King Annette: Policing Bill — First Reading 
King Annette: Policing Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14356] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I move  
That the Policing Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate point I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Law and Order Committee that the committee report back to the House before 31 May 2008 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions and during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 192 and 195(1)(b) and (c). 
I am proud to open the debate on the Policing Bill. It contains the most far-reaching legislative proposals on policing to come before this House in half a century. The bill will replace the 1958 Police Act and two smaller statutes dealing with aspects of international policing. It will fast-forward New Zealand Police legislation into the 21st century. 
These reforms are long overdue. The complex challenges of today’s world cannot be met with laws grounded in an earlier era. The context for contemporary policing is radically different from that faced by the lawmakers in the 1950s when the current Police Act was passed not the least of which are new forms of offending and technological advances that can now be used to combat crime. Indeed in some cases the leap we need to make is not just from the 1950s. Several provisions in the existing Police Act—especially in the areas of governance employment arrangements and ways to manage staff conduct—trace back to Victorian times. 
Although there have been incremental changes to the Police Act over the years the current legislative framework for policing is still left with unnecessarily prescriptive rules and confused lines of accountability amongst other drawbacks. In confronting these challenges the bill reflects the outcome of a wide-ranging review of the 1958 Act that has been undertaken during the past 2 years. The review was not a narrow administrative exercise but sought to promote a national conversation about the future of policing in order to fundamentally re-imagine what sort of legislative arrangements might best support the needs of a modern New Zealand Police. 
In many ways the Police Act review has been a model process and the bill now before the House shows the benefits of all the effort that has gone into developing consulting and refining proposals for new policing legislation. I pay tribute to all those who have contributed to the success of the Police Act review and who took the opportunity to contribute their ideas on the best form of legislation for police. This includes important contributions made by independent bodies such as the Law Commission the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. They helped to ensure that the proposals in the bill are consistent with the basic rights and protections guaranteed by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. 
The review also includes the views of front-line police as well as of the two main police staff associations which have been fed into the preparation of this bill. Those at the sharp end of policing are uniquely placed to provide advice on legislation that most appropriately supports the New Zealand Police in the future. Their participation has been a key strength of the law reform process and has led to practical suggestions for this bill. The spokespeople of our various political parties in this Parliament have had access to all the information and have been involved in the process from the beginning and I thank the members for that. 
The Commissioner of Police took responsibility for leading this review and he and his deputies have been closely involved throughout. Indeed they have led the work. I am pleased to say that the draft legislation now before the House is roundly supported by police senior leaders. 
As well as input from police themselves a diverse range of individuals groups and organisations have contributed to the shape of the bill. Three distinct consultation phases allowed New Zealanders to articulate what kind of police service they want and gave them a voice to identify the kinds of legislative arrangements that can help deliver that style of policing. It was very pleasing to see genuine engagement and debate about policing legislation from communities throughout New Zealand. For example territorial local authorities played a prominent role in each of the three public consultation rounds as did several non-governmental organisations such as the Maori Wardens Association. 
As another means of grounding the proposals for the new policing legislation public research was commissioned on what New Zealanders want and expect of their police service. This too helped thinking about how policing in this country might best be enabled by legislation. These multiple strands of consultation together with testing and refinements have come together in this bill. It represents an emerging consensus that has described a broadly based shared vision of how the law should deal with issues as diverse as the overall role of the New Zealand Police high-level governance and accountability arrangements right through to some of the more administrative nuts and bolts that allow a large State sector organisation to work effectively and efficiently. 
Given the role of the police in society and in our constitutional system of Government police-enabling statutes should command the broadest possible cross-party support. I therefore look forward to working with all members of this House and hope they will take an active interest in the Policing Bill and provide a strong clear durable legislative platform for our nation’s police service. I do not believe there can be any place for political playing with this particular bill. 
I turn to the main provisions and I will mention only a few in the short time I have. There are many many parts of this bill but there are two main objectives. The first is to reform the legal structure under which the New Zealand Police is mandated and organised; a special focus here is on clarifying the functions of the police policing principles and the constitutional relationship between police and the Government of the day. The second goal is to equip the police to better meet the needs of New Zealanders. This involves updating personnel management provision and putting in place a clear and modern framework for specially authorised employees exercising policing powers. 
Although the bill breaks new ground in a number of areas it is important to note that cherished aspects of our policing history are also carried through. The measures in the bill represent a careful blend of continuity and change. For example in confirming the relative areas of responsibility of the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Police the bill’s provisions strike a balance between setting out some of the basic reference points in statute but do not attempt to legislate for all aspects of the relationship. This allows us to preserve and continue to benefit from important common law concepts that have stood the test of time notably the doctrine of constabulary independence while giving added strength and transparency to the principle of police operational independence. 
In the human resource area the bill aims to create a simplified and more flexible environment that offers much greater scope for modern management and industrial relations practices. The personnel provisions of the bill will help to achieve that. The bill gives a statutory basis to the code of conduct for the police for example. 
Secondly the bill confirms a longstanding prohibition against the involvement of police staff in elections for political office. Clause 97 drives at the need for police employees to ensure that their participation in elections does not bring them into conflict with their duty to act in a politically neutral way. This clause is one that I know will be closely looked at by some members in this House and I invite those who feel strongly about this point to make submissions on the bill. I know that Mr Mark has a particular view on this. 
I am sure that none of us wants to unpick the large measure of consensus that has developed around this bill. I want to focus on arriving at the best possible form of legislation we can. It is critical that we get it right; policing is simply too important not to get right. If the 1958 Act is anything to go by the work we do in this Parliament on the new statute for police may well be on the law books for another 50 years. 
There is a reservoir of public goodwill towards our police and a large measure of respect for the citizens in uniform who maintain safety and security in our communities. Those men and women do not routinely carry firearms which makes the New Zealand police service one of the few unarmed police forces anywhere in the world. This is a consent-based form of policing that is keenly valued by Kiwis and visitors alike and which is possible only because of the widespread public support for and confidence in the New Zealand Police. The Policing Bill is designed to build on that powerful legacy. I commend the bill to the House and I look forward to receiving broad-based support from the people’s representatives in this Parliament.