Turei Metiria; Tisch LindsayMETIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green): I do want to just acknowledge the Minister's efforts to talk with us about this bill and what was happening and also his commitment to a full select committee process for this legislation. It is critical that New Zealanders have access to the select committee to work through the provisions of this bill given it is their rights that could potentially be infringed by these provisions. We need to have a very robust discussion about the provisions of this legislation about security in New Zealand and about the rights of New Zealanders to be free from an unjust incursion into their rights. I want to address two issues that have been touched on particularly in the media and they are around oversight of the agencies and the extent to which this bill does or does not deal with that. First is the Intelligence and Security Committee. I think it was very unfortunate and quite improper actually for the Prime Minister to say that the Greens or others who might disagree with him should not be represented on the parliamentary committee that provides oversight of the intelligence and security agencies. This Parliament is representative of a broad range of views; the select committees in this Parliament are also representative proportionally of those views. This committee the Intelligence and Security Committee should also have representatives from a broad range of views so that when these agencies these spying agencies come to that committee there is a genuine investigation into their work into the justification of their work to make sure that the hard questions are asked. If the only people on this committee are those who agree with the agencies and their powers and no one who will question them then New Zealanders can rightly say that this process is undemocratic and constitutionally foul because it does not do the job it is supposed to do which is to oversee the very critical role that these agencies play in protecting New Zealanders but also the retention and the protection of New Zealanders' human rights. We want to see that committee expanded. There are ways to do that very practically that do not require a political intervention. One of the suggestions is that a party that meets the definition of a parliamentary party under the Standing Orders has automatic representation. That keeps the committee to a manageable number of people but also makes sure there is a broader representation of views which is critical in a representative democracy which we are elected here to uphold. The second part of the oversight process is of course the inspector-general. There are some good provisions in this legislation in relation to her current office. I would just say that in the reports over the last 2 years the inspector-general when she has looked at the processes that the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Government Communications and Security Bureau have used as they go about their business has provided almost consistent criticism of the failings of those two agencies. The most recent one that I am aware of is on the vetting process for example that the SIS does where the inspector-general has said that that information—private information confidential information—is not being held securely that there is far too much access from far too many people and that that information is being improperly used for counter-intelligence. We want to make sure that when these agencies gather information about New Zealanders' private details—where people live what they do who they know where they go—that information is being properly used by these spy agencies and she has said that there are process issues with the SIS. We also know that the SIS has been told by her that they have not been meeting their legal obligations and that they have unsound compliance procedures. No doubt they will be working on these issues but if these agencies and the Government which oversees them want these agencies to have increased power to gather information about New Zealanders and what we all do they need to prove that they are responsible enough to manage that information—and they have not proven it yet. The inspector-general has shown serious concerns with the process that these agencies use and at least until she is confident that these agencies will hold that information properly and have good processes in place they certainly should not be given expanded powers to spy on New Zealanders and keep our information. Thank you.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I call Stuart Nash—5 minutes.