Search and Surveillance Bill passes stuff.co.nz; 3-23-12
Opposition parties say New Zealand has been turned into a "police state" after Parliament last night narrowly passed the Government's controversial Search and Surveillance Bill. Parliament last night passed by the Bill by 61 votes to 57.
"The evils of the Bill go to looking at people's texts, their voice mails, bugs in cars, chat room videos." Thousands of innocent people could have their communications caught up in electronic monitoring, Browning said.
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira said 70 different government agencies could obtain surveillance warrants based on suspicion a crime could be committed. "This Bill goes way beyond what they have in Europe, in Canada and even in the US."
If someone was detained under the Bill, enforcement officers could search a person's workplaces and friends, he told Parliament. "You don't have to be guilty of anything, you don't even have to be to be arrested. You only have to be detained."
"Where the liberties and freedoms most of us now enjoy will disappear, where the powers of the police will be extended without the approval of the judiciary, where the powers of government agencies will assume more authority that the rights of ordinary New Zealanders and where there will be an assumption of guilt not only on an alleged offender but on anyone who knows that person.
"Where enforcement officers can bug your granddaughter's phone, install a hidden camera in your daughter's bathroom, download the files from your wife's computer and steal your files without even having to prove a crime has been or will be committed."
Justice Minister Judith Collins said the new law brought "order, certainty, clarity and consistency" to "messy, unclear and outdated" laws. "We have achieved the right balance between the need for effective and modern search and surveillance powers, and protecting the rights of citizens."
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Compare: New Zealand Quake Update: After 'Chaos', 'New Order' Dictatorship Being Tested 10-14-10 "New Zealand’s parliament voted unanimously last month to pass the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA), which gives government ministers the power to override almost any law in the country’s statute books. The conservative National Party government pushed through the legislation in a single evening...Both the government and opposition asserted that the sweeping powers were needed to provide assistance to the city of Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury region, which was hit by a destructive 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 4 [2010]... this anti-democratic legislation concentrates wide powers in the hands of ministers and their unelected advisers. It sidelines parliament and effectively rules out public debate on measures that potentially have far reaching consequences. The provisions of the CERRA will remain in place until April 2012. The government has already announced that it is considering introducing a permanent version of the Act that could be applied in the event of any future emergency. CERRA states that Orders in Council “may not be challenged, reviewed, quashed, or called into question in any court”. [see post]
***
Interesting to note that New Zealand's dictatorship-empowering law CERRA [see above], conveniently enacted in 'response' to the 9-4-10 'earthquake' [see: as above so below?] that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, just so happens to expire next month. As stated though, the government had even at the outset announced the intent to make it permanent. This additional dictatorship-empowering "Search and Surveillance" bill would seem to be the missing piece needed to establish full totalitarian control over not only New Zealand's laws, but now over New Zealanders themselves.
Not a good sign. Definitely take note.
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Proverbs 10:30 'The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth'
Opposition parties say New Zealand has been turned into a "police state" after Parliament last night narrowly passed the Government's controversial Search and Surveillance Bill. Parliament last night passed by the Bill by 61 votes to 57.
"The evils of the Bill go to looking at people's texts, their voice mails, bugs in cars, chat room videos." Thousands of innocent people could have their communications caught up in electronic monitoring, Browning said.
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira said 70 different government agencies could obtain surveillance warrants based on suspicion a crime could be committed. "This Bill goes way beyond what they have in Europe, in Canada and even in the US."
If someone was detained under the Bill, enforcement officers could search a person's workplaces and friends, he told Parliament. "You don't have to be guilty of anything, you don't even have to be to be arrested. You only have to be detained."
"Where the liberties and freedoms most of us now enjoy will disappear, where the powers of the police will be extended without the approval of the judiciary, where the powers of government agencies will assume more authority that the rights of ordinary New Zealanders and where there will be an assumption of guilt not only on an alleged offender but on anyone who knows that person.
"Where enforcement officers can bug your granddaughter's phone, install a hidden camera in your daughter's bathroom, download the files from your wife's computer and steal your files without even having to prove a crime has been or will be committed."
Justice Minister Judith Collins said the new law brought "order, certainty, clarity and consistency" to "messy, unclear and outdated" laws. "We have achieved the right balance between the need for effective and modern search and surveillance powers, and protecting the rights of citizens."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Compare: New Zealand Quake Update: After 'Chaos', 'New Order' Dictatorship Being Tested 10-14-10 "New Zealand’s parliament voted unanimously last month to pass the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA), which gives government ministers the power to override almost any law in the country’s statute books. The conservative National Party government pushed through the legislation in a single evening...Both the government and opposition asserted that the sweeping powers were needed to provide assistance to the city of Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury region, which was hit by a destructive 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 4 [2010]... this anti-democratic legislation concentrates wide powers in the hands of ministers and their unelected advisers. It sidelines parliament and effectively rules out public debate on measures that potentially have far reaching consequences. The provisions of the CERRA will remain in place until April 2012. The government has already announced that it is considering introducing a permanent version of the Act that could be applied in the event of any future emergency. CERRA states that Orders in Council “may not be challenged, reviewed, quashed, or called into question in any court”. [see post]
***
Interesting to note that New Zealand's dictatorship-empowering law CERRA [see above], conveniently enacted in 'response' to the 9-4-10 'earthquake' [see: as above so below?] that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, just so happens to expire next month. As stated though, the government had even at the outset announced the intent to make it permanent. This additional dictatorship-empowering "Search and Surveillance" bill would seem to be the missing piece needed to establish full totalitarian control over not only New Zealand's laws, but now over New Zealanders themselves.
Not a good sign. Definitely take note.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proverbs 10:30 'The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth'
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