The city is back mingling with the country at New Zealand's Royal A&P Show in Canterbury.

Thousands are set to descend on the Agricultural Park over the next three days.

This year’s event has re-gained its royal status for the first time since 2010.

Canterbury A&P Association chair Sir David Carter told John MacDonald that the Royal Agricultural Society approached them after they saw them put on last year’s show, and asked if they were prepared to run under the Royal Show status.

They agreed, he says, because it gives prestige to the show, and means livestock people are prepared to enter more animals and travel further to attend.

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Whatever you thought of Andrew Coster as Police Commissioner, you probably felt you could trust him to do the right thing. To be upfront, honest, and certainly not hide stuff.

And if you thought the attitude within the Police towards women had changed from what it used to be – well you might be having a bit of a re-think on both of those. Because I certainly am after this damning report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority on the way Police handled accusations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

It’s become a bit of a cliche in recent times to describe reports as “damning”, but there’s no doubt how damning this one is.

It is so damning that we had the Police Minister and the current Police Commissioner doing a live media conference at six o’clock last night as soon as the report came out. And no wonder. Because, in my mind, this could prove to be one of New Zealand’s biggest public sector scandals.

And it tells me that despite all the talk from the Police after the experience of Louise Nicholas back in the 1980s with cops involved in sexual misconduct, it seems the memo about a culture change hasn’t yet reached some of the top brass either still working there or who worked there until very recently. Including Andrew Coster.

Let me quote a comment in the IPCA report from one of the country's most senior adult sexual assault investigators. Named in the report as “Officer D”, they said: “You know what's the worst thing – if you make a mistake, the only worse thing that you can do is then cover it up. You can paint all sorts of nice words but to an outsider looking in, and I mean even me, this looks like a cover-up."

So what happened is Jevon McSkimming got into a relationship with a woman in her early 20s. He was in his early 40s. After that, she started writing dozens of emails to the police, accusing Deputy Commissioner McSkimming of being a sexual predator.

But instead of investigating the allegations, the emails were used by police as evidence to prosecute her under the Harmful Digital Communications Act last year.

All of that overseen by Andrew Coster.

His successor, Richard Chambers, is livid.

He says there were about five or six senior leaders in the Police —including Coster— who were responsible for what looks to me like a cover up. Some are still with the Police, others aren’t.

The Commissioner says these people were too quick to believe that the complainant was a spurned woman out for revenge.

As for Andrew Coster, how ironic is this comment he made when he was commissioner? He said: “We rely on the support of most of the community to be successful and that depends on the way we operate and on the extent to which people feel that they can trust us and that what we’re doing is appropriate.”

Oh really?

Coster, these days, is chief executive of the Government’s Social Investment Agency. He’s on leave at the moment. But now that we know what we know, should he be allowed to stay on the government payroll?

I’m in no doubt that he shouldn't. Because he presided over what I think could prove to be one of New Zealand’s biggest public sector scandals. And, for that reason and that reason alone, he should be toast.

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The Labour Leader is “absolutely disgusted” by the handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming by former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

The Police Complaints Authority has released a report finding some of our highest-ranking Police didn't deal properly with a woman's anonymous complaints against the former Deputy Police Commissioner.

Hipkins is deeply disappointed in Coster, and believes the Police have a right to feel very disappointed in him as well.

“Clearly he had standards that he needed to uphold as a Commissioner of Police, and he did not do that.”

He says the frontline police, who go to work every day with high levels of integrity to serve the public and keep them safe have been badly, badly let down by the leadership.

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