Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well while the Prime Minister is offshore in New York desperately trying to shake off the Meka Whaitiri and Clare Curran debacles there is yet another political scandal she is finding it very difficult to shake and that is the problem of the appointment of Wally Haumaha as Deputy Commissioner of Police. Let me outline what has happened so far.The term of Deputy Police Commissioner Viv Rickard expired on 3 June 2018. Cabinet confirmed the vacancy on 7 May and applications closed just eight days later. The candidates were interviewed only six days later by Peter Hughes and Debbie Power of the State Services Commission and Mike Bush Commissioner of Police. My understanding is that Mr Haumaha was asked in the interview process words to the effect of Is there anything in your past that would embarrass the Government?" and he said no. I can also reveal that Mr Haumaha was not the preferred candidate of the panel. The Cabinet paper proposing his appointment does not state that he was the preferred candidate but he was appointed anyway by the Prime Minister. The big question is "Why?" particularly in light of what happened next.After Mr Haumaha's appointment the New Zealand Herald broke the news that an officer had told the 2004 Operation Austin investigation that Mr Haumaha had described Louise Nicholas' allegations as a nonsense and that "Nothing really happened and we have to stick together." An inquiry was rightly ordered by Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. He must have hoped that the problem would go away. An email released to me says that the Government wanted a short and sharp inquiry. Officials originally suggested an $840000 inquiry over three months. Cabinet wound that back to $150000 over six weeks with just one member.The first attempt to start the inquiry was a disaster. Emails revealed to me that they couldn't find anyone to do the inquiry until a few days before it was announced. Pauline Kingi was announced as the inquiry chair but was revealed to have endorsed the subject of the inquiry 23 times on LinkedIn. Finally the Government did the right thing and appointed an independent QC to run the inquiry. Then further allegations came to light. Three women have accused Mr Haumaha of bullying while working on a joint justice police and corrections project in 2016. Those allegations are being considered by the Independent Police Conduct Authority as well as by the Scholtens Inquiry and possibly by the State Services Commission.Here is the question: why will the Prime Minister not stand Wally Haumaha down? Meka Whaitiri was accused of wrongdoing and stood aside. Why will she not do the same for her own appointment? The answer I believe lies in the relationship between New Zealand First and Wally Haumaha. He was reported as being the New Zealand First candidate for Rotorua in 2005. The deputy leader of the New Zealand First Party Fletcher Tabuteau referred to Mr Haumaha as a member of his whānau in his maiden speech in 2014. Mr Haumaha is the chairman of Mr Tabuteau's marae at Waiteti. The links go further. Close Winston Peters confidante and uncle of Fletcher Tabuteau Tommy Gear is also a senior leader on the marae.Let me talk about the special function on the marae in June last year to celebrate Mr Haumaha's promotion to Assistant Police Commissioner. Winston Peters was there. He sat next to Wally Haumaha. He told Parliament in a personal explanation that he attended the function because he was invited by the police and the Government of the day. He was not. Documents from the police sent to me make clear that he could only have been invited by the marae itself. The question is: was he invited by Wally Haumaha or by someone close to him?Today I can also reveal that Winston Peters rang Wally Haumaha after the inquiry into his appointment was announced. He gave him assurances or words to that effect that things would be OK. That is deeply wildly inappropriate. Mr Peters needs to explain who invited him to the marae why he rang Wally Haumaha to assure him that things would be OK despite an inquiry into his appointment and why he thinks Mr Haumaha should stay in the role while he is subject to two separate investigations with a third on the way. Until those questions are answered this scandal will continue to dog the Prime Minister and her Government."