The GCSB spy bill

Key invokes the al-Qaeda bogeyman

Prime Minister John Key has used al-Qaeda training camps as a further justification to introduce the GCSB bill. He told reporters before the vote on Thursday that people who have been in New Zealand have then gone to the camps in Yemen.

Radio New Zealand,

1 August, 2013

"That's just the way things are. We live in a global environment where there are real threats and that's the point we make with the GCSB legislation.

"That's why (Labour Prime Minister) Helen Clark passed the legislation in 2003 that while it's very narrow and very small in number, the facts of life are that New Zealand is not immune from those potential risks."

Mr Key said some of the people involved could have been New Zealanders, but he was unable to give specific numbers. He said he has signed warrants, as the Minister Responsible for the GCSB and the Security Intelligence Service for people training in Yemen.

Sir Bruce Ferguson headed the GCSB from 2006 to 2011 and said on Thursday he was not aware of people going from New Zealand to the camps, but that didn't mean it did not happen.

Sir Bruce said normally, this would have been handled primarily by the SIS, not the GCSB. He said it is possible the GCSB could have been asked to help under warrant, but he has no memory of that.

Spy bill passes second reading

Legislation that would allow the Government's electronic spy agency to legally gather information on New Zealanders passed its second reading in Parliament.

The Government had support for the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill, including votes from independent MP Peter Dunne and ACT Party leader John Banks.

The bill passed by 61 votes to 59 on Thursday afternoon. It will be back before Parliament next Tuesday for committee stages.

Its passage through the House has prompted nationwide protests by people concerned about the power it will allow the Government Communications Security Bureau to wield.

One objection is that the GCSB is part of an international spy agency network, through which New Zealanders' private information will be shared. Another point of contention is that the bill will only just scrape through with a one-vote majority.

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson told Parliament that the public was being misled by ill-minded fear-mongering.

"This legislation is not a revolution in the way New Zealand conducts its intelligence operations and national security. It is not a case of expanding the borders of some intelligence empire."

Opposition parties say the legislation is dangerous and deeply flawed.

Labour leader David Shearer said the party accepts there are problems with the country's intelligence agencies but the bill has been a complete train wreck and Prime Minister John Key has not justified the proposed laws.

Earlier, Independent MP Peter Dunne said he would not reconsider his support despite revelations a reporter had her phone records released to a ministerial inquiry into the leaking of a report into the GCSB.

Mr Dunne has said the man leading the investigation, David Henry, went too far when he sought the records of Fairfax Media journalist Andrea Vance, but would still support the legislation.