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A long time watchdog of government activities is warning Maori who speak out that they are likely to be targeted for surveillance under a new bill covering the New Zealand spy agencies.
Murray Horton from the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa says the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill was created because the GCSB's pursuit of internet mogul Kim Dotcom on behalf of United States interests was found to be illegal by the courts.
He says his own Security intelligence Service file, and those he has seen of other prominent New Zealanders and organisations, are collections of tittle tattle and nonsense collected for no good reason against people who questioned the establishment.
He says allowing the GCSB to use its massive resources to spy on New Zealanders is a backward step.
"The law change being proposed now by (John) Key and supported by Labour, it should be noted, would actually allow spying on " Maori radicals" and who defines what those words mean. There's a long history of hysteria about so called Maori radicals. Im thinking now going back to the 80's when there was all this talk about Maori radicals having these connections with Libya," he says.
Murray Horton says the case of an exiled Fijian democracy activist whose life has been turned upside down by the intrusive actions of new Zealand and Australian spy agencies, shows no one is safe from overzealous spies.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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