Wellington Public Meeting

SIS Amendments - “We Do Not Need to Know.”

Keith Locke, Helen Kelly and Nicky Hager will be joining forces in Wellington on Tuesday, 1^st February, to discuss the expanded powers of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) that will be rushed through Parliament in the coming month.

John Key introduced the SIS Amendment Bill in the House just before Parliament broke up for summer. Submissions close on 18^th February.

“It gives little time for public discussion, but that's what Key prefers,” said Anna Cocker from OASIS, the group organising the meeting. “Key wants secrecy about this Bill. He does not want public scrutiny of it.”

The SIS spies on 6700 people

There was much controversy in 2009 when the NZ Security Intelligence Service (SIS) released several personal files of political activists who have been around for decades. It revealed that Green Party MP Keith Locke had and open SIS file until 2006. He was elected to parliament in 1999 and was spied on since he was a young boy delivering Communist Party newspapers in Christchurch.

In June 2010, Prime Minister John Key released a follow-up report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Mr Neazor, about personal files and other records held by the SIS. Key ordered a review last year on files kept on MPs and about collecting, retaining and destroying personal records. It comes as no surprise that Neazor “is satisfied with current and proposed practices.”