Media Release

For Immediate Use

29 May 2000

MORGAN FAHEY CASE HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS & IMPROVED ACCOUNTABILITY STANDARDS

The Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New Zealand First, today said that recent events have highlighted a lack of public confidence in the investigative procedures within certain professions when it comes to handling allegations of misconduct and unlawful behaviour.

“The Morgan Fahey case highlights unaddressed problems with the Medical Council’s handling of public complaints against individual medical practitioners. For far too long complaints of the type that emerged in the Fahey case have simply been swept under the carpet.

“The public need to have confidence in the procedures followed when the Police Complaints Authority, the Medical Council and the Law Society – amongst others - are asked to follow up public concerns regarding people within their own profession.

“Where there is a public perception of a lack of accountability, or a feeling that there is a reluctance in some professions to go after their own, this needs to be urgently addressed and debated publicly,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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