Speech
Conference of Commissioners of Australasia and the South West Pacific Region
Ladies and Gentlemen and distinguished guests, I greet you in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori, CookIsland, Niue and Tokelau.
Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni
Specifically I greet you: New Zealand Commissioner of Police, Howard Broad.
My wife Susan and I warmly welcome you all to Government House this evening as part of the 49th Annual Conference of Commissioners of Australasia and the South West Pacific Region.
It is always a pleasure to host international visitors, and tonight I welcome attendees from New Zealand's wider Pacific neighbourhood.
The health of a country's police force is often a measure of that country's political stability. An effective and trusted police force is synonymous with a peaceful and democratic society.
The ultimate beneficiary of a good police force is the community in which it operates, and those individuals it protects.
As a working Judge for more than a dozen years in a number of places in New Zealand - Palmerston North, South Auckland and Auckland, I am deeply aware of the impact positive policing can have on a community. I am also sensitive to the demands this work can place on individual police officers, and their families.
Policing presents challenges that require enormous personal and professional strength. This is particularly so for frontline police - whose work is the theme of this year's Conference.
Every day frontline police are called to situations which demonstrate the very worst - and occasionally the best - of human emotion and behaviour.
Their work is often characterised by violence, grief, loss and shock. They are regularly confronted with situations most people would hope to never encounter.
The intensity of police work is matched only by the public's expectations of their behaviour.
There can be no yielding to the pressure. However heated a situation may become, police officers are expected to display calm and reason. They are required to apply their training to resolve situations in the face of extraordinary physical and emotional demands. They must always act with precision and careful thought.
Despite these considerable challenges, I can also understand that frontline policing is also highly rewarding and varied work. Police make a meaningful difference to the communities in which they operate.
You will, of course, know this better than anyone.
Charged with a very broad range of duties, police must be well-trained in a number of disciplines, and they must represent all parts of our community.
To be most effective, a police force requires well-defined processes and structure. It must be prepared to constantly review its goals, and how it achieves them, to ensure it remains a modern and efficient force.
Although each country must have the freedom to evaluate its police force in its own way, we must never work in isolation to do this. That is why a Conference of this kind is so important.
It provides an annual forum to share wisdom and further refine each of your country's policing objectives.
I would like to share with you a Maori proverb that reflects this strength in unity.
He totara wahi rua he kai na te ahi
A totara split in two is food for the fire.
In closing I offer you the challenge ladies and gentlemen of using this conference to unite with your Australasian and South West Pacific counterparts.
Build on the relationships you have honed over the last 49 years. Reflect on what you can do to help make our police forces some of the most capable, trusted and effective in the world.
And our communities will continue to benefit from the great work you already do.
With this, I wish you all the best.
I began speaking in all the New Zealand realm languages. May I close by speaking in Maori, issuing greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.