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When we moved to New Zealand we thought we are moving to one of the least corrupt countries.
I can tell you from first hand experience that NZ is a wolf in sheeps clothing, totally corrupt.
The amount of lawbreaking, lying, spying and coverups by the NZ Govt, simply shocking.
BREAKING:
STATE SPIED ON GREENS, MANA MOVEMENT, GREENPEACE & MĀORI
On
top of the mass surveillance powers the GCSB, SIS and Police have
been given, we now know State Agencies used corporate spies to
circumvent the law. Explosive new allegations are that State Agencies
used corporate spies to spy on the Greens, the MANA Movement,
Greenpeace and Māori…
18
December, 2018
On
top of the mass
surveillance powers the
GCSB, SIS and Police have been given, we now know State Agencies used
corporate spies to circumvent the law. Explosive new allegations are
that State Agencies used corporate spies to spy on the Greens, the
MANA Movement, Greenpeace and Māori…
Damning report confirms Government agencies used private investigators for spying
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has issued a damning report into the use of private investigators by government agencies, calling the actions of some “an affront to democracy” and laying a complaint with police in one instance.
Hughes detailed a list of breaches of the State Service Code of Conduct, including potentially illegal recordings of insurance claimants, public sector employees accessing the New Zealand Transport Agency database for private investigation firm Thompson and Clark, paying for informants and spying on the Green Party and iwi.
Hughes today released his 80-page report into the use of external security consultants today. The inquiry was sparked by revelations of government agencies including Southern Response, MBIE, the SIS and Ministry for Primary Industries.
He took responsibility for what had occurred, as head of State Services. “I apologise unreservedly to those individuals whose privacy has been intruded on by state servants or their contractors.”
…this
is the first time we are now hearing State Agencies spied on the
Greens, Greenpeace, the MANA Movement and Māori…
He was scathing in his criticism of government agencies’ actions against New Zealanders exercising their democratic rights through TCIL reporting on the activities of groups such as Greenpeace, the Green Party, the Mana Movement and some Northland East Coast and Taranaki iwi groups., which he said were treated as a “security threat”.
…the
enemy of the people is the State. Never forget that.
I
predict these pieces of filth will get away with this, just like
every State Agency gets away with it, we will now see just how
controlled this Government is by their Ministries by the total
inability to do anything.
The
sleepy hobbits of Muddle Nu Zilind are always told that new spying
powers are needed to stop terrorists or organised crime, but time and
time and time again, the so called ‘enemy’ are environmentalists,
social justice groups, Māori and the Greens.
What
a surprise this scathing report of the State spying on the people is
released a couple of weeks before Christmas. Seeing as we have light
weight infotainment at 7pm instead of current affairs, this will
quickly slip under the radar.
It
is not until we get a radical
political movement into power that
we will be able to dismantle the Police State and see justice.
If
you are not incandescent with rage, you’re not paying attention.
Fuck
them. Fuck them all!
18
December, 2018
State
Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has laid a complaint with police
about unlawful recordings of earthquake victims by spy firm Thompson
& Clark.
It
comes as an explosive report details a slew of damning revelations
about how the controversial spy firm was used by government agencies.
Those
include reporting and monitoring the Green and Mana parties, iwi and
activists - and accessing the motor vehicle register.
Hughes,
who is head of the state services, has apologised "unreservedly
to those individuals whose privacy has been intruded on by state
servants or their contractors."
JOSEPH
JOHNSON
Doug
Martin began an investigation into Southern Response Earthquake
Services' use of security consultants, before the inquiry was
broadened.
"I
take responsibility for what has happened here. And I will fix it."
Among
the findings are:
-
that a Thompson & Clark employee recorded several closed meetings
of Southern Response insurance claimants in Christchurch between
2014-2016. The contractor was not a licensed private investigator,
which is potentially unlawful. The activity is the subject of Hughes'
complaint to police
-
Two Ministry of Primary Industries staff were also working
for Thompson & Clark, and accessed New Zealand Transport
Agency information on behalf of the security firm. They are now
being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office
-
MPI hired the firm to monitor animal rights activists, and spy on
them at conferences in 2005 and 2006
-
Crown Law hired investigators from another firm to dig up information
to cross examine witnesses in a court case alleging abuse
in state care - known as the "White case". The
investigators may have used "low level surveillance"
-
inappropriate email contact between a Security Intelligence Service
staff and one of the firm's directors, which risked harming the
reputation of the government spy agency
-
unprofessional interactions between the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment and Thompson & Clark
investigators, working for the oil and gas industry, that "created
at least a perception of conflict of interest"
- Thompson
& Clark reported to government agencies on the activities of
the Green and Mana parties, Taranaki and Northland iwi groups and
Greenpeace, described as "an affront to democracy"
Overall,
the inquiry has found a lack of professional distance between
Thompson & Clark and public servants, and a lack of oversight or
written contracts with the spy firm.
