Where is the search and surveillance bill?

We are challenging the Government and the Justice and Electoral Select Committee to be open and transparent about the progress of the new Search and Surveillance Bill. The New Zealand public needs to know when the revised bill will be released and be assured that everyone, not just a select few, will have the opportunity to provide submissions on the revised bill.

"Since the original bill was introduced, there has been a much greater understanding of the bill and it's effects - there is a need to hear many of the new arguments put forward, both in support for and opposed to the bill" said the Campaign to Stop the Search and Surveillance Bill spokesperson Batch Hales.

The last bill was sent back for re-drafting because neither the Select Committee members or the Law Commission could actually explain it or agree on what powers it extended. The Select Committee chairman Chester Burrows said that a new Search and Surveillance Bill would be introduced in July, but that only those who gave submissions on the original bill would be allowed to comment on the revised one.

The Campaign to Stop the Search and Surveillance Bill strongly disagrees with locking the New Zealand people out of the process. "We wish to be given assurances that new voices will be able to be heard through the submission process and that there will be plenty of time for the people to be heard before the bill returns for its second reading." Mr Hales said.

The past several years in New Zealand have seen our basic freedoms in this country drastically eroded by new legislation, with the Search and Surveillance bill being the latest in a series of draconian legislation that all New Zealanders should be concerned about. The Campaign to Stop the Search and Surveillance Bill believes that security does not come from surveillance and unchecked power but from a free and tolerant society. We do not want new powers of search or surveillance extended to the police or other agencies.

We put all the parliamentarians on notice that we are watching you and watching this bill.

ENDS

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