Appointments — Independent Police Conduct Authority

I move, That, pursuant to section 5 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988 and section 32 of the Crown Entities Act 2004, this House recommend to Her Excellency the Governor-General the reappointment of Elizabeth Mason Sinclair MNZM, and the appointment of Andrew Mark Coleman, each as a member of the Independent Police Conduct Authority for a term of five years.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority, the IPCA, is established by section 4 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988. The IPCA plays an important role as the only official New Zealand Police oversight body. The IPCA’s function is to investigate complaints alleging any misconduct or neglect of duty by a member of the Police, or concerning any practice, policy, or procedure of the Police affecting the complainant. The authority is also responsible for investigating any incident involving serious bodily harm or death notified to the authority by the Commissioner of Police.

Section 5 of the Act provides for the authority consisting of up to five members appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the House of Representatives. One member is to be appointed as the chairperson of the IPCA. The chairperson must be a judge or a retired judge. That position is currently held by Associate High Court Judge Kenneth Johnston. Appointments to the IPCA are subject to the provisions of section 32(1)(b) of the Crown Entities Act 2004. As such, members of independent Crown entities are appointed for a maximum term of five years. The appointments of Ms Liz Sinclair and Mr Simon Murdoch CNZM as part-time members of the IPCA have expired and remain in force under carry-over provisions. Ms Sinclair has completed one three-year term with the IPCA. Mr Murdoch has completed two three-year terms.

The member positions on the IPCA are predominately governance, strategic planning, and project-focused roles, and currently occupy the incumbents approximately 15 percent of full-time. The management of investigatory work is carried out by senior managers employed by the authority. A member of the IPCA should have senior management and governance experience as well as an informed interest in the criminal justice system. I’m particularly interested in ensuring that the chairperson is supported by members who contribute able governance skills.

Ms Sinclair has over 30 years’ public sector experience, 20 of those in executive leadership roles in large, complex organisational agencies. She has been the director of her own consultancy firm since 2016. From 2012 to 2016, she was Deputy State Services Commissioner, and from 2004 to 2011, she was Operations Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Justice. I’m satisfied that Ms Sinclair has made an effective contribution to the authority in her first term and that her reappointment will provide valuable continuity. I’d like to thank Ms Sinclair for her continued service.

Andrew Coleman has held senior positions across Government agencies for 30 years, including roles with a strong operational focus. He is the chief executive of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. His previous roles include chief operations officer for the Ministry for Primary Industries, acting chief executive and deputy chief executive of the Ministry of Fisheries, and the operations manager for the New Zealand Customs Service. Earlier in his career, he served with the New Zealand Police for 20 years. I’m confident that Mr Coleman has the skills to be a valuable member of the authority.

I’d like to thank Mr Murdoch for his service. I acknowledge that he has brought to the authority a wealth of public sector experience, and he has made very significant contributions to the authority over his nearly nine years as a member.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. As Labour’s police spokesperson, I rise to indicate Labour’s support for the motion to reappoint Elizabeth Mason Sinclair and also the appointment of Andrew Mark Coleman to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).

Elizabeth Mason Sinclair has over 30 years’ experience within the sector, and she will continue, I have no doubt, to serve the IPCA well with the experience that she brings to the role. Andrew Mark Coleman, a Hutt resident—a person from the Hutt, I have to say, is always a good bet for appointment into a role. He’s had a long and established career in the Public Service, starting as a police officer, working also as a detective, and then taking up numerous roles within the Public Service, including those in Biosecurity, the Ministry of Primary Industries, as well as Culture and Heritage, which he’s been in most recently. Public servants I have spoken to tell me that he is well respected and seen as a strong leader in the Public Service and someone who also promotes leadership and good teamwork within the Public Service. To have those warm words come back so readily indicates he’s a very capable person to take up this role.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority takes such a significant role in ensuring that we have significant checks and balances on the conduct of our police. This is more important than ever, particularly when we see legislation that has come through this House that increases the powers of police and makes some of their work far more dangerous at times—legislation around search powers and also on removing gang patches that will be difficult work for our police. It is more likely that we will see additional complaints coming through the IPCA in relation to this new legislation, so the work before the IPCA will be challenging.

