Sio William: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2128. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that he had not heard from any Pacific leaders following the allegations of GCSB mass surveillance within the Pacific “And that will be because they understand completely that either things are sensationalised fundamentally not true or of no concern to them”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Su’a William Sio: Has he picked up his phone and spoken to the Tongan Prime Minister who declared publicly his discomfort about the allegations of spying by New Zealand on the Pacific?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No.Su’a William Sio: Do New Zealand citizens in the Pacific including Niueans Cook Islanders and Tokelauans have the right to know whether their emails text messages phone calls and personal data are being gathered up by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and passed on to the United States?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The law is very clear when it comes to New Zealanders. In fact in the open session today I thought it was interesting that the acting Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau made a number of things clear. Firstly the level of information gathered by the GCSB over the last 7 years that I have been the Prime Minister is less than the level of information gathered in the previous 7 years by Helen Clark as Prime Minister; that the countries that might broadly have been places of interest have been consistent over that 14 year period; and that the level of oversight that now occurs with the GCSB is much stronger under my Government.Su’a William Sio: Will the allegations of blanket surveillance of the Pacific have the potential to go as far as to “diplomatically damage New Zealand’s reputation” as Professor Robert Patman professor of international relations at Otago University pointed out last week?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No because if one looks at the public comments from the countries involved or the countries at least that are claimed in the articles they are—as I believe I said earlier in the week—sensationalised fundamentally not true or of no concern. I would strongly urge the member to have a high dose of scepticism about things he reads in these particular articles.Su’a William Sio: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know we have gone past the third question I asked but it seems to me as I have pondered on what the Prime Minister has said that the question was very straightforward: do New Zealand citizens in the Pacific—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member should have perhaps raised it at that time.Su’a William Sio: Does he think the revelations of spying in the Pacific will comfort Pacific communities now that they know there is at least one Government agency listening to them?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The first point I would make is that the GCSB and the Government do not comment on the particular countries where information may be being collected except to say that the GCSB is a foreign intelligence service. But I go back to the comments made in an open session today by the acting director—that the level of information gathered by the GCSB in the 7 years that I have been Prime Minister is less than in the 7 years prior to that and there has been no noticeable change of countries from where the information may be collected.