Last week, we learned that government insurance agency Southern Response had been using New Zealand's most infamous private spy agency to spy on earthquake victims. Last night, Thompson & Clark got what was coming to them, with an effective ban on government contracts:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has banned all Government departments from using a firm of private investigators for spying.
It follows a Newshub investigation that found state-owned insurers Southern Response got the investigators from Thompson and Clark to snoop on victims of the Christchurch earthquake at the taxpayers' expense.
Ms Ardern says this was "totally inappropriate" and other Government departments should not be using them.
"Absolutely not. In fact, we had a brief discussion amongst a few Ministers this morning, to make sure that none of their departments are engaging Thompson and Clark in the same way," she explained.
"Their behaviour around spying and so on is totally inappropriate."
Good riddance. T&C are scum who have repeatedly engaged in infiltrating and suppressing civil society groups. No government agency in a democracy should have anything to do with such an organisation.
But while Ardern's actions looks decisive, note that she only mentions government departments. But there are other types of government agency, including Crown Entities, State-Owned Enterprises, and CRI's. Does the ban extend to them too, or will Southern Response still be able to spy on its victims?
