Financial Review Debate — New Zealand Security Intelligence Service

Well, what a year it was for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)—a year in which the confidence of New Zealanders in their security and intelligence agencies hit an all-time low. It hit an all-time low because Prime Minister John Key, the Minister responsible for those security and intelligence agencies, failed in his duty to New Zealanders to provide adequate oversight to those agencies. He is, by law, the one person who can provide that oversight on behalf of New Zealanders, but he failed. New Zealanders no longer trust in their intelligence and security agencies, and the fault for that lies at the feet of the Prime Minister.

If we look at the record of the GCSB during the year under review, it is stuff-up after stuff-up, cover-up after cover-up. In the middle of it, the Prime Minister introduced legislation to fundamentally change the role of the GCSB. He went around New Zealand downplaying that, but the end result is that we now have an agency that was formerly about foreign intelligence but that can now spy on New Zealanders. That is the change that has been made by the Prime Minister, but he would not admit that, and he would not admit that it expanded the powers over New Zealanders. He had to come to this House during the last reading of the legislation and say that in the end the only defence he could give New Zealanders as to whether or not they will be spied on by their own foreign intelligence agency is his word—his word that he will not use those powers that he has given himself.

Well, this side of the Chamber and, indeed, many New Zealanders do not trust the Prime Minister on that matter. They do not believe him. They do not believe him about the GCSB because time after time when there have been debates on the GCSB the Prime Minister has evaded, the Prime Minister has avoided answering questions, and the Prime Minister has occasionally—outside of this Chamber and inside this Chamber—avoided the truth.

Did we not also know about that in the year under review when the appointment of Ian Fletcher was revealed? The Prime Minister tried to tell us he had nothing to do with the appointment of his old school friend to that job, but little by little the details were dragged out from him. It turns out that the Prime Minister intervened in that appointment process, cut across a State Services Commission process, and rang Ian Fletcher up in Australia and said he better apply for that job. He told him to talk to Maarten Wevers, the head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He was not even meant to be part of the process at that stage. He appointed his mate to run a security and intelligence agency where sometimes the only two people in the room discussing what that agency does are Ian Fletcher and John Key.

It is too cosy by half, and New Zealanders who want to have confidence in their security and intelligence agencies have had that completely undermined by John Key appointing his mate to run the GCSB and ramming through legislation that rides roughshod over the rights of New Zealanders. The Labour Party wants us to have strong intelligence agencies that are doing their job. We do not know at this stage whether that is what we have got. We have agencies where we are totally unsure what they are up to, and we need a far-reaching review.

Also in the period under review was the time in which the illegal surveillance of 88 New Zealanders came to light. So not only do we have a Prime Minister covering up what is going on but we find out that under his watch there has been illegal surveillance. He was told months in advance of when New Zealanders were told about this illegal surveillance. He was told 3 or 4 months ahead of when it was made public and he chose to cover that up, further undermining the confidence of New Zealanders. Then, most recently, we have had the revelation that the GCSB could not even get its numbers right in this House about the number of interception warrants and access authorisations that it has enforced. This House was misled by the GCSB to the tune of around 12 extra access authorisations and around four extra interception warrants. It did not tell New Zealanders that until it realised later that it had stuffed up.

The GCSB under the Prime Minister’s watch has had its powers expanded at the same time as it has become a laughing stock. That is not what we want in our intelligence agencies. New Zealanders should be able to have confidence in them. Under this Prime Minister, under John Key, they cannot.

There is a long history of cross-party consensus on intelligence issues in New Zealand. That is as it should be. We all believe in the defence of New Zealand and the protection of our people and their interests from foreign threats. Unfortunately, as the Minister in charge of the NZ Security Intelligence Service and the Minister responsible for the GCSB, the Prime Minister has dramatically failed this nation. Today, of course, he has not put himself in a position to respond to questions in this Committee. The security services are of critical importance but the Prime Minister has shown only his casualness and incompetence and prefers to go and have a cup of coffee downtown.

💬 Hon Annette King: Is that where he is?

That is where he was when this was all relevant.

💬 David Bennett: Oh, we’re going to have a speech all about it.

Well, you are getting a brilliant speech, of course. The question is whether you have got the intellectual capacity to absorb it. In the area of the security services, the public must take so much on trust alone. That is because nearly all the work has to be done behind closed doors. The security services work in the shadows. Therefore, for the sake of Mr Bennett, from the Hamilton seat that he will soon lose, it is imperative that this trust is not abused as it has been.

You see, Mr Bennett, some people in this country are concerned about civil liberties. I know that Mr Bennett is not. Illegality has been tolerated and then plastered over with legislation. The legislation that the Government drafted and passed as amending legislation has left people anxious and alarmed at what is seen as an erosion of their civil liberties. There has been a fundamental loss of trust in the area of the security services and it is entirely due to the Prime Minister’s behaviour. Appointing an old mate to head the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was a mistake and should never have happened but it is totally consistent with the PM playing games with due process.

And let me say about his denial with regard to the Coatesville raid that there is no Western leader, president, or prime minister in any self-respecting democracy who would ever believe the Prime Minister’s denials that the head of the GCSB and the intelligence services in this country is the only one of numerous people who does not know. Has he sacked somebody for not informing him? Has he got rid of them for not informing him? No, because he wantonly wants to avoid the fact that some of us know that he knew and we will prove it. We will tell you the Ministers over there, one by one, who were in the know. It is either their backsides or his, but they are going to be named as things unfold in the next few weeks in this Parliament.

The public has no confidence that the Prime Minister will act with the highest integrity in relation to security issues. His credibility has gone. I mean, see the way that he is dealing with the other parties in this Parliament: the ACT Party, United Future, and the “Looney Tunes” Party that thinks that the vapour trails are poisoning the New Zealand population. You know, I can see why he has had a Damascus experience and now he wants to talk to that safest and wisest of political parties, New Zealand First. He all of a sudden realises the game is up and unless he can try to make it up and get some sort of sanity back into the political environment, then he is going to go down in a screaming heap. Why? It is because the internal National Party polls tell Mr Brownlee or “Mr Fix-it”, Steven Joyce, that things are not looking too good, that there is a soft underbelly of flakiness, and that if that goes, it is goodnight, Gerry, goodnight Mr Bennett—and goodnight both Hamilton seats.

Oh, I know that nervous look. I have seen that nervous look before. I know what it is like—smiles above the deck, knocking knees under it. It is all because the Prime Minister, in whom they propose so much trust and who said he is bright, intelligent, and alert, is in charge of two security services and the only person who does not know what is going on—he claims wantonly, mistakenly, erroneously, and falsely—is him. My comment to Mr Brownlee filling in today is this: Mr Brownlee, you as Minister know that what he is saying is not true, so why do you not confess on his behalf?

Report noted.

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