Power Simon: Appointments — Deputy Police Complaints Authority 
Power Simon: Appointments — Deputy Police Complaints Authority 
[Volume:638;Page:8576] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 The National Party will certainly be supporting the Government in the proposed appointment of Judge Michael Lance as the Deputy Police Complaints Authority. 
It is worth making one or two preliminary points about the suggested appointment. Firstly can I say formally that the National Party in Opposition is extremely pleased with the appointment of Justice Lowell Goddard. It seems from her early comments and her two appearances before the Law and Order Committee that she is someone of some considerable substance and weight who will do an extremely good and fearless job in dealing with matters surrounding the police and any complaints that make it to the Police Complaints Authority. 
Could I also say that we had a wide discussion in caucus today about the appointment of Judge Michael Lance and the caucus unanimously endorses his appointment to become the deputy authority. National believes that Judge Lance serving alongside Justice Lowell Goddard will strengthen an authority that to be fair until this point has seemed to be perhaps a little lacking in teeth and a little lacking in the processes to be able to take action in a strong way. 
We will watch with interest the Government’s proposals surrounding the strengthening of the Police Complaints Authority both by way of legislation and by way of direction following Dame Margaret Bazley’s report today. That is very important to members on this side of the House and I acknowledge the Minister Mark Burton for making a statement in a similar vein this evening. 
So what will Judge Lance bring to the authority? He will bring three qualities that he has shown in various judgments and public utterances over recent years. The first is that he is unafraid and this is an important quality for someone on the deputy authority to have—that is for the deputy authority to have; it is difficult to get my head round the fact that the authority is actually a person and to use that sort of language. In March 2004 it was Judge Lance who presided over the third trial handling the Louise Nicholas rape case and of course it was he who ordered police to pay $20000 in costs in respect of that case thus indicating that he is unafraid to pursue justice no matter who appears before him. 
Secondly the judge is concerned that justice be transparent. So he is unafraid and he is concerned that justice be transparent. It was this judge who in September 2001 said in public court in the Auckland District Court that he was putting his criticisms of under-resourced courts on the public record so that people could “understand that it is not me not the judges who cause these delays.” We are all aware of the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied. The judge has in a very forthright manner voiced his concerns about transparency and justice. 
The third quality that Judge Michael Lance—QC I should say—brings to the role of deputy authority is that he is practical. The House should be reminded that it was Judge Michael Lance QC who gave Mark Middleton a 9-month suspended sentence for threatening to kill Karla Cardno’s murderer. So he brings those three qualities to the Police Complaints Authority where he will be under the strong leadership of Justice Lowell Goddard. 
Hopefully there will be a speedy resolution of the issue of the legislative framework that the authority is required to work under as well as of the need for a well-resourced authority. I note the Government’s announcement that the Budget will make provision for some short-term resource in that regard particularly as Justice Goddard made the point to the Law and Order Committee last week that she sees extra resourcing as being an essential component of the Police Complaints Authority’s ability to do its own investigation into Operation Austin. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: That was this year’s appropriation which I have already approved. 
SIMON POWER 
: That is right; Justice Goddard made that point clear to the Law and Order Committee last week. 
It is also clear that Justice Goddard is determined that the authority will dispense with what I believe she described as lower-level complaints and use the teeth of the authority to deal with more substantive and significant issues thereby I believe raising the level of credibility that the authority has in the eyes of the public. 
Of course for some time there has been concern that the authority lacks the real and legislative independence that the public would prefer it to have in order for it to do a completely independent job. The way that the complaints are processed is not always clear to the public and it is a complicated and lengthy process that ensues. We will wait to see with some interest how the legislative proposals of the Government take form. Although the National Party will not commit to supporting those proposals until we have seen them in detail the Government can be assured that an increased strength and an increased independence of the Police Complaints Authority is very important to the main Opposition party in this Parliament. 
It is with that in mind that I re-emphasise this party’s acknowledgment of the work Justice Goddard has done already and also pledge National’s support for the Government’s recommendation to the Governor-General for the appointment of Judge Michael Lance QC as the deputy authority.