I would like to acknowledge the work that the IPCA has done recently, particularly in the case of Farzana Yaqubi, which found that more should have been done to follow up on her case before she, most unfortunately, was murdered by the person who was stalking her. So I acknowledge the role that the IPCA has in sensitive and difficult areas like that in New Zealand.

I would like to conclude by acknowledging that the IPCA works in some very tricky areas where New Zealanders are looking for justice and that they are independent eyes over what is happening in an area where some parts of New Zealand have long and far-reaching powers. For this reason, it is great and admirable that they are so clear on their commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi, that they acknowledge the constitutional status of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and also they note quite clearly that that is a very fundamental part of the way they carry out their work in their commitments and their service to delivery.

In order to achieve those commitments and ensure they inform and guide the way in which the IPCA discharges its statutory obligations, the IPCA undertakes to embark upon a programme of cultural competency directed in deepening their collective understanding of te ao Māori and of tikanga Māori. They also undertake to support staff who wish to learn te reo Māori, to promote and encourage the use of te reo Māori in the workplace in order to enhance the public understanding of the IPCA’s role, and to access its services and to strive to build its capacity to engage with te iwi Māori.

I would like to conclude by saying that the IPCA has never been an easy job, and it will not get any easier under this Government. I am concerned that putting less money into crime prevention, as the previous Budget did, makes life harder for those police officers and also the follow-up work that happens in tricky cases. I hope that this Government continues to fund the IPCA and it is not impacted by the Government’s cuts to services that people rely on. I also hope that the IPCA is funded adequately to be able to maintain and deliver on its commitment under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

I conclude by wishing Elizabeth Mason Sinclair and Andrew Mark Coleman all the best for their five-year appointment. He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora.

E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. I rise on behalf of the te Pāti Kākāriki to say that we’re all good with the appointment of Elizabeth Sinclair and Andrew Coleman to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). It was really great to look into both these individuals and to find that Mr Coleman has a background in both policing and heritage, and even though I have strong views on both of those issues, I can see that Mr Coleman brings some really great experience to the authority.

The IPCA is an important check on the power that police officers have, and it’s important that the members appointed are as independent as possible. I was glad to see a balance between one member having police experience and another not having that experience, because a criticism that I’ve certainly had as the spokesperson on police was that in the Greens there is some scepticism and some suspicion around former police officers being appointed to, essentially, investigate themselves, so maintaining that independence is a really crucial aspect to that check.

At the second reading of the Gangs Legislation Amendment Bill this Tuesday, my colleague Kahurangi Carter made the comment that many New Zealanders would rather walk down a dark alleyway with a patched gang member than with a police officer, and this caused some disagreement from the Minister. But the reality is that this is a statement of fact and that is how some people feel, and the police do have a way to go to earning that trust back in some communities. The reality too is that some communities interact more frequently with the police than others. For example, in the small town that I grew up in in Tokoroa, it was a common occurrence to have breath checks on our main road every week, and I was pulled over multiple times as a young person—I had my licence, so I was sweet—but I’ve never been pulled up in Wellington. There’s a huge difference between the way that some communities, particularly those with low socio-economic indicators and those that are predominantly Māori or Pacific, are more heavily policed than other communities. That is just the way things are, so it’s important that there is a check on the powers that police have available to them.

I had a look through some of the recent reports by the IPCA and found that they investigate a whole range of things from the use of force, the use of police dogs, fatal and non-fatal shootings, and the treatment of people who are held in their custody. That’s really important. One recent IPCA inquiry found that police officers were illegally taking photos and storing thousands of photos of young Māori on their phones, and this really adds to this reality that there are some communities that are more heavily surveilled and have more frequent interactions with police, and I think that we should listen to those communities and work to build trust in those communities to try and address some of that scepticism.

