Worth Richard: Government Communications Security Bureau Bill — In Committee 
Worth Richard: Government Communications Security Bureau Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4402] 
RICHARD WORTH (NZ National—Epsom) 
: 
 We come to the final part of the Government Communications Security Bureau Bill Part 4. It is headed “Provisions relating to other enactments”. It proposes a host of changes to other legislation. There are amendments to the Crimes Act and the Higher Salaries Commission Act. There are certain changes that Mr Locke has been talking about that refer to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act; there are amendments to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Act to the Official Information Act to the Public Finance Act to the Radiocommunications Act and to the State Sector Act. Then there is the revocation of secondary legislation—the Crimes (Exemption of Listening Device) Order. 
I shall deal with two pieces of legislation that are subject to amendment by Part 4. The first relates to the Crimes Act amendment that is set out in clause 26 and a significant change to section 216B(2)(b) of the Crimes Act. Members opposite are nodding quite clearly because they have a close and sufficient familiarity with that particular and very tricky provision. Section 216B is headed “Prohibition on the use of listening devices” and subsection (1) was itself amended in 1999. Basically the provision creates a term of imprisonment not exceeding 2 years for everyone who intentionally intercepts any private communication by means of a listening device. The particular change in clause 26 proposes to amend section 216B(2)(b) by inserting after subparagraph (iii) a further subparagraph that the draughtsman has identified as subparagraph (iiia). It contains the words: “the Government Communications Security Bureau Act 2001;”. Members opposite will immediately be aware of the huge significance of that change. That change is not necessarily the most significant one but it is certainly one worth commenting on. 
The other issue relates to a change to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act. That legislation came into force on 1 July 1996 and basically set up the office of Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security with provisions that dealt with the functions of the Inspector-General complaints and associated amendments to the Ombudsmen Act and to the Privacy Act. Again I can see members opposite nodding because of their familiarity with those particular provisions. What is occurring here though is an amendment to section 11(1) of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act. After paragraph (d) in that section a new paragraph that the draughtsman has decided to title (da) has been inserted. The actual wording of that paragraph is: “without limiting the generality of paragraph (a) to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the procedures adopted by the Government Communications Security Bureau to ensure compliance with the provisions of Part 3 of the Government Communications Security Bureau Act 2001 in relation to the issue and execution of interception warrants and computer access authorisations;”. 
Those were the two primary provisions in Part 4 that I sought to deal with in the limited time available. However I do not doubt that members who follow me will want to draw the attention of the Committee to other significant changes in that part.