There
was "system wide failings" across the public service, with
staff developing "inappropriately close relationships" with
the firm's staff.
And
it was also critical of Thompson & Clark's behaviour -
including using an unlicensed investigator and covertly attending
public metings, recording meetings without consent.
The
firm also approached public servants - who had access to sensitive
official information - for secondary employment, accessed the motor
vehicle register for "potentially improper purposes."
KEVIN
STENT/STUFF
Simon
Mount, QC, was brought in to assist the inquiry in June.
Hughes
has also lodged a formal complaint with the Private Security
Personnel Licensing Authority and asked MBIE to remove Thompson
& Clark from the Government procurement panel - a scheme
that pre-approves companies for Government work.
Hughes
said the inquiry stretched over a decade of Thompson & Clark
activity on behalf of public agencies.
"I
am disappointed that the inquiry has uncovered some shortcomings
across the State Services," he said.
"While
many of the events are historic, the Inquiry has found that seven
government agencies have breached the Code of Conduct, including
agencies that breached the Code with their use of private security
consultants to undertake inappropriate surveillance."
Hughes
said he was most concerned that the firm treated "issue
motivated" groups as a security threat.
"I
am very disappointed that government agencies did not challenge
TCIL [Thompson & Clark] on that. It is an affront to
democracy, and it is not consistent with how we should view
democratic freedom."
Hughes
said agencies could gather information to investigate fraud or tax
evasion.
But
he added: "I am very clear it is never acceptable for an agency
to classify a person or group of people as a security threat just
because they lawfully exercise their democratic rights, or to use
that as justification for gathering information.
"Equally,
it is never acceptable to gather information about people or groups
for the sole purpose of managing reputational risk to an agency."
Of
the surveillance of earthquake victims, Hughes it was "ill-judged
and poorly managed." "It was not right and not the sort of
behaviour New Zealands would expect of a contractor working for a
government agency."
Hughes
says he's issued new "model standards" setting out
expectations about how public service should gather information.
Thompson
& Clark director Gavin Clark says his firm doesn't agree with
some of the findings in the report.
"We
have had the final report for less than 24 hours and will take some
time to consider it in detail", he said in a written statement.
"There
are some findings we do not agree with, as noted in the report, as
they don't reflect the understanding that our industry and its Code
operated to in years gone by. We will explain our disagreement with
those findings to any future investigations that may result from this
report.
The
firm is undertaking its own internal review.
"We
have worked with numerous government departments across three
different Governments over 15 years. We have always
strived to operate within the law and the rules and regulations of
our industry, he said.
CAMERON
BURNELL/STUFF
State
Services Commissioner Peter Hughes says spying on politicians and iwi
was "an affront to democracy."
In
March, the SSC launched an inquiry into Crown-owned company
Southern Response's use Thompson & Clark, following media
allegations it had spied on Canterbury earthquake victims.
But
as further ties between the firm and other agencies emerged, the
inquiry was widened to cover the entire state sector.
That
came after documents revealed Security Intelligence Service
staff appeared to be helping Thompson & Clark find work.
Earlier
this month, Stuff revealed Ministry of Primary Industries staff were
emailing Thompson & Clark about Kiwi eco-warrior Pete
Bethune.
Greenpeace
boss Russel Norman said the report was a "Watergate moment"
and accused the state of "assisting in systematic and
oppressive Stasi-like surveillance."
"
Heads must roll at MBIE. This rampant level of surveillance in a
supposedly democratic society is simply unacceptable.
"What's
more, opposition leader Simon Bridges was at the helm of two of the
departments - NZTA and MBIE - that were involved in unlawful spying
on civil society. He must answer a key question: Did he purposely use
the state to attack democratic civil society groups and MPs, or did
he just fail to exercise proper oversight over these agencies.
"This
report shows that it doesn't matter if you're a state abuse survivor,
an earthquake victim, or a climate activist. No-one has been safe
from unlawful spying in New Zealand over the past decade, and it's
all been supported by the state."
SIS
director Rebecca Kitteridge said the agent caught emailing with
Thompson & Clark was dealt with as "an employment matter"
but didn't specify if they'd been sacked.
Green
party co-leader Marama Davidson said the report should serve as
a "wake-up call" for the public service and lead to a
culture change.
"The
culture of collusion undermines our precious democracy, and we are
especially concerned at the targeting of communities defending and
protecting their local environment."
Human
rights advocates Amnesty said they were "appalled" by the
report's findings. Policy manager Annaliese Johnston said:
"We would expect the state to value people's freedom to advocate
and mobilise on issues they care about, whether environmental,
animal rights or historic cases of sexual abuse.
"That
the state seems to have instead been using investigators to spy
on their own citizens and treating them as threats is very
troubling."
The report can be read HERE
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