Power Simon: Search and Surveillance Bill — First Reading 
Power Simon: Search and Surveillance Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5399] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Search and Surveillance Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the Search and Surveillance Bill be referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee for consideration. The previous Government introduced the Search and Surveillance Powers Bill late last year but it was decided to extend the procedural provisions to a wider range of law enforcement and regulatory agencies including the Inland Revenue Department the Ministry of Fisheries and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The new Government took the decision that rather than amending the existing bill at select committee it would introduce a new bill and withdraw the existing bill from the Order Paper. 
The Search and Surveillance Bill before the House today is like its predecessor largely based on the Law Commission’s 5-year review of search and surveillance powers which culminated in its 2007 report. The main finding to emerge from the commission’s report was clear: reform of New Zealand’s search and surveillance laws was well overdue. Current core police search powers are scattered through a complex array of statutes some of which are up to 50 years old. Furthermore search powers have been granted to non-police law enforcement and regulatory agencies in an ad hoc and piecemeal manner. The result of this fractured development is inconsistent and inadequate law that does not always meet law enforcement or regulatory needs or just as importantly does not adequately provide protections to those who may be subject to search—something I will come back to shortly. 
The bill will reform our search and surveillance laws to provide a coherent consistent and certain approach that balances law enforcement and equally significantly human rights. The bill will bring the law relating to search and surveillance together into one coherent and comprehensive statute thereby making the law easier to find understand and interpret. In addition to the consolidation of core police search powers the bill provides for firstly an examination power that compels a person to answer relevant questions in particular circumstances; for example where the investigation relates to serious or complex fraud or organised crime. The Serious Fraud Office currently has similar powers; however under the bill an examination order can be granted only with the approval of a judge creating a necessary safeguard in the application of the law. 
 Secondly the bill provides for a single production and monitoring order which will be available to law enforcement agencies where they are able to obtain a search warrant. Thirdly a residual warrant regime is introduced for the use of devices procedures techniques or activities that may constitute an intrusion into reasonable expectations of privacy. Next there is clarification of the law relating to consent searches and plain-view seizures. There are standardised procedural provisions relating to the application for issuing of and execution of search warrants to post-execution procedures and to the treatment of privileged and confidential material. 
The bill also introduces a coherent framework for reporting on the exercise of search and surveillance powers and a surveillance device regime that regulates the use of visual surveillance interception devices and tracking devices. A surveillance device warrant will be available to law enforcement agencies where they are able to obtain a search warrant. The regime also clarifies when such devices may be used without a warrant in situations of urgency. 
The Search and Surveillance Bill will complement other initiatives in the investigation of crime most notably the Gangs and Organised Crime Bill the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill and the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act 2009. Through this legislation the Government will provide the police and other law enforcement agencies with a more sophisticated set of tools to investigate drug offences organised crime and other offending. 
The standardised procedural provisions of the bill relating to search warrants and searches will apply to all law enforcement powers unless an exception has been justified. The law is also to apply to all regulatory powers where this is considered appropriate following discussions with the agencies that exercise such powers. 
Bringing law enforcement and regulatory agencies under the standardised procedural provisions of the bill will provide benefits such as access to a pool of issuing officers available on a 24/7 basis; the ability to submit warrant applications electronically; clarification of the actions searchers may take when exercising search powers including what they may seize; the power to secure search scenes; the power to stop vehicles in order to conduct a search; and clear rules and procedures regarding items that have been seized during a search. 
In short the Search and Surveillance Bill makes the law more certain accessible and comprehensive. This reduces the scope for legal challenges to the admissibility of evidence obtained through searches. 
The current law on search and surveillance needs modernisation and reform and must take into account current and future technologies. Law enforcement officers must not trail behind criminals in using modern technologies. They must be able to use the most advanced technology available to tackle crime. The bill therefore enables law enforcement officers to retrieve evidential material that is stored electronically. It authorises remote access and search of Internet data and storage facilities that are not situated at the physical location being searched. Provision is also made for the taking of forensic copies or clones of computer hard drives. 
The provision of effective search and surveillance powers must not come at the expense of human rights. The bill ensures human rights are adequately protected without impeding the ability of agencies to investigate offending and enhances rights in areas where current protection is inadequate. Visual surveillance is currently not subject to legislative regulation. The bill brings visual surveillance within a single surveillance device regime covering audio visual and tracking devices. 
Search and surveillance powers are by their nature intrusive. Checks and balances to guard against their inappropriate use are essential and they take the following forms: requiring a law enforcement officer to obtain a warrant and prior judicial authorisation before executing a search except where the nature of the search requires it to be carried out immediately and a detailed framework for reporting on the use of search and surveillance powers both within the agency concerned and more significantly to Parliament. 
Public safety is of paramount importance to this Government. The Search and Surveillance Bill and the Government’s other initiatives such as legislation regarding organised crime and DNA testing are important steps the Government has taken to create a safer New Zealand. I take this opportunity to thank the Law Commission and the Ministry of Justice for their work in getting this substantial legislation before the House this early in the life of the new Government. I commend the bill to the House.