Dunne Peter: Policing Bill — Second Reading 
Dunne Peter: Policing Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:17747] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 United Future supports the second reading of the Policing Bill. It supports it as being timely and also as being a move towards bringing modern policing requirements and the legislative framework by which they are provided up to date. It is worth observing that this bill replaces an Act that has been in place for some 50 years. It is further worth observing that the 1958 Act was conceived in the most extraordinary of circumstances. During the 1950s there was a controversy surrounding the then Commissioner of Police Commissioner Compton that forced his resignation and led to the appointment—for as far as I am aware the only time in our policing history—of a civilian Secretary of Police Mr Barnett. The 1958 Act was conceived as a way of dealing with the issues that had given rise to the problems that had led to the replacement of the commissioner and the appointment of a civilian head. That was a long time ago and they are not the only things to have changed or altered significantly in the last 50 years. 
I heard the previous speaker make an observation that is commonly referred to—that is to say that the reputation of the police has been dwindling over the years for a variety of reasons. I actually think that when we look at it we see that every time over those last 50 years where the police have been put in the position of being in conflict with the community over some interest or another that has led to some challenge to their authority. I refer to the Viet Nam War protest in the 1960s as an example where the police were in the front line of maintaining law and order against a large popular movement opposed to an action of the Government of the day. Just over the weekend I was reading again the accounts of the police actions during the 1981 Springbok Tour where the same sorts of issues were at play. 
I suspect that in both situations there were police officers doing their duty who felt very strongly sympathetic to the cause of the protestors with whom they were forced to deal. They were reflective of the general population in that regard. That brings home to us the difficulty of the role that the police inherently have to perform. They are there to uphold law and order. Sometimes it is in very difficult and dastardly circumstances such as the horrific crimes they have to be at the scene of—the grisly murders they discover. Sometimes it is in situations that are much more emotional and political such as I have just described but at all times it is the police whom we expect to be the upholders of law and order to be our protectors and to be the first people on the spot. 
Just over the last weekend we have had horrific weather affect the country and I suspect there were many police officers called out to be in the front line of our civil response to some of the emergencies that were occurring. We take that for granted as being their role. Then we add to that the controversy that has attended the police in recent years culminating in Dame Margaret Bazley’s report and a whole series of other unseemly actions that have contributed to a tarnishing of the police reputation. This bill seeks to set aside all of those things and say that here is a regime for the operation of the police in the first half of the 21st century. In that regard it is a very important milestone and step forward and I am very happy to support it. 
I want to make one other final closing comment. This is an occasion on which perhaps the House will indulge me for a moment as I pay a tribute to a constituent of mine who died recently and I refer to the late Commissioner Bob Walton. In many senses he was the typical embodiment of the modern New Zealand police officer and at his funeral he was described as perhaps the greatest police commissioner of modern time. I got to know him in his latter years when he was still in both a figurative and a literal sense as straight as a die. He was ramrod upright in his demeanour. He was a great bowler and he was a warm and friendly character but he was the embodiment of what we expect a New Zealand police officer to be. 
I simply want to take this opportunity to pay my tribute to him and to pay my respects to his family on their sad loss and to the wider police community for the loss of one of their great leaders. I am sure he would be saying tonight that this legislation is exactly what the police need to enable them to face the challenges that they will encounter in the years ahead and to enable them to continue serving the New Zealand public with the dignity the honour and the general good humour and good faith that they have done over the last 50 years. 
I support this bill I look forward to it proceeding and I rest secure in the knowledge that whatever circumstances befall any of us at any time the police will almost certainly be there to assist us. There are very few countries in which that remark could be made with confidence and with assurance; we should be thankful that New Zealand is one of those.