Just to conclude, we extend our congratulations to Ms Sinclair and Mr Coleman on their appointment and thank outgoing members for their service on the IPCA. Kia ora.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT to also signal our support for the appointment of Ms Elizabeth Sinclair and Mr Andrew Coleman to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). This is a very important body, which actually has some very core values, and those are of independence, trustworthiness, accountability, timeliness, vigilance, and integrity. And I believe that these two public servants, who we’ve heard already have a long history of public service in the Public Service, will actually make an excellent contribution. Again, Ms Sinclair’s being reappointed—so for a second five-year term. I think that obviously her experience will be valued, and this will be Mr Coleman’s first appointment to the IPCA. It is led by Judge Kenneth Johnston KC. He will continue to lead the three independent members. Again, he is a jurist of some standing.

I also just want to add, I think, to the Minister’s thanks to Simon Murdoch, who is leaving his two terms, but I want to thank him for his service. Actually having New Zealanders who are prepared to stand up and be appointed to important bodies like this is great, and I want to just acknowledge him.

As has already been said, this is a very important body overseeing complaints related to police conduct and processes. Members in this House will often have issues related to the IPCA raised with them, and it’s good to see we’ve got individuals of such high calibre being appointed to this body. So I will leave my contribution there, but, again, we just wish to add our congratulations to Ms Sinclair and Mr Coleman on their appointment. Thank you.

I rise on behalf of New Zealand First again to support the motion by the Minister of Justice, Paul Goldsmith, regarding the reappointment of Elizabeth—or Liz—Sinclair and Andrew Coleman, as a new member, to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). As has been stated, Liz Sinclair is taking a second term, and she is to be applauded for her commitment to this role, which is a somewhat thankless task and is crucial to New Zealanders. She has extensive public sector experience, and the benefit of that experience of the first term will serve the interests of the authority well. Andrew Coleman has himself—as has been previously said—extensive experience in senior positions, including 20 years’ police service.

We know that the IPCA is an independent oversight body that considers complaints against the New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct. It has the ability to undertake investigations and make recommendations to the Commissioner of Police.

The role of policing, as has been stated, is challenging and demanding and, all too often, is increasingly carried out in high-stress environments. The police officers who carry out the important role of public safety in responding to escalating crime must be supported and provided with the right tools and resources to do what is expected of them. Those resources include good legislation that provides them with the powers and authority to do what is necessary to keep the public safe. At the same time, we do acknowledge the importance of having a system that provides an assurance that there is monitoring of the services they provide and, through that monitoring, the ability to deliver an assurance of accountability.

It is, of course, a matter for the court system to deal with lawbreaking, but the IPCA is responsible with regard to issues of conduct and neglect of duty or any practice, policy, or procedure, but the authority is also responsible for investigating any incident involving serious bodily harm notified by the commissioner to the authority. The authority serves to provide an assurance that the reputation of the police is protected also. By these investigations and by their monitoring role, they can provide police with an assurance that despite some narratives and some commentary, they are respected and are regarded highly.

There has been comment that police investigate themselves, and I would query the fact that when you deal with these matters, who is better suited to conduct the investigations? Police have always and will continue to be self-monitoring, to the point that they are highly protective of their reputation and will not allow anything to discredit the reputation of the many. They are cooperative and generally very supportive of the IPCA’s role, and in themselves, they will ensure that they will weed out any wrongdoing. It is unfortunate that in this House the discredit of the reputation of the police is communicated by members who state comments like “Most public would rather walk down an alley with a gang member than a police officer.”

As a person who has spent both my working life and, more recently, my political life speaking directly to police officers and visiting police stations, I’ve seen the tremendous work and effort that a range of officers do in a range of areas to build those solid community relationships to ensure that the community is fully engaged, and I think that the IPCA provides that assurance to the public that should things go wrong, there will be an independent body that supports what they have done and makes sure that the public is protected. I take great pleasure in supporting the appointments to this role in continuing to support the IPCA and the work that it does to provide public assurance.

