National's Justice spokesman Wayne Mapp says he supports the independent profile of the Police Complaints Authority but there is a risk of it becoming overly bureaucratic.

"The Authority does not require three members - one High Court judge should be able to handle the job. If it takes only one judge to run a murder trial, one judge can surely oversee the investigation of a complaint.

"It would be better to have a sharply focused authority rather than building up a new bureaucracy at the expense of frontline policing.

"Mr Goff is also naïve if he thinks that the Authority can be run for $1 million.

"To date, justice has been done by the Police Complaints Authority but today's move will ensure that justice is seen to be done. It is important that New Zealanders can clearly see that the Police Complaints Authority is free from fear or favouritism," Dr Mapp said.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>