Power Simon: Policing Bill — Second Reading 
Power Simon: Policing Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:17748] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 I want to make just a short contribution because I am conscious that Parliament will want to see this bill passed through its second reading before 10 o’clock this evening. That affords me roughly 8½ minutes to make a quick contribution on this issue. 
I am normally a full-time member of the Law and Order Committee that dealt with this bill. Unfortunately for me and probably fortunately for the committee I was not present when this bill was dealt with by the committee; I was subbed on to the Justice and Electoral Committee to deal with the Electoral Finance Bill as it then was. But I was in fact the Opposition police spokesperson just after the last election when the Hon Annette King decided that she was going to move in the direction of a review of the Police Act and set out a series of consultative documents over a long period of time to discuss changes that should be made to the legislation governing the role of police in New Zealand society. I think with the benefit of hindsight that that cross-party approach—particularly between the two major political parties but I take nothing away from the contributions that other parties made to the process—was the right thing to do. 
This is one of those pieces of legislation that comes to the House from time to time whereby political parties can assist each other in getting the right result. If the process starts with the best intentions being expressed by all parties then the chances are that a good result will be forthcoming. 
I listened to what the Hon Peter Dunne had to say about the timeliness of the legislation and I think there is a point that is worth adding to that. The last 18 months have not always been easy for the New Zealand Police. There have been many controversial issues—some of them deserved some of them perhaps not so deserved in one or two instances that I can think of—that have caused the police to come under increased public scrutiny. Of course Dame Margaret Bazley’s report has highlighted many of the areas where the police need to improve and I know that the present Minister and the person who is the Minister of Police following the election—from whatever political party—will be vigilant in making sure those recommendations are seen through to the end. 
In many respects the Hon Peter Dunne describes this bill as timely. I think it is in the sense of a bit of a break from the past. It is an appropriate administrative change and a signal that the Government of the day and most of the political parties of this House are concerned to see the police modernised. The structure that it needs to have available to it to make a valuable contribution in the future as part of a workable legislative framework to ensure the modernisation of the police—with its roles more deeply embedded in the communities in many ways—is an important factor. It is a good example of just how good the police are at making sure that particularly our young people understand the role of the police in society. 
I was recently caught at home on a very wet afternoon and turned on the television with my 4-year-old. On the TV was a policeman with a dog—it was actually a puppet dog— 
Bryan and 
— 
Hon Annette King 
:  
Bobby 
. 
SIMON POWER 
: Thank you I say to the Minister. I said to my son: “Look there’s a police dog. They are to be avoided if you can son.” My son said to me: “Who’s that woman talking to the police dog dad?”. I said: “That’s Annette King.” The wee dog was in Annette King’s office having a bit of a chat to her behind her desk and the Minister was engaged in appropriate conversation with the puppet dog. It struck me at that point that my 4-year-old was already convinced that the police had an important role in his view of the world. To this day of course one of the first things that he recognises when we are on the road is a police car. 
Hon Annette King 
: It is Annette King! 
SIMON POWER 
: No; it is not Annette King although he does know who the Minister is now—she will be pleased to know. 
Thinking about it afterwards made me realise that if we are to continue to give the police the respect they deserve our young people have to have a view of them that makes their influence contemporary and more particularly makes it relevant to them. Hopefully that is what legislation such as this will achieve. This bill will see the modernisation of the police as they continue that longstanding tradition of dealing with our young people and informing them about right and wrong. 
I want to finish by saying that we will have a debate or a discussion in the Committee stage to talk about the police’s involvement in local elections. When the Minister came before the select committee during the estimates process she indicated that she was supportive of an amendment that might be made in that area. We look forward to seeing the support of the Government come to hand when Mr Borrows deals with his one amendment in this area during the Committee stage. But as I am sure Mr Borrows and Ms Wilkinson have made clear to the House and in reflection of the fact that the Hon Annette King made sure that this issue was dealt with in a bipartisan way right from the start we have returned that view of how this legislation should be handled and we support it at its second reading.