Tisch Lindsay: Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Tisch Lindsay: Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
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LINDSAY TISCH (National—Piako) 
: 
 Last night I mentioned that National supports this bill. It is a very important piece of legislation. But what I was concerned about was that this bill had its genesis 2 years ago when it had its first reading and then went to the Law and Order Committee and yet it has only now surfaced again in the House 2 years later in 2004. That is in my view an absolute insult given the importance of this legislation. This is an important bill and we support it. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Good. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: But I make the point to the member that although we support the bill it should have come back to us at least 2 years ago instead of sitting around. We know of the problems in the world today with regard to terrorism. In fact if we were to look in today’s  
Dominion Post 
 in the world section we would see the headline “Foiled—the terror bombers of suburbia”. So what we see around the world whether it be in Madrid in Bali or in other areas like the Philippines is that terrorism is at its height—and it is growing. 
While we may think that here in New Zealand we are geographically isolated and that nothing will ever happen to us a Government that has its mind on the issue of terrorism should be protecting its citizens. The primary role of any Government is to protect its citizens and what this bill does is to allow the surveillance organisations to be able to intercept telecommunications legally. I note the commentary on the bill and I will quote from it because there are some misconceptions about what the bill does. The commentary on the bill under the heading “Background” states: “The bill does not change or extend in any way the existing powers of surveillance agencies to intercept communications.” It also states: “This legislation is necessary to prevent law enforcement and national security capability being seriously eroded because of technical issues related to telecommunications networks.” So the bill will plug the loopholes in order to make sure that we do have effective intelligence systems and that our surveillance capabilities are the best in the world and will be kept up to date with the changes in technology. 
September 11 the Bali bombing the recent Madrid bombings the bomb materials found just recently in London by the anti-terrorist squad and the point I made about the headline in the  
Dominion Post 
 today all show that terrorism threats around the world are growing and they could come very close to home. I am sure that all New Zealanders will support this bill. The Government’s primary role as I mentioned before is to make sure we are vigilant and do have in place the methodologies needed to be able to legally intercept any communications that may be to the detriment of our country and people. The bill will allow the law enforcement agencies—that is the surveillance agencies—to have that capability and we need to support that. One of the problems we currently face is that some digital and Internet technologies do not permit the monitoring of communications and information where necessary with the interception technology that we have. Many New Zealanders have digital phones; probably every member in this House has a digital phone. They are very common and we want to make sure they do not become a serious threat to society. 
Our telecommunications industry must be able to legally intercept illegal communications. That in essence is what this bill provides for. The police the Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau must have at their disposal the valuable tools provided for in this legislation to legally intercept communications. National is happy to support this bill.