Police Minister says he pressured Commissioner to appeal

Newshub reports:

Police Minister Stuart Nash is under fire for saying he previously rang the Police Commissioner about appealing a court judgement.

But he denies he has interfered in police matters and he says he wasn’t the Police Minister at the time.

“I phoned up the Police Commissioner and said surely you’re going to appeal this,” Nash told Newstalk ZB early on Wednesday morning.

“I don’t know if you remember when we were doing the firearms stuff, I was wandering around telling everyone that if you have an illegal firearm, you can face up to five years in jail. 

“This bloke didn’t have a license, had illegal firearms, illegal ammunition and had guns without a licence, and got home detention. I think that was a terrible decision by the judge. Judges need to read the room on this.”

Speaking to media later, Nash said he hadn’t been interfering and stands by it being a “bad decision”. 

This is shocking judgment. He is a Minister of the Crown. His access to the Police Commissioner is because he is a former Minister of Police, and he pressured the Commissioner over what is basically a prosecution decision – whether to appeal.

No politician should be ringing up the Police Commissioner or the Solictor-General and advocating that they do or do not prosecute or appeal in a particular case.

The ACT leader made the comparison to former National minister Maurice Williamson, who resigned his ministerial post in 2014 after contacting police about an investigation into a businessman.

Then-Prime Minister Sir John Key said Williamson assured him he didn’t intend to influence the police investigation, but Williamson’s decision to discuss the investigation with police “was a significant error of judgement”. 

“The independence of Police investigations is a fundamental part of our country’s legal framework,” Sir John said at the time. “Mr Williamson’s actions have been very unwise as they have the potential to bring that independence into question.”

Maurice was sacked merely for talking to Police about a case. Here you have the former (and future) Police Minister ringing up the Commissioner and directly advocating for a particular prosecution outcome.

UPDATE: Nash has resigned as Police Minister but remains a Minister in other portfolios, so a lesser consequence than for Williamson.

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