Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) on behalf of the Minister of Justice: 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 His Excellency the Governor-General appoint Ms Angela Irmgard Hauk-Willis, and Ms Dianne Mary Macaskill as members of the Independent Police Conduct Authority, each for a term of three years, and appoint Mr Edward Richard Woods as a member of the Independent Police Conduct Authority for a term of two years.
The function of the Independent Police Conduct Authority 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 Independent Police Conduct Authority Act, as amended in 2007, directs that the authority consists of up to five members appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the House of Representatives. The authority is chaired by a High Court judge, Justice Lowell Goddard. There is currently only one other member, Mr Allan Galbraith, following the resignation of Mr Mel Smith in December last year. The areas of expertise that Justice Goddard and Mr Galbraith contribute to the authority are central to the authority’s core functions as an investigatory body. The proposed appointments will balance those strengths with an additional capability in governance and strategic planning. The authority is able to have two full-time and three part-time members. I am proposing the appointment of three new part-time members to provide the most cost-effective governance of the authority.
Ms Angela Hauk-Willis is a former deputy secretary of Treasury, where she was responsible for all corporate and central operations, Māori responsiveness, and ethics and integrity. She had a leadership role in organisational change projects, including a value-for-money review and the refocusing of the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit, often known as CCMAU. Ms Dianne Macaskill is a former chief executive and Chief Archivist at Archives New Zealand from 2001 to 2009 and a former deputy Government statistician at Statistics New Zealand from 1996-2001. Mr Richard Woods has been chairperson of the Environmental Risk Management Authority since April 2008. From 1999 to 2006 he was the director of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service. In his previous diplomatic career, he served in Rome, Tehran, Bahrain, and Washington. He also served as ambassador in Tehran, Athens, Moscow, and Paris, where he was also a Permanent Representative to the OECD. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007.
Under Justice Goddard’s leadership, the authority will continue to be a rigorous and independent watchdog on police conduct. With these appointments, the authority will have the range of management and governance experience required by a Crown entity board.
