2. Police—Deputy Commissioner of Police Accusations Against Wally Haumaha and Inquiry into the Appointment ProcessHon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime MinisterPolice—Deputy Commissioner of Police Accusations Against Wally Haumaha and Inquiry into the Appointment Process2. Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does her Government expect high standards from all Government departments and Ministers?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance) on behalf of the Prime Minister: On behalf of the Prime Minister yes.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe that high standards have been met by police leadership in appointing Wally Haumaha as Deputy Police Commissioner?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Matters around the process for the appointment of Mr Haumaha are the subject of an inquiry and I won't comment further on those matters at this time.Hon Paula Bennett: Will she ask the police commissioner if he heard reports either formally or informally of intimidation towards women by Wally Haumaha in light of a story that's just come out today?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I repeat my earlier answer—SPEAKER: On behalf of the Prime Minister.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I'm sorry. On behalf of the Prime Minister I repeat my earlier answer that matters around the appointment of Mr Haumaha are the subject of the inquiry. What I would add is any suggestion of bullying or intimidation in Government departments is unacceptable.Hon Paula Bennett: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was very careful with that question sir that I didn't mention the inquiry or this being about it. It was about a particular new report that's come out today and wasn't about his appointment as such.SPEAKER: And in my view the inquiry goes round the processes for establishing the suitability of a particular candidate and therefore the question was not only addressed but answered.Hon Paula Bennett: Will the inquiry cover new allegations that have been put today of intimidation by Wally Haumaha to other public servants who were working with him?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I'm sorry Mr Speaker. Can you just repeat the question? Sorry.Hon Paula Bennett: Will the inquiry cover allegations that have been put today about intimidation of Wally Haumaha towards public servants?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the inquiry has been set up to look into whether or not all relevant information was available in the appointment of Mr Haumaha. On the face of it it would appear to me that those allegations fit within that category of the terms of reference.Hon Paula Bennett: Will she be asking the chief executives of corrections and justice if they had reports from senior female employees that they wished not to be in the same room as Wally Haumaha?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister I can assure the member that we will be following up with the chief executives of those agencies on the allegations that have been made in the article.Hon Paula Bennett: If those chief executives heard that female employees had felt uncomfortable in the company of Wally Haumaha would she expect them to have taken action?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister I repeat that those are allegations but as I said in an earlier answer we take very seriously any allegations of bullying or intimidation and they are not acceptable and of course they should be followed up in circumstances where they are drawn to the attention of chief executives.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe the public can have faith in police leadership when they either didn't know or didn't act on issues around Wally Haumaha working with other public servants?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I can't comment on the detail of that matter except to note that these matters arose during 2016 and I'm not aware of all the information that would have been transferred at that time either to chief executives or indeed to members of the executive.Hon Paula Bennett: Is she concerned that after 11 years of police working hard to change their culture towards victims of sexual assault and intimidation her Government's handling of the appointment of Wally Haumaha may now have victims feeling that they can't go forward to the police?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: We would always want victims in any circumstances to feel comfortable that they can come forward. I reject parts of the question the member asked in the earlier part.Hon Paula Bennett: Was there any involvement of New Zealand First Ministers or parliamentary under-secretaries either formally or informally in the promotion of Wally Haumaha?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the promotion of Mr Haumaha to Deputy Police Commissioner was dealt with through the normal processes. I'm not aware of any of the allegations that the member has made in her question.