Audrey Young: Why David Seymour’s letter to police over Polkinghorne was so dumb
The Herald had revealed that morning that Williamson had contacted a senior police officer about the investigation of a constituent who was facing assault charges. He was gone that day.
The only difference between Seymour and Williamson is not the conduct, but the fact that in April 2022, when Seymour’s letter was written, he was not a minister.
The letter did not have the effect of the police easing up on Polkinghorne. He was subsequently charged with murder but was found not guilty last year after a nine-week trial.
But the letter clearly questioned the police for focusing their inquiries on Polkinghorne.
“Mr Polkinghorne has had a harrowing and traumatic experience but feels he has been treated like a suspect rather than a traumatised member of the public,” Seymour wrote.
He pinpointed various aspects of the police investigation into Polkinghorne’s life which Seymour concluded were inappropriate and invasive to his constituent’s privacy. The letter did not simply convey Polkinghorne’s opinion; it conveyed Seymour’s views on the police investigation. That was not just unwise, it was dumb.
They were the sorts of complaints against the police that lawyers are trained to make, not politicians.
Composite photo / NZME
Seymour’s letter reinforces the caution that Members of Parliament must exercise, whether ministers or not, in interfering in police investigations or doing anything that could be construed as interfering.
Williamson insisted at the time of his resignation that he had not been seeking to influence the police investigation into an assault case against Donghua Liu – Liu later pleaded guilty.
However, Key described it as “a significant error of judgment.”
“The independence of police investigations is a fundamental part of our country’s legal framework,” Key said. “Mr Williamson’s actions have been very unwise as they have the potential to bring that independence into question.”
It is irrelevant whether the people at the centre of police investigations are political donors or not.
It should be irrelevant whether the MP is a minister or not.
The heart of the issue is the conduct of an MP. And it should be a salutary lesson to all MPs to turn on their political radars when dealing with potentially criminal complaints.
Seymour was not a Member of Parliament when Williamson was forced to resign in 2014.
He was elected later that year as MP for Epsom but by 2022, he had been an MP for more than seven years. He should have known better. Hopefully, he does now.