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The Soap Box: Wally Haumaha inquiry mess from the start

Author
Barry Soper,
Publish Date
Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 5:34AM
An investigation revealed that Dr Pauline Kingi endorsed Wally Haumaha on LinkedIn. (Photo / NZ Herald)
An investigation revealed that Dr Pauline Kingi endorsed Wally Haumaha on LinkedIn. (Photo / NZ Herald)

The Soap Box: Wally Haumaha inquiry mess from the start

Author
Barry Soper,
Publish Date
Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 5:34AM

Wally Haumaha, the man controversially appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of Police recently, is good at virtually everything.

From leadership to public speaking, from criminal investigations to firearms he's got the endorsement of the woman Pauline Kingi who's been selected by the Government to inquire into whether the process to appoint him as the 2IC to the Commissioner was done in the right way.

Did the Police Minister know that he was a Louise Nicholas sceptic, saying of her rape claims, that nothing really happened and adding "we have to stick together." A couple of them came unstuck and were sent down for another rape with their friend Haumaha describing one as a big softie and the other a legend with women.

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.

Martin did raise eyebrows in Parliament over whether Kingi should be in the role, saying on Linked-in 15 years ago all professional Maori endorsed each other which doesn't say a lot for their discernment. And the endorsements by Haumaha of Kingi weren't nearly as enthusiastic as hers were of him.

But it was correctly pointed out by the feral Nat Chris Bishop that the endorsement process on Linked-in didn't begin until six years ago. Bishop says Kingi's unsuitable for the job and should be replaced.

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.

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