Cullen Michael: Policing Bill — Second Reading 
Cullen Michael: Policing Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:17735] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Leader of the House)  
on behalf of the  
Minister of Police 
: I move  
That the Policing Bill be now read a second time 
. This bill is a major piece of legislation though it is not very long by the standards of some of our current pieces of legislation. The bill replaces the Police Act of 1958 which is some 50 years old and is certainly fairly ancient legislation—perhaps Mr Borrows remembers the passing of the bill; I am not sure. Not many of our statutes on the books these days are still in their principal form dating back some 50 years. Clearly there is a need to update the Police Act given the enormous changes that have occurred in society and the enormous changes that have occurred in the nature of the police force and policing in New Zealand. Fifty years ago of course nearly all members of the New Zealand Police Force were men with very few women in the police force at that stage. Now a substantially increasing proportion of police officers in New Zealand including senior police officers are women. Nearly all police officers in 1958 were of Pakeha background. That is certainly no longer true and the police are increasingly representative of the much more complex and multi-ethnic society that we have seen emerge over that period of time. 
There has been wide consultation around this legislation and I know that the Minister of Police is extremely keen to see this legislation passed. The bill continues the best features of the current legislation particularly—and most crucially—the independent role of the police and the traditional role of the police constable. I have to say that I am often concerned in this House and outside when members of Parliament talk to the Government about the Government or in criticism of it implying that the Government should in some way interfere in the way that the police run their own affairs and should be directing the police about how they carry out investigations whether they carry out investigations whether charges should be laid and so on. It is a fundamental principle in my view of a police force in our kind of democratic society that they are operationally independent of the political system—obviously they are accountable to Parliament and the Government but they are not directed by Parliament or the Government in the way in which they operate. 
I am very pleased to see that in New Zealand under this bill we are continuing the tradition of an operationally independent police force and not going down the track that I see British politicians talking about amongst both major political parties which is introducing an elected element into the management of the police system. The Conservative Party is actually talking about electing chief constables and the British Labour Party is talking about electing police authorities with supervisory powers over the police. I think that that would be a very bad track for us to proceed down. We have seen in the United States where senior police officers are elected or politicised that that creates all kinds of difficulties that we do not see occurring within New Zealand. 
The police of course are clearly responsible for the maintenance of law and order and in a modern complex society that is no easy business indeed. It often requires difficult issues of prioritisation. The police occupy a very special and difficult place in regard to the issues around employment practices in terms of conditions of employment. But I am pleased to note that the Minister of Police was so keen to see this bill passed that she has rushed run—indeed sprinted—and almost qualified for the Olympic Games in arriving here for the second reading of this bill. I am sure that she will be very pleased to take the second call on behalf of the Government.