Locke Keith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Locke Keith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:642;Page:12511] 
5.  
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: Has she made any complaints over any aspect of police operations in the last week; if so on what grounds? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) 
: 
 No. There is a necessary separation between the Minister of Police and the Commissioner of Police over day-to-day policing decisions. This separation has been consistently upheld by the courts and was the subject of an authoritative opinion by the then Solicitor-General in 1993. The constitutional principle of police operational independence is one that this Government is committed to uphold and we look to other political parties to do likewise. 
Keith Locke 
: Will the Minister be seeking an explanation from the Commissioner of Police about raids such as one on Tuesday where a Tauranga pensioner’s home was raided in his absence—his window was broken his door latch was smashed and his belongings were strewn all around his house and his shed—yet no charges or explanation followed? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No I will not be seeking an explanation of police actions in their operations. If any member of the public is dissatisfied with any action of the police there is a proper and appropriate body for people to go to to lay those complaints. It is not for the Minister of Police to troll through police operations and decide which bits are the good bits and which bits are not. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Does the Minister’s answer mean that there is nothing the police could do that would lead her to seek an explanation from them or to make a comment to them; does this mean that she is quite satisfied that by disrupting a workshop on yeast-free bread baking and seizing the computers and the underwear of the organisers of the very popular Ecoshow under the Terrorism Suppression Act the police are contributing to protecting the New Zealand public; if so from what? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The New Zealand Police must act within the law. If the police did not act within the law then this House and the Minister would be concerned. I do not know why the police would be looking at particular items; neither does that member. I suggest that those members breathe through the nose for a little longer and allow the police to do their work and the proper institutions in this country to look at those actions rather than rush to an opinion which I do not believe is helping at all in terms of the debate over this issue. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: How does she believe it possible that the New Zealand public could have been protected and from what by the police seizure of the computer of a visiting Swedish banker a keynote speaker at the Environment and Conservation Organisations show in Taupo yesterday? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have no idea what is on any computer that has been seized. I suspect that the member does not either. I believe she should not rush to judgment but should wait until the proper processes have been gone through to see whether what the police did is correct. The member is making judgments without having all the facts. I do not believe that is helpful to the debate at all. The member knows—because I have spoken to her—that the police were taking this very carefully. They were being very careful about what they did. They tried to follow through what was an operation of many many months as carefully as possible wanting to get to the bottom of what could be a very serious issue for this country.