An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could be facing deportation after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post, later this week.

In the last week of parliamentary session ahead of the general election, the tribunal has tabled it and is due to be debated by MPs this week.

For the last four years now, the Kiribati judiciary has been in turmoil with key judges removed and huge backlogs in the system.

Historically, Kiribati has relied on expatriate judges for its senior courts but the man drawing the government’s ire here is David Lambourne, who, while Australian, has lived in Kiribati for many years, and has married to the current opposition leader, Tessie Lambourne.

There are numerous issues the government has raised but the tribunal focused on one in particular and dismissed three others.

It said Lambourne had been remiss in failing to deliver a written decision on a civil court case in 2020. The delay was at least partly due to the COVID-19 with Lambourne, in Australia for a judicial conference, unable to get back into Kiribati, which had shut its borders.

When he did get back, he faced a myriad of accusations, was stood down, and attempts were made to deport him, but the ruling heard by the then Chief justice, New Zealand judge Bill Hastings, exonerated him.

The Court of Appeal received an appeal by the government in Lambourne’s favour, but the Kiribati government then removed all those judges. It was also noted that all the judges were current or former members of the New Zealand judiciary and are held in high regard.

The tribunal was set up by the government in May 2022 but it suspended its suspended its work two months later after Lambourne had challenged its existence.

It started work again in 2023 but this is was again suspended when the High Court issued an interim injunction- staffed by a lay magistrate, a legal practitioner, a former public servant and a retired teacher.

Then last month the government reconfigured the tribunal and it very quickly produced the report which politicians are shortly to discuss.

The tribunal concluded in their recommendation that the Parliament should consider removing Lambourne from his role as a Puisne judge of the Kiribati High Court.

It said he had persistently disregarded the prompt delivery of written judgements, neglected to take thorough measures to prevent any misunderstanding about the fundamental role of a judicial officer, and, by behaving in a manner that created the perception of bias.

Another allegation claimed Lambourne bullied a 57-year-old staffer in the judiciary, by yelling at him. The tribunal said that this was unacceptable.

Lambourne would have a recourse to appeal the findings of the tiribunal but doing that from the outside of the country would be an issue; However, he would have to overcome Kiribati President Taneti Maamau’s domination of Parliament as he would be wanting to eliminate the issue completely ahead of elections, due in a few months.