Dunne Peter: Urgent Debates — Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct—Report 
Dunne Peter: Urgent Debates — Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct—Report 
[Volume:638;Page:8553] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 Today is the culmination of what has been a very grim sense of foreboding for a long time as we have witnessed the trials the aftermath of those trials and the speculation about the way that evidence was presented to the juries of those trials over the conduct of certain police officers and a prevailing culture within the organisation at that time. Although like many New Zealanders I welcome the report as being a chance to put all those issues out in the open where they belong and as providing a chance for us to move forward now and resolve them I am not entirely confident that will prove to be the case. I say that for these reasons. I support the recommendations that have been outlined in the report and I am pleased that the Government is going to implement them. But from a cursory reading of them I am not satisfied that they go far enough. 
The fundamental issue here concerns a deeply ingrained culture within that organisation premised around loyalty to colleagues—and that is a great thing to have. But it is a culture blemished and blinded by that loyalty having become so overriding that wrongdoing cannot be seen as not being part of it. Without addressing the way that appointments at senior middle-management level and above are made and introducing more transparency into that process—notwithstanding the fact that there will be a code of conduct and notwithstanding the commitments that have been given—I am not entirely convinced that the fundamental problem will be addressed. If members cast their minds back to the recent trials they will remember that it became clear there was a profound deeply interwoven culture of everyone looking out for everyone else and of making sure either that they all had the same story to tell or that the processes by which the various complaints were investigated were coordinated in order to make sure that only in the most extreme instances did things ever progress. That is the root of the problem that has given rise to the crisis of confidence in the police that this report seeks to address. 
In fact to put the situation into some sense of perspective this report is the worst moment for the New Zealand Police since a previous commissioner Mr Compton was dismissed for corruption in the late 1950s. This is a half-century crisis of confidence in the New Zealand Police. The solution has to be bold in order to replace the sense of suspicion intimidation and scepticism that there will be in many sectors of the public as a result of these events. As I say I laud the inquiry; I think it is a positive step forward. Dame Margaret Bazley is a superb person and her judgment is acute and needs to be respected. But the inquiry has to be followed up with action as well. 
I want to make two further points in the time available to me. There is one group of people who deserve our absolute admiration at the moment. They are the women who came forward with their complaints and who continue to come forward today in very difficult stressful and often hostile situations. Without them we would not be having this discussion today. We owe it to them to act. 
There is one final group that we also need to remember today. As we speak in this House policemen and women are out on the beat—good decent policewomen and men. We should respect them and the job they have to do. They are the ones today who will bear the brunt of the criticism that arises from this report because they are there. They are innocent parties in the main but we owe it to them to put things right too because their careers their future and our nation’s community security are at stake. 
This is a very positive report. I am not entirely convinced though that it goes far enough. The onus now rests on the Government and on this House to make sure that the messages the report contains regarding what is unacceptable behaviour are translated into new procedures and new practices that endeavour as best we can to ensure there is no repetition of such behaviour in the future.