Heather Roy's Diary

Accountability? Not With Labour At The Helm

Like many people I was initially surprised by the finding of "not guilty" in the trial of Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and the two former policemen, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum, who had been facing charges of raping a woman in Rotorua in the 1980s. However, as surprised as I was, politicians have to be cautious about second guessing the courts, so I feel the need to remind myself that the jury heard all the evidence while I have been exposed to no more than selective media coverage. Normally, under such circumstances, I would leave things at that.

But this is no ordinary case. One of the accused is a high-ranking police officer, apparently in contention for the top job until February 2004, when he was accused of rape by Louise Nicholas.

The Prime Minister has copped some criticism for questioning whether there could have been genuine consent when three police officers took it in turn to have sex with a vulnerable teenager. Well the critics can hark all they like, the fact of the matter is Helen Clark was speaking for the vast majority of women in this country, myself included, and many of our menfolk.

And there the matter should rest except that Mr Rickards has been suspended - on full pay - and now wants his $155,000 per year job back. But as Auckland's Mayor, Dick Hubbard, has pointed out the law merely sets a minimum standard of behaviour. To be a police commissioner a much higher standard is expected, certainly by the public and one would hope by the police themselves. It is necessary to do better than just stay out of prison. Being one of a number of older men having group sex with a 16-year-old girl may be deemed legal but surely remains outside the bounds of moral acceptability for most people.

So hat's off to Helen Clark, so far so good, but why did she stop there? Asked about Mr. Rickards' four promotions, after the police became aware of these horrific claims against him, Miss Clark satisfied herself with a throwaway headline: "The mind boggles."

It certainly does. So what about some accountability? Some Ministerial accountability? Well, the Minister who presided over and presumably ticked off the endless promotions for a policeman with such a cloud hanging over him has long since moved on to fresh pastures. But we can say with some certainty that had he still been around, there would have been no accountability, no resignation and certainly no sacking.

To be so emphatic on this score we need look no further that the blatant whitewash that has been the Graeme Burton affair. In June last year Burton was released from prison by an inept parole board, and then left to go about his business of hanging out with gangsters; drug taking; and collecting an arsenal of weaponry, while the woeful Corrections Department wrote him letters and frustrated all attempts by the police to have him locked up. The price for this has been paid for with the life of an innocent man and goodness knows how many more lives changed forever.

This week Helen Clark waded in yet again, criticising Corrections and the Parole Board, but noticeably absent was any word about her Minister of Corrections, Damien O'Connor. He actually went on television to say he took responsibility for ensuring something like this doesn't happen again.

Well, excuse me, but if he can take responsibility for that, how about taking responsibility for the fact it happened in the first place? It's easy to say, 'Whoops - I'll look out for that next time round'. Much harder to say 'I should have seen that coming but didn't and now I'll do the decent thing'.

As I say, not likely!

Labour has got "covering its own back" down to a fine art.

That's why Rodney Hide and I are so hot on accountability. Accountability should start right at the top, with the Ministers. There was a time when Ministers fell on their swords (remember Cave Creek?), in the Westminster tradition, when their departments displayed such appalling ineptitude. And what bigger botch-up can there be than to let a thug, like Burton, out of prison to kill at will?

I believe in accountability. Now all we need is for enough people to agree that accountability at the highest level makes sense and we will be able to do something about it. I long for the day.