Chauvel Charles: Appointments — Independent Police Conduct Authority 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Chauvel Charles: Appointments — Independent Police Conduct Authority 
[Sitting date: 05 April 2012. Volume:679;Page:1740. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour) 
: 
 The motion in respect of appointments to the Independent Police Conduct Authority is carefully worded. It refers first of all to sections 5 and 5A of that statute the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act and it does so because those provisions are carefully cast to make it clear that this is not an ordinary appointment. It is an appointment made by the Governor-General on the recommendation of this House. So unlike most of the statutory appointments that we see from day to day this is not a case of a Minister making a recommendation to the Governor-General but a case—in this independent Crown entity’s situation—of this House as a whole making that recommendation to His Excellency. That is why the wording of the motion is phrased the way it is. That is the first point that I want to make and it always is worth repeating. 
The Independent Police Conduct Authority is not a creature of the executive. It is a creature primarily of this legislature because we all have the opportunity to contribute— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! Could I just advise members that there is a longstanding convention that members should not conduct conversations in the House unless it is necessary to do so and then only in a way so as not to disturb proceedings. So if people are leaving the Chamber would they please show some courtesy to the member who is trying to address the business of the House. 
CHARLES CHAUVEL 
: Thank you Mr Speaker. Having made the point that the motion is carefully worded so as to respect the unique nature of the Independent Police Conduct Authority I want to thank the Minister of Justice for her consultative efforts around the House and to acknowledge those. She has taken up that role on behalf of the House in order to come to a recommendation that we can make to the Governor-General about the successor to Justice Lowell Goddard. 
It is informative to take a look at the wording of the statute apart from the appointment provisions that I have referred to because of course until 2007 the Independent Police Conduct Authority was the Police Complaints Authority and the changes in 2007 were more than of nomenclature. At that time the Parliament ensured that the body had its own investigative staff and that it could actually deal with complaints about the way in which the police conducted themselves without having to rely on the police themselves for that function. That was a very significant change and it does bear repeating as we remind ourselves of what we are actually doing today. 
We heard the Minister tell the House about her reason for taking the view in proposing a fresh appointment to chair the authority as to why it was not considered appropriate to propose an additional 5-year term for the Hon Justice Goddard. The reason was that Justice Goddard is a sitting judge of the High Court and if there were ever a judicial review application brought in respect of an investigation or a decision of the Independent Police Conduct Authority that application would be made in the first instance to the High Court itself. 
Obviously a High Court judge might feel some lack of comfort in considering whether or not that judge should entertain an application for review of what was effectively the decision of another warranted High Court judge so I accept the logic that was advanced although I think it is worth noting for the record that there are cases where this Parliament has dealt with the issue of what to do in respect of applications for review when the reviewee is a High Court judge or a High Court judge equivalent. In the Employment Relations Act for example applications for judicial review of Employment Court decisions which are regarded in our system of precedence as broadly equivalent to those of the High Court must be brought directly to the Court of Appeal. So there is an alternative mechanism that would be open to us as a legislature should we take the view that it was appropriate to continue to have the Independent Police Conduct Authority chaired by somebody of the stature of a High Court judge. We could actually provide in the statute and in statutes like this for any review applications to be made to the Court of Appeal directly. It might well be worth bearing in mind that precedent in future because I myself think it would be appropriate to preserve the flexibility to have a High Court judge heading a body as important as the Independent Police Conduct Authority. 
I just want to say a few words in praise of Justice Goddard. She is a very accomplished and well-regarded judge of the High Court. She graduated with her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland in 1974 she was admitted to the Bar in 1975 and commenced practice on her own account as a barrister in 1977—one of the few women practising in that capacity in New Zealand at the time. Her trailblazing role in the law was further recognised in 1988 when she was appointed a Queen’s Counsel. Then she became in 1992 Deputy Solicitor-General for New Zealand when Craig Thompson as he then was was appointed a District Court judge. 
I worked with Justice Goddard at the Crown Law Office for a number of years. I enjoyed very much working with her as a colleague. As I said she was a very able and well-regarded member of the staff of the office and she held the warrant of Crown solicitor for Blenheim as well as effectively supervising all the criminal appeal work done by the Crown in her time at the office. This is what fitted her so well for the role of chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority. She had been herself a prosecutor she had held a warrant as a Crown solicitor and she had supervised criminal appeal work. So she had worked closely with the police knew how the system functioned and also had the independence and the integrity that members at a senior level of the Bar are expected to bring to the position that she held. Her honour was appointed in 1995 to the High Court bench and she is thus the senior sitting High Court judge as far as service is concerned. I wish her well for her return to the bench and for any other roles that it might be thought appropriate for her to perform. 
In conclusion I want to say a few words about Judge Sir David Carruthers. The judge is an excellent recommendation from this House to the Governor-General. He was appointed a District Court judge in 1985. At the same time he held Family Court and Youth Court warrants. He has been the Principal Youth Court Judge and the Chief District Court Judge. Prior to his appointment to the bench he was a family law specialist. He was well respected in the profession and well regarded. He was an appropriately genial and collegial leader of the courts where he held principal judge roles and I have every confidence that he will bring the right sorts of attributes to the role of chairing the Independent Police Conduct Authority as Justice Goddard did in her time as chair. 
The appointment of Judge Sir David Carruthers to the Independent Police Conduct Authority will leave a vacancy in the chairpersonship of the New Zealand Parole Board. I think it is appropriate as we congratulate the judge on his pending elevation to the chairpersonship of the Independent Police Conduct Authority that we ask the Minister to bear in mind the importance of the need to make sure that the Parole Board is well led as it has been by Judge Carruthers in his time there. I join other parties in commending this motion to the House and wishing the judge well on his role in the Independent Police Conduct Authority.