10. Question No. 10—Internal AffairsCHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South) to the Minister of Internal AffairsQuestion No. 10—Internal Affairs10. CHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South) to the Minister of Internal Affairs: Does the report of the Inquiry into the Appointment Process for a Deputy Commissioner of Police recommend that the appointment process be reopened?Hon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister of Internal Affairs): The Government is not going to talk about the findings of the report until it is publicly released. We are following the process recommended by the inquiry which is to first provide the report to the interested parties.Chris Bishop: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a question on notice. The Minister may think it's not in the public interest to answer but she didn't say that; she said that she's going to follow some process to do with pre-releases to those affected by the report.SPEAKER: Well I think it would've been helpful if the Minister added the words because it's not in the public interest" or something similar to it. So I'll ask the Minister to do an addendum to her answer.Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Because it is not in the public interest we are following the process recommended by the inquiry which is to first provide the report to the interested parties.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does the Minister know of any other times that section 15 restrictions have been used with regard to recent inquiries?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Section 15 has actually only been in existence since the National Government put in the Commissions of Inquiry Act—2013—but section 15 restrictions have been used for example on the Government inquiry into allegations regarding Judith Collins and a former director of the Serious Fraud Office in 2014 and the Government inquiry into matters concerning the escape of Phillip John Smith in 2015.Chris Bishop: Why did she say yesterday and is repeating today that the reason she can't release the report is because of "pre-releases to those who need to see the report"—e.g. those who participated in it—when it's been a public law principle since the Mahon inquiry into Erebus that people mentioned in inquiry reports have an opportunity to comment on the report before its release?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: It is only fair that the people involved in the inquiry receive the report before the public does. We want to do this as soon as possible and are getting advice including legal advice on how best to do this. We are following the process recommended by the inquiry. There were a range of people interviewed by Mary Scholtens QC who will be affected by the report one way or another. We are very mindful of any potential impact on these people. The member may want to consider those people also.Chris Bishop: Does the report of the inquiry into the appointment process for a Deputy Commissioner of Police make findings or recommendations in relation to the allegations of bullying against Mr Haumaha made by the three public servants who worked with him?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I refer the member to my answer to the primary question. It is those people exactly who we are trying to make sure are protected.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can the Minister confirm in light of the report which she has seen that the allegations of a cover-up are just plain ridiculous?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Unfortunately the scope of the inquiry is not around the terrible allegations put forward by members of this Parliament.Chris Bishop: Will she recommend to the Prime Minister that the appointment process for a Deputy Commissioner of Police is reopened?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: That is not my capacity. I do not have the ability to recommend to the Prime Minister. It is not within my job description to do so. There is an inquiry that has been undertaken. That inquiry will be released when it is appropriate to do so. It will be released by the Minister of State Services and then he will deal with those issues that the member raises.Chris Bishop: Why is the Minister of State Services releasing the inquiry when the report was to her as the appointing Minister for the inquiry?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: The job that I've had as the Minister of Internal Affairs was to make sure that the inquiry was completed independently and under the Inquiries Act as implemented by the previous Government. That has been completed. An oral item has been taken to Cabinet. It will now be handed over to the Minister of State Services as soon as we are confident that all parties involved have been given an opportunity to see the report.Chris Bishop: Why has she not given a copy of the report to the Minister of Police Stuart Nash when it was a joint Cabinet paper in the name of him and Prime Minister Ardern that proposed appointing Mr Haumaha in the first place?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: My job was to make sure that there was an independent inquiry into the appointment process of the Deputy Commissioner of Police. I delivered an oral item to the Cabinet. The Cabinet decided that the Minister who would then be best placed to take possession of the inquiry report and release it and follow through with anything should there need to be anything followed through with would be the Minister of State Services.Chris Bishop: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was all very interesting but the question was why she hasn't given a copy of the report to the police Minister. It had nothing to do with what she just said.SPEAKER: Well I think if the member had listened he would've worked out that it had everything to do with what she just said.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Yesterday you were quick to correct Marama Davidson when she mentioned that a particular law had been passed by the National Government—a piece of law at that stage that we were very pleased to have recognised as being our work—and insisted that she should refer to it as a law passed by Parliament which is of course most correct. But today when the Hon Tracey Martin made a similar suggestion in an attempt to I suppose you would say blacken the reputation of the National Party you allowed it to stand. Can we just have a little bit of consistency when it comes to what are effectively political attacks from Ministers who are supposed to be answering questions.Hon Tracey Martin: Speaking to the point of order—SPEAKER: No no I don't think we need to. The fact that one member said a bill was passed by a Government and the other was—I think and I'm happy to go back and have a look—passed under a Government; they are quite different things.Hon Gerry Brownlee: That's not what she said. The Hansard will show.SPEAKER: If I got it wrong then I apologise to the member but my intent—I didn't go off at that particular comment from Tracey Martin."