Robertson Grant: Financial Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Financial Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 04 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16267. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central): Well what a year it was for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)—a year in which the confidence of New Zealanders in their security and intelligence agencies hit an all-time low. It hit an all-time low because Prime Minister John Key the Minister responsible for those security and intelligence agencies failed in his duty to New Zealanders to provide adequate oversight to those agencies. He is by law the one person who can provide that oversight on behalf of New Zealanders but he failed. New Zealanders no longer trust in their intelligence and security agencies and the fault for that lies at the feet of the Prime Minister.If we look at the record of the GCSB during the year under review it is stuff-up after stuff-up cover-up after cover-up. In the middle of it the Prime Minister introduced legislation to fundamentally change the role of the GCSB. He went around New Zealand downplaying that but the end result is that we now have an agency that was formerly about foreign intelligence but that can now spy on New Zealanders. That is the change that has been made by the Prime Minister but he would not admit that and he would not admit that it expanded the powers over New Zealanders. He had to come to this House during the last reading of the legislation and say that in the end the only defence he could give New Zealanders as to whether or not they will be spied on by their own foreign intelligence agency is his word—his word that he will not use those powers that he has given himself.Well this side of the Chamber and indeed many New Zealanders do not trust the Prime Minister on that matter. They do not believe him. They do not believe him about the GCSB because time after time when there have been debates on the GCSB the Prime Minister has evaded the Prime Minister has avoided answering questions and the Prime Minister has occasionally—outside of this Chamber and inside this Chamber—avoided the truth.Did we not also know about that in the year under review when the appointment of Ian Fletcher was revealed? The Prime Minister tried to tell us he had nothing to do with the appointment of his old school friend to that job but little by little the details were dragged out from him. It turns out that the Prime Minister intervened in that appointment process cut across a State Services Commission process and rang Ian Fletcher up in Australia and said he better apply for that job. He told him to talk toMaartenWevers the head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He was not even meant to be part of the process at that stage. He appointed his mate to run a security and intelligence agency where sometimes the only two people in the room discussing what that agency does are Ian Fletcher and John Key.It is too cosy by half and New Zealanders who want to have confidence in their security and intelligence agencies have had that completely undermined by John Key appointing his mate to run the GCSB and ramming through legislation that rides roughshod over the rights of New Zealanders. The Labour Party wants us to have strong intelligence agencies that are doing their job. We do not know at this stage whether that is what we have got. We have agencies where we are totally unsure what they are up to and we need a far-reaching review.Also in the period under review was the time in which the illegal surveillance of 88 New Zealanders came to light. So not only do we have a Prime Minister covering up what is going on but we find out that under his watch there has been illegal surveillance. He was told months in advance of when New Zealanders were told about this illegal surveillance. He was told 3 or 4 months ahead of when it was made public and he chose to cover that up further undermining the confidence of New Zealanders. Then mostrecently we have had the revelation that the GCSB could not even get its numbers right in this House about the number of interception warrants and access authorisations that it has enforced. This House was misled by the GCSB to the tune of around 12 extra access authorisations and around four extra interception warrants. It did not tell New Zealanders that until it realised later that it had stuffed up.The GCSB under the Prime Minister’s watch has had its powers expanded at the same time as it has become a laughing stock. That is not what we want in our intelligence agencies. New Zealanders should be able to have confidence in them. Under this Prime Minister under John Key they cannot.