Listen Now: 
One of those arrested in the 2007 Te Urewera raids say Māori are likely targets of the growing surveillance state.
Valerie Morse has been knocked back in her bid to find out if she was one of the 88 people who were illegally spied on by the Government Communications Security Bureau.
She's looking for help to run a class action on the issue.
Ms Morse says in three cases the GCSB was acting on behalf of the police, and in the other 85 cases it was helping the Security Intelligence Service, which has a long history of spying on social justice and Māori rights campaigners.
She's sure spying is still going on.
"There are obviously a number of people now, Māori, involved in campaigns against oil and gas drilling. I think they are very likely to be targeted for surveillance by the SIS. People shouldn't be scared of that but they should be aware of it and they should be taking steps to make sure their personal information is kept private and they are careful about how they act," she says.
Ms Morse says the New Zealand state is worried about its own legitimacy, so it keeps a close tab on Māori calls for tino rangatiratanga.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
RELATED NEWS
