Smith Lockwood: Government Communications Security Bureau Bill — Third Reading 
Smith Lockwood: Government Communications Security Bureau Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4507] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (NZ National—Rodney) 
: 
 It is perhaps timely that today we are debating the third reading of the Government Communications Security Bureau Bill because clause 7 states that the objectives of the bureau are to protect and advance the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government of New Zealand. Today the international relations of the Government of New Zealand are perhaps more under question than they have been since 1985—and as much as at any time in my 19 years in this Parliament—when Labour last threw a bomb into New Zealand’s international relations. I will come back to that in a moment. 
This bill puts the structure of the Government Communications Security Bureau on a proper footing. It sets out its objectives much more clearly. It sets out the regulation of its activities and particularly its interception activities. These things could not be more critically important than they are right now. If we just think back over the last few months there was the 11 September terrorist attack in the United States which was the first time in a long long time that the United States mainland had been attacked. Since then of course there have been the Bali bombings. Today for the first time in 100 years and more New Zealand is not supporting our English-speaking family in a major conflict affecting the security of the world. That is certainly relevant to clause 7 and the international relations of the Government of New Zealand. The question is whether New Zealand is obtaining the security information it requires to guarantee the security of our people. That is not at all clear. If we go back over evidence put before this Parliament in recent times following the Bali bombings when New Zealanders were killed in those terrorist attacks it becomes quite clear that there was a question about whether New Zealand was getting the security information it required from other Governments voluntarily. If we are not then clearly the activities of the Government Communications Security Bureau which intercepts the communications of foreign Governments need to be stepped up. 
We depend hugely on voluntary access to or the voluntary provision of security information to us by our friends and allies. Following the Bali bombings it was pretty clear that we may not be receiving the information from our friends and allies that we might expect. For example it became clear that New Zealand did not receive a key CIA warning that specifically listed Bali as a terrorist target before it was attacked. We would have expected to receive that. 
It is interesting that in Australia Prime Minister John Howard admitted that they had received some information that pointed to that bombing. When the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade was asked whether he could confirm that we had received the same information as Australia the parliamentary select committee was told that it could not be confirmed because Prime Minister Howard had not disclosed to New Zealand the information he had. Quite clearly if our friends and allies are not disclosing to New Zealand the information they have we need to be able to intercept the communications of foreign Governments even more than we have in the past and that is a shocking admission to have to make. In clause 7 “Objective of Bureau” we see that one of those objectives—I am referring to clause 7(1)(a)(ii)—is the advancement of the international relations of the Government of New Zealand. I want to focus today on the state to which those international relations have declined. Today at the United Nations this Labour-led Government made a statement that totally ignores the facts about our family of English-speaking nations our friends and allies whom we have stood and died with through successive conflicts last century—one of whom saved our people from an imperial invasion during the Second World War—and treats that family of friends no differently from a vicious dictator Saddam Hussein. 
This bill we debate today is all about advancing New Zealand’s international relations and we are debating it on the very day that this Labour-led Government has kicked in the guts our family whom we have to depend on for foreign intelligence. The Government has kicked them in the guts. How can Government members think that Washington London and Canberra have not dissected today’s statement at the UN and have not looked at those words which said that our common objective must be to end the hostilities as quickly as possible? There was no mention of wishing our family in that conflict Godspeed in ousting a vicious dictator. People do not have to agree with what members of their family do but when the chips are down decency expects that they will support their family. But no New Zealand today for the first time in my lifetime—maybe with the exception of 1985 when we last had a Labour Government—for the first time for a long time the Government of New Zealand a Labour-led Government has treated our friends Australia Britain and the United States as though they are no different from Saddam Hussein one of the more vicious dictators in the world today. 
I commend this bill to the Labour Government. I urge Government members to read their own bill. I urge them to read clause 7 and see what the objectives of the Government Communications Security Bureau are and think about it. I ask them to think about their friends who keep them in power the Greens and the Progressive Coalition who think this stuff is all wrong. I want the Labour members in this House to reflect for a moment on what our friends on whom we depend so much for security information think of what the Government has done at the United Nations today. These things are not forgotten. They are not forgotten lightly. They reverberate on. New Zealand was done a huge disservice at the United Nations in New York today by this Labour-led Government and we will regret it for some time to come. National supports this bill because we need it given the damage that the Labour-led Government has done today to New Zealand’s future.