Costello CaseyHon CASEY COSTELLO (Associate Minister of Police): I rise on behalf of New Zealand First again to support the motion by the Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith regarding the reappointment of Elizabeth—or Liz—Sinclair and Andrew Coleman as a new member to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). As has been stated Liz Sinclair is taking a second term and she is to be applauded for her commitment to this role which is a somewhat thankless task and is crucial to New Zealanders. She has extensive public sector experience and the benefit of that experience of the first term will serve the interests of the authority well. Andrew Coleman has himself—as has been previously said—extensive experience in senior positions including 20 years' police service. We know that the IPCA is an independent oversight body that considers complaints against the New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct. It has the ability to undertake investigations and make recommendations to the Commissioner of Police. The role of policing as has been stated is challenging and demanding and all too often is increasingly carried out in high-stress environments. The police officers who carry out the important role of public safety in responding to escalating crime must be supported and provided with the right tools and resources to do what is expected of them. Those resources include good legislation that provides them with the powers and authority to do what is necessary to keep the public safe. At the same time we do acknowledge the importance of having a system that provides an assurance that there is monitoring of the services they provide and through that monitoring the ability to deliver an assurance of accountability. It is of course a matter for the court system to deal with lawbreaking but the IPCA is responsible with regard to issues of conduct and neglect of duty or any practice policy or procedure but the authority is also responsible for investigating any incident involving serious bodily harm notified by the commissioner to the authority. The authority serves to provide an assurance that the reputation of the police is protected also. By these investigations and by their monitoring role they can provide police with an assurance that despite some narratives and some commentary they are respected and are regarded highly.There has been comment that police investigate themselves and I would query the fact that when you deal with these matters who is better suited to conduct the investigations? Police have always and will continue to be self-monitoring to the point that they are highly protective of their reputation and will not allow anything to discredit the reputation of the many. They are cooperative and generally very supportive of the IPCA's role and in themselves they will ensure that they will weed out any wrongdoing. It is unfortunate that in this House the discredit of the reputation of the police is communicated by members who state comments like Most public would rather walk down an alley with a gang member than a police officer." As a person who has spent both my working life and more recently my political life speaking directly to police officers and visiting police stations I've seen the tremendous work and effort that a range of officers do in a range of areas to build those solid community relationships to ensure that the community is fully engaged and I think that the IPCA provides that assurance to the public that should things go wrong there will be an independent body that supports what they have done and make sure that the public is protected. I take great pleasure in supporting the appointments to this role in continuing to support the IPCA and the work that it does to provide public assurance."