Speaker 1: Hay Rosemary.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Heather, how are you very well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? This list seems entirely reasonable to me for

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Speaker 1: the job that these guys are doing. What about you?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely there are costs that are available if you're relocating,

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Speaker 2: and some judges are and some things you don't get.

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Speaker 2: Of course, that's just the whole gamut of what's available.

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Speaker 2: But judges in many cases have to move from one

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Speaker 2: end of the country to the other, so I don't

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Speaker 2: see anything unusual in that.

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Speaker 1: The only thing that I probably quibble with is why

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Speaker 1: it's necessary to fly your wife or girlfriend out, or

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Speaker 1: husband for that matter, after only two days of being

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Speaker 1: in another city.

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Speaker 2: Well, sometimes a judge goes to another court and they

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Speaker 2: might be there for some time if it's a jury trial,

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Speaker 2: and it goes on and on. So I think I

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Speaker 2: think it's quite reasonable if if that's the case, wouldn't

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Speaker 2: you extend.

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Speaker 1: It beyond two days? Then, Rosemary? I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: I think that two days we're probably happy for the

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Speaker 1: break from our partner, aren't we.

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Speaker 2: Well you might be.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't halfter five days. I mean, I just wonder

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Speaker 1: if maybe, after you know, you extend it to be

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Speaker 1: a bit more reasonable. But also, look, the thing is

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Speaker 1: what's going to happen is people are going to go

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Speaker 1: through the list, they're going to compare it to what

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Speaker 1: they get, and it's going to be a whole lot

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Speaker 1: more generous. Right, So would the smarter thing from a

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Speaker 1: PR perspective not be to scrap all of the stuff

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Speaker 1: and just build it into the salary.

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Speaker 2: That sounds easy that there's an arrangement that's been in

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Speaker 2: place for judges who've been judges for a long time,

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Speaker 2: and you don't scrap that for people who are existing judges.

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Speaker 2: And then there's judges who've been appointed since I think

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Speaker 2: it's twenty nineteen, and their expenses arrangements are slightly different,

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Speaker 2: so you could give them a whopping salary. What's the difference.

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Speaker 1: Well, the difference is that we don't go through a

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Speaker 1: salary is just a salary. You don't go through the

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Speaker 1: list and feel envious.

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Speaker 2: Well, people might then be envious about the salary.

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Speaker 1: Undoubtedly they will, but they get it over and done

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Speaker 1: with in one fell swoop, don't you think, oh see, yeah,

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Speaker 1: well if we got to make people feel better, is

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Speaker 1: that what this is about those? Basically, hey, what about

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Speaker 1: the sabbatical? Right, so after five years in the job,

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Speaker 1: judges of the old contracts get a sabbatical of twenty weeks,

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Speaker 1: which is five months, and nowadays they only get a

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Speaker 1: sabbatical of about oh, I think it's three and a

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Speaker 1: half months or something like that. What do they do

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Speaker 1: with their sabbaticals?

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Speaker 2: They can do whatever they like. Some judges choose to

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Speaker 2: go to other countries, do a research project, go to

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Speaker 2: the university. Some choose to take time out. It's entirely

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Speaker 2: up to them. It's not a requirement to go and

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Speaker 2: learn some more about being a judge.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Rosemary, thank you so much. I really appreciate your expertise.

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Speaker 1: It's Rosemary Ridell, retired district court judge. So what happens

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Speaker 1: with the partner is if the judges. We don't know

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Speaker 1: how much the district court judges are getting, but if

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Speaker 1: it's anything like the higher court judges, like high courts

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Speaker 1: judges get when they go away on work and they

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Speaker 1: have to get sit in a different court or whatever

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Speaker 1: it is, they can claim two hundred and forty bucks

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Speaker 1: a day for their per diem, and then after a

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Speaker 1: couple of days they can fly the boyfriend out, and

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Speaker 1: then they can claim ninety six dollars per day for

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Speaker 1: the boyfriend. I think I think two days you can

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Speaker 1: go without your partner. I think when it starts getting

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Speaker 1: into like a week or two weeks, then I'm okay

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Speaker 1: with flying them out. For more from the Mi Casking Breakfast,

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