Calder Cam: Search and Surveillance Bill — Third Reading 
Calder Cam: Search and Surveillance Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:678;Page:1255] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and make a brief contribution to the third reading of the Search and Surveillance Bill. The first responsibility of the State is to protect its citizens and this bill is our attempt through the work of a number of years and contributions from all sides of the House to do that. I want to acknowledge the work done by the Hon Chester Borrows as the chairman of the Justice and Electoral Committee when the first version of this bill was considered. I would like to pay credit to the contribution from the other side of the House by the Hon David Parker and Charles Chauvel who contributed to this bill and of course to the work done by the Hon Judith Collins in being open-minded to the concerns that had been brought to her attention from various quarters. The size of the Supplementary Order Paper that we had at the Committee of the whole House attests to her flexibility in being responsive to these concerns. 
The bill is designed to bring consistency clarity and certainty to an area that we have heard from members’ contributions has been somewhat torpid and difficult to ascertain a way through because of the plethora of statutes concerned with search and surveillance across all levels of society. The bill seeks to strike a balance between effective law enforcement and the protection of the rights of citizens as set out in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and I would like to make the point that we believe we have been successful in doing that. The bill explicitly states that its purpose is to balance law enforcement and investigation powers with human rights values and there are a number of safeguards in the bill to achieve this. First of all there has to be independent authorisation. The bill adheres to the basic concept that independent authorisation is needed before exercising search powers. Enforcement officers must justify the exercise of search powers to neutral issuing officers. There are detailed reporting requirements to the issuing officer to the chief executive of the relevant agency and to Parliament on the exercise of search and surveillance powers. So we believe that the human rights concerns are being met. Thirdly and also extremely important the bill does not affect New Zealanders’ right under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. 
One of the key changes to the bill and Mr Clendon just alluded to it is to have it commence before 18 April. The reason why this is necessary is that the Video Camera Surveillance (Temporary Measures) Act 2011 is due to expire and there would be a gap in significant and serious criminal investigations if this bill did not come into play before then. 
Another concern that has been raised is media freedom. A key change to the bill in response to concerns raised—and they were addressed in the Supplementary Order Paper—enhances media freedom. It has been made in recognition of the crucial role of the media in a free and democratic society and to preserve the important principles of media freedom. At the moment the media cannot prevent material from being seized in a search but as Mr Chauvel observed the custody of documents has been tightened up under this bill until a claim for privilege has been determined. So any documents that are seized are held by the High Court until a claim for privilege has been determined. This is extremely important. 
I will just finish with a comment about political activism because on all sides of the House we believe in New Zealanders’ right to make their points without fear or prejudice. The 7-year threshold in the bill means that examination orders are not available to investigate such crimes as protesting trespass disorderly behaviour or unlawful assembly which are the sorts of crimes at the lower end of the scale that you would expect a normal political activist might get involved in at some time or another. I commend this bill to the House.