Soper says Haumaha inquiry a mess
Barry Soper writes:
The endorsements from Kingi came on the Linked-in career website who gave him her tick of approval on all the skills he’s listed as having. She’s the only one to endorse him for firearms, security and workshop facilitation, so if the endorsements mean anything, she knows him better than the others.
So can she be an impartial adjudicator of whether the process to appoint him was above board? It’s even questionable whether the Minister who gave her the job, Tracy Martin, who was on the board of New Zealand First when Haumaha had a crack at getting into Parliament for the party, should have been in charge of that process.
The requirements for an inquiry head should have been pretty simple. You need a lawyer who:
- Doesn’t know Wally Haumaha
- Doesn’t or hasn’t worked for the Police
Tracey Martin managed to appoint someone who failed the only two criteria – independence. Was this deliberate or just incompetence?
TVNZ reports that she acted on behalf of TPK to monitor Police development of the Maori Potential Framework. This must have meant she worked closely with Haumaha. She was on two Police recruitment panels. She’s also worked with Mike Bush, and a key focus of the inquiry will be what he knew, and whether he shared it.
It should have been blindingly obvious that Kingi wasn’t suitable for this inquiry (she’d be suitable for many others).
This whole thing has been a mess from the start. Commissioner Mike Bush was on the panel selecting Haumaha for the job and it’s been claimed he apparently knew of his views on the Nicholas case and was warned about the damage that could be done if the promotion went ahead.
The Minister who recommended the appointment Stuart Nash has adopted the Sergeant Schultz approach about everything from the start, insisting he knows nothing but admitting if things had been different the outcome may not have been the same.
Kingi’s inquiry’s scheduled to begin next week and run for six weeks – let’s hope the outcome isn’t as confusing and muddy as the establishment’s been.
Well they now need a new inquiry head. I suggest a QC from the South Island to be safe.