17 June 2004
Passport bill undermines New Zealanders' citizenship rights
Green MP Keith Locke says the Identity (Citizenship and Travel Documents) Bill, tabled in Parliament today, undermines
precious citizenship rights.
"The greatest threat to New Zealanders in this Bill is the power given to a Minister to take away our passport on
national security grounds," said Mr Locke, the Green Party's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson.
"The present citizenship and passport arrangements are not broke, so why do we need to 'fix' them by making them so much
more restrictive?
"If a New Zealander really is conspiring to be a terrorist, then charge him or her with that offence, but don't give a
Minister with a political agenda the right to stop us leaving the country. We have a basic right as New Zealand citizens
to travel abroad.
"The new measures appear to be driven from overseas, as part of the so-called 'war against terrorism' without any
practical reasoning behind them. Some of the changes are just silly. Why require new citizens to take oaths at public
ceremonies? Are we turning into Americans, who have to put their hand on their heart and publicly salute a flag?
"There is no adequate reason for the Government to make it harder for the spouses of New Zealanders to get citizenship,
or to push the qualifying period out from three to five years, or to reduce the life of passports from ten years to
five.
"The Bill also puts an unnecessary barrier in the way of hard-working migrants using their time on work permits to count
towards their citizenship qualification period," said Mr Locke.
ENDS