New Zealand moves towards a surveillance state

GCSB bill passes first reading

Parliament has passed the first reading of the bill that gives the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) legal authority

Yahoo,

8 May, 2013

Opposition parties strongly opposed it and the first reading vote was 61 to 59.

The government drafted the bill after discovering the GCSB may have been acting illegally for more than a decade while it was carrying out surveillance on behalf of the other agencies.

Justice Minister Judith Collins is handling the bill.

She told parliament the GCSB played a vital role in national security and had to operate under clear and transparent laws.

"The GCSB's assistance is crucial to the other agencies," she said.

"That assistance has been a long-standing practice under previous Labour and National governments but there are difficulties of legal interpretation - the confusion is caused by a single paragraph."

The bill also updates the GCSB's powers to deal with cyber security.

"It is at the forefront of tackling this rapidly increasing threat... New Zealand could be left behind by technology," she said.

Under the bill there will be stronger oversight of the GCSB but opponents say it is still too weak.

Labour leader David Shearer said the bill was "a patch-up job" and there should be a comprehensive inquiry into the security services.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said the GCSB was being given stronger powers to snoop on New Zealanders.

"Those powers allow it to put bugs in our houses, listen to our phone calls, look at our emails and monitor every activity we do every second of the day," he said.

NZ First also voted against the bill but is prepared to back it through its later stages if the government agrees to amend it.

"We want an effective watchdog that doesn't bite the people it protects," said party leader Winston Peters.

He has written to Prime Minister John Key outlining the changes NZ First wants to be made during the bill's committee stage.

Mr Key has said it might be possible to reach agreement on the proposed amendments.

The bill has been sent to the intelligence and security committee for public submissions.

It will hear submissions for only two months - it is usually six months - because the GCSB can't assist the other agencies until the bill is law.

Peters concerned over GCSB legislation

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has told Prime Minister John Key that his GCSB legislation introduced to Parliament is too sweeping in some of its clauses.

NZ Herald,

9 May, 2013

Mr Peters is especially concerned with the clause that allows the spy agency, which focuses on foreign intelligence, to extend the domestic agencies it could help in the future to any Government agency and by the stroke of a pen under regulation.

"That's totally unsatisfactory and its away from any process of transparency and accountability," Mr Peters said.

He said it could be argued that other agencies should be there, such as Customs, but he wanted the agencies spelled out in law.

The bill amending the Government Communications Security Bureau Act 2003 authorises surveillance on New Zealanders in certain circumstances and limits the agencies that the GCSB can help to just the Police, the Defence Force, and the Security Intelligence Service.

It says that any department could be added in the future by order in council - regulation - which is the decision of just the cabinet and not the Parliament.

Mr Peters' support is not required for the bill but he is likely to support it if he can get the changes he wants.

Other opposition parties are refusing to support it under any circumstances, with Labour and Greens calling for an inquiry into New Zealand's intelligence agencies.

The Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament yesterday and passed its first reading by 61 to 59. National had the support of only Act and United Future.

Mr Key wrote to Mr Peters on Monday about the bill offering him a briefing on it and a meeting if he chose.

Mr Peters replied yesterday setting his party's objections and he has not taken up the offer of a meeting.

Mr Key has insisted that the bill does not expand the activities of the GCSB but clarifies its legal ability to work in the way it has for years, including under the last Labour Government.

Labour leader David Shearer told Parliament the bill was "a patch-up job" on an intelligence network that had some very serious shortfalls.

"This is about our national security; it is about our human rights; it is about Kiwis' confidence in the integrity of our intelligence agencies."

He wanted a wide independent inquiry across the intelligence agencies, rather than focusing on the workings of the GCSB.

"We need to do this properly, we need to do it once and we need to get it right because we can't go on as we are."

Greens co-leader Russel Norman said the parliamentary oversight of the GCSB and other spy agencies had been woeful.

"Is it any wonder that these agencies living under a stone for three or four decades with no public scrutiny, no sunlight ever exposed to them went dysfunctional.?

A review of compliance by cabinet secretary Rebecca Kitteridge found that New Zealanders may have been spied on unlawfully up to 88 times.

The bill will be considered by the Intelligence and Security Committee and will be reported back by July 26.

Because the process has been shortened from six months to four months, the first reading debate was open ended and the Government took it under urgency.