Flavell Te Ururoa: Appointments — Deputy Police Complaints Authority 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Appointments — Deputy Police Complaints Authority 
[Volume:638;Page:8577] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa. There are a couple of reasons why the Maori Party would support the nomination of Judge Michael Lance. Firstly I believe that he is married to a woman of Te Arawa descent and that in itself is a very good recommendation. Secondly my colleague Tariana Turia says that the judge was born in Wanganui so she reckons he is pretty good on that account. Neither of those reasons of course is enough to endorse his appointment by itself so it is best that we take a closer look at some of the judgments at key points in time involving the judge. 
The first is the case that was talked about by Simon Power when in February 2001 Judge Lance presided over the conviction of Mark Middleton. Middleton as most of us know faced a jail sentence for threatening to kill Paul Dally the killer of Middleton’s stepdaughter Karla Cardno. Rather than imposing a 9-month jail sentence Judge Michael Lance QC issued a suspended sentence for 2 years but with harsh warning words to the nation that “there is no room whatsoever for vigilante justice and a lynch mob approach is quite unacceptable.” Although the judge recognised the impact of the brutal murder he called on the court to exercise its residual discretion of mercy. The compassion and humanity shown in that judgment coupled with a challenge as to the acceptable and appropriate means of being able to address injustice are qualities that I hope will be transferable to the new role of Deputy Police Complaints Authority. 
The second case is one where Judge Lance came to have a public profile when he made history by being the first judge to exercise his legal right to sue the media for unfounded public criticism. Ironically the comments had been made by Radio Pacific talkback host Mark Bennett and they related to the same case around Mark Middleton. Bennett described the judge as pigheaded arrogant idiotic overbearing spitting on justice and reducing the judicial system to a laughing stock—all because he had jailed Middleton while he was on remand. As I understand it Judge Lance had had enough of all the attacks and continuing defamation so he took the radio station to court. In doing so the judge’s case became precedent setting. It set a benchmark for the quality of reporting that would see abusive tirades result in rebuke. Bennett was instructed to make an on-air retraction and apology for his “extreme unnecessary personalised criticism and vitriol” which was “over the top”. 
So here we have in Judge Lance a man who is prepared to exercise compassion while also challenging acceptable boundaries a man who is prepared to break tradition and take on the media and a man who when questioned still upheld decent moral standards that prevented him from commenting in a like manner to the tirade of abuse he had experienced. Such a man will be greatly welcomed in the role of Deputy Police Complaints Authority. I say also that never has there been a more desperate need for people of integrity and independence and for influential experts to be in place in order to improve public confidence in the commission—confidence in the police and in the Police Complaints Authority. 
The Maori Party has supported both this appointment and that of Justice Lowell Goddard QC as the Police Complaints Authority. We do so however only as an interim stopgap measure as our preference has always been that there be an independent Police Complaints Authority—as mentioned again by Simon Power. We have made that call based on the conclusions of the study  
Maori 
 Perceptions of the Police 
 which reported a very strong perception from Maori that the Police Complaints Authority would be self-protecting and biased in favour of the police should Maori bring a complaint against the institution or individuals within it. Even the previous Minister of Justice was aware of the desperate need for independence in that when he released the review of the Police Complaints Authority he said at the time: “There is a strong public view that police investigation of complaints against themselves is neither independent or appropriate” and as such “it is critical that there is full public confidence that such investigations are independent.” 
So I believe that the events of the last few months have engendered little confidence or trust in NgaPirihimana o Aotearoa nei. The UMR research released last month described the common goals for the police as to be ethical professional well respected and effective. The survey also had as one of its key findings that that was more likely to be achieved if the police were representative of and sensitive to New Zealand’s multicultural make-up. Why is that necessary? Well that same research reported that higher perceptions of levels of victimisation from crime and lower levels of responsiveness from the police were reported by Maori Pasifika youth new migrants 18 to 25-year-olds and those living in Auckland. Well I think that would take care of about 90 percent of the survey group. 
What did the survey conclude that future policing in New Zealand should rely on? Three key points I think need to be considered in the likely work programme that will come before the Police Complaints Authority. The three unique aspects of policing in New Zealand identified in the survey were first our multicultural makeup as a nation second our small size and therefore our close connections and third the fact that police officers do not normally carry guns. New Zealanders like those things about our police and in the current context where there is so little that the general public do like about the police one could think this country would be doing everything it could to preserve their reputation. Unfortunately however the police had to go ahead and place a lethal weapon in the hands of ordinary cops: the taser gun. And what do tasers do? They encourage a culture of violence in policing—and with every new weapon the number of violent options available to the police now increases. 
As with other comparable data about ethnic targeting the taser is more likely to disproportionately affect Maori. In the United States black Americans are tasered more than twice as much as white people. In Aotearoa the same pattern is apparent with regard to pepper spray—55 percent of pepper spray victims in 2005 were Maori. The Maori Party has been so concerned about the impact of tasers and in particular their likely adverse impacts on Maori that it has laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission and it is currently in progress. Although our case will be heard in mediation there is one anomaly that I believe is interesting in the light of the Police Complaints Authority. The response to our complaint about the taser gun stated that racial profiling and racially motivated policing cannot be attributed to the police in the New Zealand environment. Yet the national manager for Maori Pacific ethnic services Superintendent Wallace Haumaha has said quite clearly that this country also fits into the pattern of indigenous peoples being overrepresented in the criminal justice system. 
And so we come back to the one key question that Justice Lowell Goddard and Judge Lance will need to consider with regard to every complaint that comes before them. Why is it that when Maori are surveyed about their perceptions of the police when the general public are surveyed about their views of the police and when the Maori national manager is asked about his view of Maori overrepresentation in the system of injustice their answers are almost identical? There is a perception that acts against the interests of Maori in any interactions with the police. And conversely why is it that such strong perceptions about the police are generally denied from within the force itself? We know that police projects involving partnerships with iwi are around we know that there are almost 50 Pasifika iwi and ethnic liaison officers in the police we know that cultural training is a core part of the recruits’ training course. But as I said at the Police College yesterday in honouring my relation Mita Mohi—who had a new intake of police recruits named after him—in taking up Mita’s name the police must accept some responsibilities. Furthermore I say iwi agreements like that in Te Aroha amount to nothing if we cannot witness a discernable change in attitude. 
So the Maori Party supports the appointment of Judge Lance to the role of Deputy Police Complaints Authority and we trust that he and Justice Goddard will make an impressive team. But we cannot and will not resile from the course of action that whanau hapu and iwi have long believed in which is that change will not happen for Maori in relation to the police until the authority exists as a truly independent body. As long as the complaints process is internal and as long as the State remains judge and jury of its own action justice will never be seen to be done. Finally I end with an acknowledgment of a comment that is frequently used in this House a comment that takes its source in Lord Hewart from  
Rex 
v 
Sussex Justices 
 in 1924 which says: “It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.” That is what we all hope will be visible with the new Police Complaints Authority.