Borrows Chester: Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:11530] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 I want to take a call in respect of Part 2 of the Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill and I notice two or three things have cropped up in the interim that I will comment on. The first thing to note is that this legislation will speed up the process of investigating complaints as they come through from the public and conduct as it is scoped by the Police Complaints Authority on a day-to-day basis—those matters that are investigated as they come to pass. I articulated earlier things such as deaths in police cells speeding policemen boy-racer chases that go wrong and those sorts of situations. 
The fact is that some of the cases that are presently before the Police Complaints Authority go back 5 or 6 years awaiting the outcome of other tribunals such as the Coroner’s Court waiting for investigations to finish or for civil actions against the police which are currently moving through the process to finish. But others are caught up within the system. As part of the select committee members such as my colleague Ron Mark will know that the only explanation given for some of the reasons why these matters have been held over for several years is that they are “still with the police” or “awaiting a response from the police.” So giving the Police Complaints Authority independence will allow it to kick on a little bit quicker and maybe shake the tree a little bit as far as getting the police to cooperate in getting matters moving faster than they presently are which is a good thing. I note that the Supplementary Order Paper allows for an extra two authorities moving from one authority and a deputy as we have at the moment to five authorities and that will increase the speed as well. 
I also note that within the last hour or so two Supplementary Order Papers have been tabled by the Maori Party which in effect create a separate leg for a complaints process for Maori. I can understand where this comes from because we know for instance that a disproportionately large number of people who are dealt with by the police as offenders are Maori so there is a proportionate figure of complaints coming before the authority from Maori and because quite a deal of offence comes out of an ignorance or a lack of understanding around things Maori. I do not mean that in any sort of patronising way but I do believe that we should be living in a country where there is one law for all. 
I understand there are arguments about how that plays out from time to time—accusations of institutional racism etc and I believe that some of those are valid—but at the same time I believe that we are not in a situation in this country where we need to have a separate leg an investigative branch within the Police Complaints Authority that deals particularly with Maori. One of the typewritten Supplementary Order Papers refers to new section 4AA “Autonomous Maori Investigative Branch established”. My view is that that is not something that is required. What should happen is the police should be forced into situations where they need to take account or at least show an understanding of things Maori and how that will impact on investigations as the police carry them out. I know that over recent times there has been far more significant training given to police in an attempt to change culture and to gain an understanding of special considerations that might need to be made as far as various cultural groups—Pacific Island Asian Middle Eastern African as well as Maori—are concerned. National does not see a need to create a separate autonomous Maori investigative branch within the Police Complaints Authority. It does see a need for the ability to show more understanding. 
The second typewritten Supplementary Order Paper asks for an appellate body that would sit above the Police Complaints Authority as a review body. So a person who feels that his or her complaint has not been listened to or has not achieved the result expected could make an appeal to the appellate body which would review the inquiry into the complaint made and then be able to make recommendations back to the Police Complaints Authority but would not have the ability to make any instruction or give any direction. That seems to me to not have the grunt that one would expect such a body to have. I guess to a degree as well it has come along fairly late in the day and it is difficult to have had any discussions with the proponents of the Supplementary Order Paper given the late stage at which it has come. 
I would say in trying to give some comfort to the Maori Party—and as I said earlier I have some sympathy with the drivers of this—that as there will be five police complaints authorities now in other words five individuals warranted as a Police Complaints Authority there is the ability obviously to make some submissions as to who those various authorities could be. It could well be that the Maori Party has the ability to raise its concerns with the Parliament so an appointment could well cover the anxiety that it has in a perceived lack of understanding of things Maori within the new Independent Police Conduct Authority that is to be created.