August 18, 2013
The Spy Bill
Opinion: During the 1980s Māori activists complained regularly about being spied on.
I remember clearly when my uncle Syd and aunty Hana Jackson claimed they were being illegally spied on, your average New Zealander laughed at them and said they were talking nonsense.
When Tame Iti reckoned he and his mates – who were bonding in the bushes – were victims of Big Brother tactics, the chuckles got even louder.
But now that the TRUTH is out there and we know the illegal lengths our spooks have gone to peeking into the lives of average New Zealanders, those laughs have turned to howls of outrage.
And the reason? Because Pakeha New Zealand now realises the spy microscope is not only trained on Māori who have dared to stand up for their rights but on anyone and everyone.
The Government Communications Security Bureau – which was really only known to other spook agencies before the Kim Dotcom calamity – has a mandate to maintain national security from overseas threats.
It was formally established in 1977 by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. But oddly enough, the GCSB's functions and activities were kept secret.
In 1980 changes were made in Parliament that allowed the GCSB's existence to be revealed.
That year the first briefings were made to Cabinet and the Opposition leader. But these briefings barely acknowledged the relevance of the GCSB.
I guess it was like being invited to a booze-up at a brewery only to be told it's teetotal.
But now, after the fallout over the GCSB's involvement gathering information on Dotcom, it was revealed the agency had also been spying on average New Zealanders – which went against its legal powers.
In my view, the changes to the Government Communications Security Bureau Act are a kneejerk reaction to this secret agency getting caught with its pants down, its hand in the illegal cookie jar and also finding itself centre stage in the public spotlight.
Some will say if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind extending the GCSB's brief. There's some truth in that but I don't want people who have no right knowing my business.
This week the prime minister's line about Kiwis caring more about the snapper quota than the GCSB bill, coupled with his stunning attack on John Campbell on TV, showed that the Government was going on the offensive over the spy bill and Key was clearly sick of all the negative publicity.
Yes, Kiwis do care about the threat of lowering the daily take-home snapper allowance but like-minded New Zealanders also care deeply about our rights.
It's just a shame that Pākehā New Zealand has taken so long to wake up to something Māori were talking about more than three decades ago.
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