The Video Camera Surveillance (Temporary Measures) Bill is being sold as being about the police, who supposedly need the power to stick a camera in someone's bedroom in order to prevent unspecified Bad People from "getting off" (i.e. being found innocent by a jury of their peers). But if you look at the bill, it doesn't just apply to them. The definition on search now says it applies to "an act done by a person or body referred to in section 3(b) of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990", which means:
any person or body in the performance of any public function, power, or duty conferred or imposed on that person or body by or pursuant to law.So here's another question: which other government body or bodies has been using unlawful camera surveillance in such a widespread manner that they need retrospective validation? And why doesn't the government want to be honest about it?
(My guess is (of course) SIS, whose intelligence warrant system appears not to include video surveillance, though it does include communications, documents, and electronic tracking).
