Alexander Marc: Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Alexander Marc: Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:606;Page:3672] 
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
: 
 United Future welcomes the initiative shown by the Government in requesting a review of the Police Complaints Authority. We commend the swift move to review the authority and we are also encouraged that the recommendations of the review have produced this amendment bill. Rather than getting into the minutiae of the detail of the bill we recognise that much of the written material will of course change during the course of the select committee process on the bill so there is little advantage in going through it line by line like that previous speaker.  
The review of the Police Complaints Authority was conducted by a former judge the Hon Sir Rodney Gallen. He was right to point out that in order to ensure that the Police Complaints Authority operates effectively to investigate and resolve complaints and incidents concerning the police it should be given greater independence. The problem is—and this is part and parcel of the point that this legislation is trying to address—that instances like the Waitara shooting on 30 April 2000 certainly added some urgency to reviewing the Police Complaints Authority after the police investigation found the officer had acted in self-defence. Then a civil case was initiated against Constable Abbott thereafter taking him out of his work for 2 years although that case was essentially baseless. I think this legislation might address some of the problems like that hopefully.  
The United Future party believes that the Police Complaints Authority needs to have respect in the community and part of that can be achieved by giving the authority a greater sense of independence. It needs to be seen to act independently of the police and the public needs to be assured that any decisions that are made are made independently and without bias. It is important that all enforcement agencies are accountable that the rhetoric of “who polices the police” is simply that—rhetoric—and that police procedures are transparent and accountable through agencies such as the Independent Police Complaints Authority.  
The bill makes major changes to the authority. It will have an enhanced independent investigative capacity and a new structure. Its title is to change—not that that really matters very much. The authority will ensure that no person in New Zealand is above the law and will give the public confidence that an investigation is both thorough and professional. There are however cautionary flags that we would like to wave at this stage. In the review Sir Rodney Gallen proposed that a layperson and a Maori representative should be the other two members of the authority apart from its chair. This bill proposes that appointments to the authority will be in consultation with the Ministers of Maori Affairs Women’s Affairs and Pacific Island Affairs. We believe that the best persons should be appointed to the positions irrespective of where they come from and taking into account their understanding of cultural issues—as we all must—and societal issues. We do not support appointments based on tokenism. United Future recognises the tension associated with investigating the police. It is part and parcel of that cultural aspect. We support the authority being independent and believe that the investigating team members need to have knowledge of police procedure and that their appointments should not be just be token gestures to minority groups.  
In this bill the Independent Police Complaints Authority will remain a Crown entity. There will be no Ombudsman involved. We would like to discuss further the merits of the authority being a Crown entity—as opposed to having the status of an Officer of Parliament—funded under Vote Justice in order to remain independent of the police. If it remains a Crown entity United Future will advocate that an audit takes place within 3 years including a review of public and police confidence in the new authority and of course of the rate of success of the resolution processes. We support the secrecy and privacy provisions that have been retained in this bill although there needs to be some discretion in those matters because sometimes the interests of one outweigh the interests of another. We will be looking to discussing those aspects of the bill in the select committee.  
United Future supports this bill going to the select committee. We support a bill that addresses the public concerns for accountability and transparency. We want the best complaints processes for police officers and the public—ones that are not onerous and that justify faith in the authority from both the public and the police. We need to support the police in their increasingly demanding role and the last thing we want to do is to undermine their self-confidence in doing the job they have been given. Public safety and confidence in the police therefore need to be promoted. We look forward to the submissions on and further discussion of this bill. We will support it.