Martin Tracey: Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMartin Tracey: Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee[Sitting date: 09 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:1239. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TRACEY MARTIN (Deputy Leader—NZ First):I want to take a quick call on behalf of New Zealand First to clarify our reasons for opposition and to be very clear so that the public is very clear about New Zealand First’s stand on this. I was not on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee but Mr Fletcher Tabuteau has briefed the caucus incredibly well on this very very important bill.With regard to the clauses which are the substantive amount of the bill and what the bill actually does one of the things that New Zealand First has clearly identified—and it has been articulated by members of the Government—is that the majority of actions that this bill supposedly allows are already in legislation. They can already be used if not by the SIS then the SIS can go and see the police and the police can actually go and arrest people. Therefore there is no need for those clauses; they can already be used.That takes us down to two clauses—two clauses—that are not there. One is the passport clause which we have already heard about which is the extension from 1 year to 3 years. What we know—we have already heard it from the Labour Party from the Green Party and from New Zealand First—is that the ability to withdraw or cancel somebody’s passport for 1 year can be renewed at the cost to the State as opposed to the cost to the citizen to have to fight to get their passport back should it be cancelled for 3 years. So in our view there is a movement of cost here—prove yourself innocent rather than the State having to prove you guilty. But the State has the ability to cancel a passport for 1 year and to roll it over and it has never been extended—it has never been extended. That was the question asked and that was the question answered and the chair of the select committee knows that.So let us just remove the fact that we do not need the 3-year clause around passports because we have this other ability. What are we left with? We are left with video surveillance. We are left with the single thing that is not covered in any other piece of legislation which the bill says is required to protect our citizens. That is a major issue for New Zealand First particularly when part of that—let us have video surveillance—comes down to “trust us”. Trust us because the inspector-general has increased powers. And yet New Zealand First asked for an oversight committee made up of senior politicians to be able to double-check that within 48 hours. If you have a look at the supposed increased powers of the inspector-general she can go and report to the Minister and to the Prime Minister but if they refuse to accept her recommendations she can go no further.So it is hardly—hardly—about trusting the inspector-general; it comes back to trusting the Prime Minister and the Minister. That in itself is an issue—the widening video surveillance of your citizens. We now hear that there was a review of this to create this bill—Mark Mitchell: We’ve got the most transparent system in the world.TRACEY MARTIN: And let us keep it that way Mr Mitchell. Let us keep it transparent and let us be honest with the people of New Zealand shall we? Let us be honest with the people of New Zealand. There was actually a review done that nobody knew about but apparently the Government did. During the election period there was a review done that has now apparently informed this bill but nobody knew about it. This bill arrived after the election and the words “trust us” were used. The words “trust us” were used. We will not trust it.There is a review to go forward next year—and there is another review. The fact is that every single thing that this bill asks to be done can be done except video surveillance—and there is a review next year that should take the proper course and allow the New Zealand public to truly transparently and honestly look at what we are being asked to pass here about their rights. New Zealand First will not curtail that process. We will not support this bill until that full review and video surveillance are fully discussed.