Turei Metiria: Policing (Involvement in Local Authority Elections) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Policing (Involvement in Local Authority Elections) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 22 June 2010. Volume:664;Page:12042. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 The Green Party is not supporting the Policing (Involvement in Local Authority Elections) Amendment Bill. We supported the Policing Bill of 2008 which had this change—[ 
Interruption 
] The Minister of Police can cackle all she likes over there but it is important to have a chance to explain why we have decided that we will not be supporting this bill. 
At the time that the original legislation went through in 2008 we agreed unusually with New Zealand First that this issue was about the separation of powers between those who make the law and those who enforce the law and that there was a compelling case to say that those who are responsible for enforcing the law should not be part of the process of making it. There are serious conflict of interest issues. There are issues for constituents who may well need to have a person like a councillor representing them on a matter that deals with a law that that councillor may or may not have made but who is responsible for enforcing. 
There are many areas of our law where we are clear on the separation of powers between those who make the law and those who enforce the law. This seems like an appropriate time to make that similar distinction. Since the time we supported the provision the last time it was put forward by the Labour-New Zealand First Government we have had no evidence or compelling case made to us as to why we should change our position. 
Of course the difficulty is that because this Government is so obsessed with the excessive use of urgency once again the community will not have an opportunity to explore this issue in full. This is the very important issue of the separation of powers. We would have been very prepared to consider the evidence that would have come to a select committee in order to see what the circumstances were and to hear arguments as to whether we should continue to support this legislation. We have maintained an open mind on that basis. But because there will be no select committee process because this Government is pushing through this legislation for no good reason then neither we nor the rest of the community will be able to explore those issues in full. Because we supported the provision constraining police from acting as councillors or local body authorities we can have no other position than to continue to support that. 
Again it is very difficult when legislators such as ourselves and the community are unable to explore important constitutional issues such as the separation of powers and the question of whether those who enforce the law should also be responsible for making it because of this Government’s misuse of urgency and its failure to uphold the democratic right of our community to have a say. We will not be supporting this bill.