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New Zealand Parliament Votes To Extend Spying Powers

Posted by Unknown on from the not-used-for-spying-pinky-swear dept.

pinkstuff writes "Amid protests and much opposition New Zealand parliament has just passed a bill which allows the The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) greater spying powers."

2 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. Re:Public opinion doesn't matter by pinkstuff · · Score: 3, Informative

    OP here. New Zealand has a Proportional Representation based governement. This makes it less of a two horse race as every vote counts. Quite minor parties will have representation in government. There are also quite small spending caps for campaigning leading up to elections. For the most part it works quite well, and I still believe it is one of the most truely democratic countries.

    This is what makes all of this so much worse, it is the first time in living memory there has been such strong public opposition to a bill and it has been passed anyway. A recent poll suggests 89% of New Zealanders oppose the bill.

    There is more than meets the eye here, the way the Prime Minister is forcing this through is very fishy to me, it seems like he is being pushed into it. Here is a quote from a recent press conference:

    “Prime Minister, numerous legal jurors have informed us publicly that they disagree with you wholeheartedly, that you are taking broad powers, which would allow you to invade privacyand you are saying that all those people are wrong” a journalist said to Key. “Correct,” the Prime Minister said before immediately interrupting the rest of the question by asking, “Is this a question buddy?”

    So, the Human Rights Commission, the Law Society and the general population don't want the bill to pass, and yet it does (just).