Submissions on the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill

Friday 25 June is the last day to make submissions on the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill.

 The Bill is the government’s response to Recommendation 18 of the Royal Commission Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques to “…Review all legislation related to the counter-terrorism effort…to ensure it is current and enables Public sector agencies to operate effectively, prioritising consideration of the creation of precursor terrorism offences in the Terrorism Suppression Act…”

To do this, the Bill amends three current Acts: the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 (TSA), the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, and the Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Act 2019, and it:

A.    widens the definition of terrorism

B.    introduces three new offences -

•       planning or preparing to carry out a terrorist act,

•       providing or receiving combat and weapons training for terrorist purposes,

•       international travel to or from or via NZ with intention for terrorist acts.

C.     widens the offence of financing terrorism to include providing material support

D.    extends Control Orders.

 All three Acts the Bill is amending are controversial. The TSA 2002 was criticised by many as a rushed through knee-jerk reaction to 9/11, eroding fundamental rights and freedoms. The Search and Surveillance Act removed the right to silence and the privilege against self-incrimination whilst also dramatically expanding search and surveillance powers. The Control Orders Act allowed secret courts and punishment and state intrusion into people’s lives. The Privacy Commissioner said Control Orders were “an affront to the principles of due process and the principles on which our criminal justice system are based.”

Review of NZ Search and Surveillance Act underway

The Search and Surveillance Act  2012 is to be reviewed.

The Search and Surveillance Act is to be reviewed and a one-stop intelligence shop could come closer to realisation. Number 4 of the terms of references for the review is that it must look at whether the Act (or any related legislation) needs to be amended to enable broader use of the capabilities of the GCSB and /or NZSIS to support police investigations.

This would tie in nicely with the recommendations by Michael Cullen and Helen Reddy in their ‘Intelligence Review’ that the intelligence community operate under one Act, that is, in all but name there be a merge of the intelligence agencies.

The review of the Search and Surveillance Act is a statutory one required by law to look at the ‘operation of the provisions’ of the Act since it began, to see ‘whether those provisions should be retained or repealed’, and ‘if they should be retained, whether any amendments to the Act are necessary or desirable.’

Implicit in Amy Adams announcing of the review however, is that the agencies and institutions covered by the Act need more powers.

Search and Surveillance Bill Passed

The Search and Surveillance Bill was passed on 22nd March. Now it just needs rubber stamping before it becomes law.

When this Bill becomes law, the range of opportunities for legal surveillance available to police and various State agencies increases dramatically. That also means, the 'illegal' activities that those same forces do, shift laterally and also widen.

When this is law, there will be a lot more warrant-less searches and surveillance and warrant-less use of spies, or HIDs - Human Intervention Devices. Road blocks like those seen on 15th October in Ruatoki could become the norm, and increasing use of detention on mere belief that a 'crime' may be committed.

The right to silence and the right not to self-incriminate are also attacked under this law.

March 22nd was not a good day in history. Let's hope that somehow this Bill is never rubber-stamped.

S&S Bill May Be Decided Tuesday 20th March

The Search and Surveillance Bill most probably comes out of Committee on Tuesday 20th March. It will then be voted on and could be law by April 18th.

It will be a sad day.

Search and Surveillance Bill to be Law by April

Judith Collins, Minister of Justice, has announced that she intends that the Search and Surveillance Bill is law by mid-April this year.

Mid-April is when the 'temporary Video Surveillance law' expires. That is the law rushed through parliament to retrospectively legalise illegal police action. An action described by many lawyers as 'abhorrent' and even 'repulsive' and not needed. It is (or was) already law then, that any evidence gathered (whether legally or illegally) can be presented in court under the Evidence Act, at the discretion of the court, depending on the seriousness of the evidence.

New Zealand is one of the only lands where law can be changed retrospectively on the whims of government.

Once the Search and Surveillance Bill becomes law, we will be even more on the road to becoming one of the most heavily surveilled countries in the world.

There will also be fundamental changes to 'law and order' - the right to silence will be gone, as will the right to not incriminate oneself. And the law has a catch-22 phrase to legalise all future surveillance developments before they have developed.

This Act, hand-in-hand with other law changes going on, mean so-called 'rights' such as the right to a jury trial, the right to be present for your own court case, are being written out of law.

The Search and Surveillance Bill needs to be stopped now.

Urgent Action Alert – Stop the Video Camera Surveillance Bill!

It is only days now until Parliament votes on the law that would legalise covert video surveillance by Police, Fisheries, SIS and Customs. This bill must be stopped! It is the most serious assault on our fundamental freedom and rights in our lifetime. As it stands, no warrant is even required to conduct video surveillance.

We are asking everyone to take two minutes to email members of Parliament who have not decided which way to vote and tell them to vote ‘NO’ on the bill. It is likely to be voted on this Thursday (October 6). At present, the National party does not have the numbers to pass the bill. It only has the support of United Future. It needs 3 more votes – so we want to make sure that neither the Labour Party nor the ACT party support this dangerous bill from becoming  law. The Green, Maori and Mana parties do not support the bill at all.

Please email any member of parliament you like. We would certainly encourage in particular emails to:

ACT party
Rodney Hide – rodney.hide@parliament.govt.nz
John Boscawen – john.boscawen@parliament.govt.nz
Roger Douglas – roger.douglas@parliament.govt.nz
Hilary Calvert – hilary.calvert@parliament.govt.nz
Heather Roy – heather.roy@parliament.govt.nz

LABOUR
Phil Goff – phil.goff@parliament.govt.nz
Annette King – annette.king@parliament.govt.nz
David Parker – david.parker@parliament.govt.nz
Charles Chauvel – charles.chauvel@parliament.govt.nz
Grant Robertson – grant.robertson@parliament.govt.nz
David Cunliffe – david.cunliffe@parliament.govt.nz
Ruth Dyson – ruth.dyson@parliament.govt.nz
Clayton Cosgrove – clayton.cosgrove@parliament.govt.nz
Maryan Street – maryan.street@parliament.govt.nz
Trevor Mallard – trevor.mallard@parliament.govt.nz

The most important thing to say is:

‘VOTE NO ON THE VIDEO SURVEILLANCE BILL’.

Other things you can say are:

• It is an assault on the rule of law as it retrospectively legalises illegal police actions

• It is an assault on the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure

• It is an assault on the right to privacy

• You don’t want any expansion of the power of the state to surveil people

The police and government have been misleading the public by saying that the bill will ‘restore the common law position’ - the police have never had the power to do trespassory video surveillance. The police knowingly broke the law and should be prosecuted.

The ONLY submission received in support of this law was from Police. All other submissions – including the Law Society, Criminal Bar, civil society organisations and hundred of individuals all opposed this bill.

The History of the Search and Surveillance Bill

In 2002 Labour said that police powers of search and surveillance were a mess. 

They argued that law and order hadn’t kept pace with technology and that police powers were based on statutes between 40 and 50 years old. The Law Commission was ordered to recommend changes.