Commissioners

Deputy Chief Commissioner

Paula Rose QSO OStJ has investigation experience, is a current member of the Parole Board, and has worked in a range of governance roles. Ms Rose’s experience in criminal justice comes from her work at New Zealand Police, including as National Manager Road Policing. Ms Rose is a very experienced Crown governor. She is a Commissioner for the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, member of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, Deputy Chair of Worksafe New Zealand and director of several non-governmental organisations including St John South Island Regional Trust Board. Paula is in the role for a term of 5 years from 15 June 2020.

Commissioners

Nigel Hampton CNZM OBE KC is a lawyer who has worked in New Zealand and on the international stage, including the Pacific. Mr Hampton has been a KC since 1989. He was Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga, was the first Disciplinary Commissioner of Counsel in the International Criminal Court and presently is Presiding Member of the Disciplinary Board for the International Criminal Court counsel. His experience in the criminal justice sector includes academic writing on advocacy and criminal law, including in Adams on Criminal Law. He is also an instructor on litigation skills, including in New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa. Nigel is in the role for a term of 3 years from 15 June 2020.

Dr Virginia Hope MNZM is a pre-eminent health scientist who has worked in universities and research institutes. She is currently Medical Director Health Group at Environmental and Science and Research. Dr Hope has management and governance experience. She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in June 2014 for services to health. Virginia is in the role for a term of 3 years from 15 June 2020.

Professor Tracey McIntosh MNZM (Ngāi Tūhoe) is a Professor of Indigenous Studies and Co-Head of Te Wānanga o Waipapa at the University of Auckland. Dr McIntosh is also currently the Chief Science Advisor for the Ministry of Social Development. She has a strong interest in the interface between research and policy and ensuring that processes are responsive to and inclusive of tikanga and mātauranga Māori. Her expertise in the criminal justice system has been centred on extensive research on the experience of Māori and Indigenous people with the criminal justice system with a particular focus on incarceration. Her research focuses on social harm reduction, increasing collective wellbeing and disrupting the intergenerational transmission of social inequalities. Tracey is in the role for a term of 4 years from 15 June 2020.

Kingi Snelgar is a criminal defence lawyer and youth advocate based in Manukau. He has whakapapa to Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Whakatōhea and Ngāi Tahu. Mr Snelgar has experience working in the justice system and has training that is contemporary and relevant to the CCRC’s work. He is also an academic with knowledge and understanding of tikanga Māori and te ao Māori.  He is also a counsel to assist the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care. Before working as a barrister, Mr Snelgar worked at Meredith Connell specialising in criminal prosecution, was a human rights observer at Standing Rock and was also a judge’s clerk and research fellow in the USA. He has also completed a Masters of Law at Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar. Kingi is in the role for a term of 5 years from 15 June 2020.

Associate Professor Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni (Sāmoan, Tongan) teaches Sociology and Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Auckland. Dr Suaalii-Sauni is a social scientist with legal training and has held several community board and government advisory governance roles. In particular as an inaugural board member of Goshen Mental Health Trust Services, and in more recent years on the Auckland Central Police District Commander’s Pacific advisory board, and the NZ Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care’s inaugural research ethics advisory panel. Her expertise in the criminal justice system has been centred on Pacific jurisprudence theory and is currently engaged in indigenous criminological research. Her research focuses on the increasing social inequalities often experienced by Pacific peoples, and the development of a Pacific research tools and communities in Aotearoa. Tamasailau is in the role for a term of 4 years from 12 May 2021.