Tuesday, August 30, 2016



Submit!

The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on the New Zealand Intelligence and Security Bill. You can submit online at the link provided, or in hardcopy to

Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee Secretariat
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Submissions are due by Friday, 7 October 2016.

The bill would significantly expand the power of National's spy agencies, allowing the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders while gagging former public servants from blowing the whistle (or from reading the Guardian). It would also expand the power of spy agencies to create false fronts and false identities, effectively re-establish the Official Secrets Act over such activities, and immunise them from any crimes committed in the process (including electoral fraud and perjury). There's also some tricky stuff around the definition of "interception" which would effectively legalise using foreign intelligence agencies to circumvent New Zealand law (something the GCSB has just been caught doing - without punishment, of course). If you oppose this, then you should speak out about it. If you don't think you can do that without the SIS starting a file on you, you should request that your submission be kept confidential.