The bill expanding the legal powers of the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders may be required to have regard to the Bill of Rights Act within a new set of principles, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday.
That would be a second concession Mr Key has made this week in the face of strong opposition to the bill.
Earlier in the week he agreed the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security should be backed up by a two-person panel that could be used as a sounding board for the Inspector-General's decisions.
Mr Key said Act leader John Banks wanted the bill to have an overriding statement of principles, as does the legislation giving authority to the domestic spy agency, the SIS.
"I actually think that's quite a good idea," Mr Key told reporters at Parliament yesterday.
"That's the idea of having, for instance, principles that would lay out that the legislation has to have regard to the Bill of Rights [Act], to adherence to the law, those sorts of thing."
Mr Key said he would ask officials advising the Intelligence and Security Committee to work on that suggestion.
The committee was due to meet last night.
The Bill of Rights Act 1990 affirms a set of rights and freedoms such as freedom of association, freedom of movement, freedom of thought, conscience and religion and the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
Rodney Harrison, QC, the Auckland lawyer who presented the Law Society's highly critical submission on the bill, said an addition that the GCSB had to abide by the Bill of Rights Act might not add much because the act already had to apply to the GCSB in exercising their powers.
Mr Key said he was now confident he could get the bill passed with the support of Act and United Future leaders. He also hoped to get New Zealand First backing and his office had rung Winston Peters' office to offer briefings and answer any questions.
"I am confident we can get a deal across the line in terms of the bare majority. Hopefully we can build that out further."
The Security Intelligence Service Act principles state that the service: 1. contributes to keeping New Zealand society secure, independent, and free and democratic; 2. contributes to the participation of New Zealand in the maintenance of international security; 3. acts in accordance with New Zealand law and all human rights standards recognised by New Zealand law, except to the extent that they are, in relation to national security, modified by enactments; 4. acts, in the discharge of its operational functions, independently and impartially; 5. acts with integrity and professionalism; 6. acts in a manner that facilitates effective democratic oversight.
- Audrey Young of the New Zealand Herald