Tēnā rā koe e te Pīka, otirā tēnā rā tātou e te Whare. E tū ana ahau hei waha i ngā kōrero mā Te Pāti Māori i te rangi nei. Tautoko katoa ana mātou i te whakatūnga o tēnei ohu pirihimana, otirā i tēnei māreikura kua tīpakongia kia haere ki tēnei o ngā ohu, ki tēnei o ngā ohu pirihimana.

Nei rā Te Pāti Māori e kaha tautoko ana i tēnei ohu nā runga anō i te take ko tēnei momo ohu hei wherawhera, hei āta wānanga, hei āta tīpako i ngā take e tāmi ana i ngā tāngata katoa puta noa i Aotearoa. 

Nō reira ko tēnei o ngā ohu pirihimana he whai pānga i runga i te tika, i te pono, kia whai mātauranga te hapori Māori, te hapori e noho nei i Niu Tireni, i Aotearoa, mō ngā take pēnei i te whakatū ture i roto i tēnei o ngā Whare hei āta wherawhera, hei āta matapaki hoki i ngā take ka whai pānga ngā hapori puta noa i te motu. 

Tautoko katoatia ana e au ngā kōrero a tōku nei tuahine i roto i te Pāti Kākāriki. Nō Tokoroa ia; nō Rāhui-pōkeka ahau. Ka kaha kitea e māua tahi ngā āwangawanga o te hapori e noho pouwaru, pani, me te rawa kore. Ka tīkina ko ētehi o ngā ohu o te pirihimana ko ā rātou, me kī, kura in training, kei roto i ngā hapori moroiti nei puta noa i te motu.

Nō reira ko mātou, ngā uri o tēnei hapori, ka kaha kite i ēnei o ngā pirihimana i roto i tō mātou hapori. Nō reira ko te painga o tēnei ohu pirihimana, ka āta matapaki, ka āta wherawhera, ka āta wānanga i ngā tāmitanga, i ngā piki, i ngā auheke o tēnei ohu, o tēnei rōpū. Nō reira ahakoa te iti o te kupu, e noho whakaiti ana mātou, Te Pāti Māori, engari ā tōna wā ko ō mātou maruāpō, ko ō mātou tino wawata ka kite i tētehi tangata whenua i roto i tēnei o ngā ohu, i roto i tēnei o ngā rōpū, hei arataki i te ohu pirihimana kia kite i ngā āhuatanga e whai pānga ki ngā tāngata katoa puta noa i Aotearoa.

Nō reira koirā ōku whakaaro, ōku wetewete, waihoki ngā kupu a Te Pāti Māori i te rangi nei. Tēnā rā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker; indeed, greetings to all of us in the House. I stand to give voice to the statements on behalf of Te Pāti Māori today. We support completely the establishment of this police body, indeed this illustrious leader who has been selected to attend this body, this police body.

Here, Te Pāti Māori strongly supports this body due to the reason that these types of bodies are to discuss, to examine in detail, to carefully select the issues that oppress all peoples all across Aotearoa.

And so this police body will have interest with respect to justice, to truth, so that the Māori community, and the community that resides here in New Zealand, in Aotearoa, are aware of issues, such as the establishment of legislation within this House, to comprehensively discuss and to closely examine the issues of interest to communities all across the country.

I absolutely support the comments of my sister in the Green Party. She is from Tokoroa; I am from Huntly. We both clearly see the concerns of the community that include the widowed, the bereft, and the destitute. Some of these police bodies have their, I should say, schools in training within these small communities all across the country.

And so we, the descendants of this community, clearly see these police officers in our community. And so the benefit of this police body is that it will closely examine, comprehensively discuss, and carefully deliberate on the oppression, the ups and downs of this body, of this group. So despite the brief words, we, Te Pāti Māori, remain humble, but in time, our dreams, our hope, is tangata whenua will be seen within this particular body, within this particular group, to lead the police body to see the phenomena of interest to all people all across Aotearoa.

So those are my opinions, my analyses, and also the statements of Te Pāti Māori today. Thanks and greetings to all of us.]

Motion agreed to.