Newman Muriel: Appointments — Police Complaints Authority—Ian Albert Borrin 
Newman Muriel: Appointments — Police Complaints Authority—Ian Albert Borrin 
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Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to support the Governmentmotion to reappoint Ian Borrin to the Police Complaints Authority. But I would like to use this opportunity to make a few comments about the Police Complaints Authority and as it relates to the police. I think it is very important for New Zealand for the confidence that the public has in the police that the Police Complaints Authority is seen to act independently. I think New Zealanders have always harboured a real concern about police investigating their own so when there are major issues such as the recent case of sexual allegations made against the police it is one of those situations where the Minister and the Commissioner of Police might have done better by calling for an independent inquiry. The people of New Zealand could then feel that another body completely separate from the Government and completely separate from the police themselves was investigating what are very serious concerns—concerns that have arisen recently because they were not properly dealt with years ago when they were first brought to the attention of the authorities. So this is an issue that as I say the Minister and the commissioner should take on board and think about carefully so that we do learn from the mistakes if one likes of our own history. 
The fact that the Police Complaints Authority dealt with more than 2300 cases in the last year is also I believe a serious concern for people worried about law and order in New Zealand. If we look beneath that large number of complaints I think we will see that there are a couple of issues that do deserve some mention. I think that if we compared the number of cases going to the equivalent of the Police Complaints Authority in other countries we would find that in New Zealand there are more cases that involve violence against the police or the police versus the public than in say Australia. One of the reasons of course is that sadly in this country we do appear to have a culture of violence. 
 But a lot of the reasons can probably go back to the fact that in New Zealand the police are not armed. If somebody who is drunk decides to have a go against the police then they have a go back and that is perfectly natural. However knowing that it does appear to me that authorities should where possible take steps if they can to try to avoid those problems arising. I take the case of our traffic police who are out there wearing their brightly coloured jackets so that they do not get run over at night so that motorists can see they are there and their brightly coloured jackets do stop them from getting injured. It does worry me when I read the police news that our police force has had a 2300 percent increase in— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Will the member come back to the specific motion. 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN 
: —stabbing attacks on police officers in the last 5 years. It is an issue because those cases— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The specific motion is the appointment of this man. 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN 
: —go to the Police Complaints Authority so that Mr Borrin will have to rule on them. The Minister needs to try to look at ways to make sure that so many cases do not come before the Police Complaints Authority in the first place. Just having a look at the way in which his men can protect themselves is a very good thing for the Minister and the commissioner to do given that we are coming up to a Budget round. 
There is another reason for the number of complaints that come before the Police Complaints Authority and it goes back to the employment laws that have been passed in— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will come back to the specific motion. I do not want to have to warn her again or her speech will be concluded. 
Dr MURIEL NEWMAN 
: The Police Complaints Authority deals with complaints against the police made by the public. In the old days if one had a problem with a police officer it was reasonably easy for the officer to be shown that maybe a different career would be a good idea. These days it is much more difficult to do that. An added problem faced by the police force is that it is not easy to ask officers who should not be in the police to move on. At the same time we have another problem of good officers leaving the police because of the problems with their superannuation scheme. 
In supporting this motion I do think it is important that the Government Mr Borrin and the Police Complaints Authority itself have a look at why complaints are coming before the authority. The Police Complaints Authority can then talk to the Government to develop strategies and recommendations that will reduce the number of complaints that come before it in the first place. I have mentioned a few of those. Although I realise this is not a particularly widespread debate it is important to put on the record that police problems should be sorted out as quickly as they can be. The public need to have confidence in their police force. It is vital for the good of this country. There is a lot of goodwill out there for the police. It is undermined somewhat by traffic policing but that is a completely different story. 
To finish we do wish Mr Borrin well. However I would say that with the Budget round coming up the Minister needs to look at whether there are strategies he can implement to reduce the number of complaints in the first place. 
Motion agreed to.