Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dismisses need for wider Jevon McSkimming inquiry off back of questions about ministers’ knowledge

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has dismissed the need for a wider inquiry into the handling of the Jevon McSkimming situation, saying it would just have the same result as the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report.

He said he was focused on the woman at the centre of the situation, but she has been among those urging the Government to open an inquiry into police culture.

While the IPCA report primarily addressed the actions of senior police staff in their approach to complaints from the woman about McSkimming, it didn’t go into so much detail about ministerial actions.

Questions have been raised about what ministers knew and when, following an interview with former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster with TVNZ’s Q+A.

He claimed, without proof, that he told both former Police Minister Chris Hipkins and current minister Mark Mitchell about a relationship McSkimming had been in, prior to what they have said publicly. Both Hipkins and Mitchell have denied Coster’s claims.

Luxon on Monday afternoon said the issue was “settled for me”.

“What I am very focused on is, you have to remember there was a young woman at the heart of this, and there was someone who undertook some pretty serious wrongdoing and I am interested in what we are doing to restore trust and credibility in the police.”

Mitchell has said he was first briefed on the IPCA investigation on November 6, but confirmed on Monday he had been told by the Public Service Commission on October 14 that as part of a probity check on McSkimming, the IPCA was looking into a complaint against the then-deputy commissioner.

He said little detail of the complaint was shared and it wasn’t until November 6 that it became an investigation. That was when he was fully briefed by Coster on the situation, including the relationship, Mitchell said.

Luxon said Mitchell had explained the timeline to his satisfaction and didn’t believe a wider inquiry was necessary.

“What we need to do is jump to the solution that any inquiry would generate, which is to give us the strongest statutory oversight mechanism possible, which is that of an Inspector-General for police.”

He said the focus needed to be on ensuring a similar situation never occurred within the organisation rather than another inquiry causing a delay.

“I’m proud of the way that we have taken this incredibly seriously. We’ve been really upfront and direct about it.

“We’ve put sunlight all over it to make sure it’s disinfected, and we’ve also made sure that we actually put a solution in place which is the strongest form of oversight mechanism we can generate.”

He said the IPCA report had been “crystal clear”.

“We had a discussion, we could go to a different type of inquiry, but we’d end up getting to the outcome.

“We felt it was better we get to the outcome rather than wait four or five years to get an actual solution in place and we could do better than that.”

Labour leader Hipkins maintained on Monday that he hadn’t been told about the McSkimming relationship.

He said the question of a wider inquiry was one for the Government, but he would welcome it if ministers decided to proceed with one.

“I would be very happy to participate in any shape or form with that,” Hipkins said.