Tanczos Nandor: Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Tanczos Nandor: Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:11543] 
NANDOR TANCZOS (Green) 
: 
 I rise to speak to this part of the bill because I was a little bit astounded to hear Dr Mapp’s contribution. He told us that basically we should ignore the presence of racism in our country and we should simply celebrate Maori success. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: I didn’t say that at all. 
NANDOR TANCZOS 
: I listened pretty carefully at least to the beginning of his speech as halfway through it I was on my way to the Chamber. I had to come down to make a contribution because I was so astounded at what Dr Mapp had said. This is the party that has been engaging in dog-whistle politics for some time. This is the party that put up billboards telling us that iwi was not Kiwi. When we talk about celebrating the success of Maori let us get real about what we are dealing with here. 
The reality is that one law for all is not a founding notion of this State. We have only to look at the history of legislation that has been passed through this Parliament to see the plethora of laws passed specifically to discriminate against Maori. There is a list as long as my arm and the most recent example of course is the foreshore and seabed legislation. But that was not an isolated one. This House has passed numerous pieces of legislation specifically to dispossess Maori and specifically to disadvantage Maori. The idea that somehow our laws are based on this principle of one law for all is a fallacy. Certainly it could not be said to be a founding principle of the State of New Zealand. [ 
Interruption 
] Certainly it could be an aspiration I say to Mr Borrows. I totally agree with that. I think that this is our opportunity to put right those injustices of the past. But we do not do that by pretending we have this level playing field and that all is fine and dandy. We have to face up to the reality of the institutional racism that pervades our country and the way that this happens through the institutions of our State. 
I was at a party recently and a number of the Maori people at that party it seemed to me pretty clearly experience the police and the New Zealand State as a colonial imposition as a colonial occupation because of the racism that is inherent in the institutions of the State that they face the passing of racist laws racism in the application of the law and racism in the implementation of the law. 
 Those feelings of those people will continue until we actually start to get a system that treats Maori people with genuine fairness and starts genuinely to address the injustices that are so longstanding and so deep-seated in our nation. That includes racism in the police and in other Government departments as well. The Green Party is supporting Dr Sharples’ amendments because we think he raises an extremely important issue. He is looking for solutions on how to address this matter in a realistic and significant manner. 
It may be that if we develop a genuinely independent Police Complaints Authority that shows itself able to fearlessly investigate the police to hold the police to account and to fearlessly tackle head-on the racism that studies have shown quite clearly exist in the police service—and I am not saying that all police are racist by any means; I am talking about the institutional racism and the racism that is certainly present among some police officers and I have observed that for myself firsthand—then we do need the kind of body that Dr Sharples suggests. It may be that a genuinely independent Police Complaints Authority would prove such a body to be unnecessary because that authority itself can properly deal with those issues. But why would anyone have any faith that there is an ability to do that until there is a proven track record which certainly is not the case to date? Until we have actually seen some proof that the Police Complaints Authority as a body is able to address these problems then how can we have assurance that there is any way of addressing these issues without the kinds of measures that Dr Sharples is proposing? The Green Party is supporting his amendments because it is so crucial that we have an effective and fearless Police Complaints Authority.