National MP Chris Bishop slams Haumaha inquiry

  • 24/07/2018

The National Party is coming down hard on the inquiry into controversial Deputy Police Commissioner, Wally Haumaha.

His appointment in June caused a firestorm after it emerged he called rape allegations against police by Louise Nicholas "nonsense".

National Party police spokesperson Chris Bishop told Newshub he believes the agenda laid out is all wrong.

"The worry of course is that the inquiry will end up being a $150,000 waste of time and money because it doesn't actually get to the critical issues," he said.

Mr Bishop's concerns centre around how much Police Commissioner Mike Bush and Minister of Police Stuart Nash knew about the incident.

"The first is what did Mike Bush know about Mr Haumaha's comments, secondly did Stuart Nash know about those comments, if he didn't know why didn't he know," he said.

Former senior public servant Dr Pauline Kinigi will lead the inquiry, which is expected to take six weeks.

In a statement Cmmr Bush said police intend to fully support Dr Kingi in every way.

"We look forward to clarifying all matters raised recently as public trust and confidence, and the reputation of police is our priority," he said.

Newshub.