Browning Steffan: Government Communications Security Bureau Amendment Bill Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Amendment Bill Intelligence and Security Committee Amendment Bill — Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBrowning Steffan: Government Communications Security Bureau Amendment Bill Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Amendment Bill Intelligence and Security Committee Amendment Bill — Third Readings[Sitting date: 21 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12711. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Government Communications Security Bureau Amendment BillInspector-General of Intelligence and Security Amendment BillSTEFFAN BROWNING (Green):I rise to speak to the third readings of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) legislation. These bills collectively are an arrogant unjustified and fundamental extension of the ability of the State to intrude into the private lives of ordinary New Zealanders. These bills pre-empt a very necessary and long-overdue robust and genuinely independent inquiry into all aspects of New Zealand’s security and intelligence services.Something between 75 and 90 percent of New Zealanders say that they are concerned about the direction of this legislation. We are told this through some polling. So even on a more conservative figure if National MPs or Peter Dunne or John Banks listen to their constituency and their own conscience and vote against this GCSB legislation then we can have that independent robust inquiry now ahead of legislation that can actually address the realities of need and civil rights and the expectation of privacy that is so strong among New Zealanders. New Zealanders have jealously guarded democratic rights and freedoms and it is anathema to those rights and freedoms to support this legislation. I implore one of the 61 MPs who have previously supported this legislation to change at this vote and allow a full inquiry first.The Government has failed to provide a real justification for this fundamental attack on our democratic rights and freedoms and the legislation facilitates the legal establishment of a surveillance State in New Zealand. The total State access tosurveillance is of the kind that was previously imagined only in fiction—Nineteen Eighty-Four  for example. However this previous fiction has now been revealed as a reality in the US with the revelations of mass surveillance activities by theGCSB’s “Five Eyes” partner the USA’s National Security Agency. The Waihopai spy base is the face of the National Security Agency and the GCSB in New Zealand. I want to acknowledge Bob Leonard who passed away just over a week ago aged 74. Bob visited the USA GCSB Waihopai spy base albeit from the perimeter fence more often than any one member of Parliament or possibly more often than all of us put together.Bob moved to New Zealand to escape the Reagan era and threats of nuclear war. In 1987 Bob helped found the Anti-Bases Campaign when the Waihopai spy base was first announced. Bob knew of the links with the military and the USA’s big business. A true gentleman and advocate for peace to the end Bob Leonard was also the “Uncle Sam” for the street theatre at many of our protests. Bob Leonard foundedPeace Researcher in 1983 which he edited and wrote extensively for. Bob Leonard wrote all of the Anti-Bases Campaign’s submissions some of which are remarkably topical such as the one on the Government Communications Security Bureau Act which is now being replaced with these bills. He fronted up at parliamentary select committees including—well it is not a parliamentary one—the Intelligence and Security Committee. He spoke at public meetings around the country and gave innumerable media interviews. Bob Leonard was a great example of those people and groups dedicated to true democracy justice civil rights and the environment. These dedicated people and groups are all the more likely to besurveilled by John Key and his schoolmate the Director of the GCSB using their new powers and “Five Eyes” international spy agency resources to spy on New Zealanders.This legislation allows economic well-being to be considered as a target around the spying. Does that actually mean academics and environmentalists such as Mike Joy and BunnyMcDairmid or champions of social justice who might dent the profits of this Government’s friends? Mass surveillance such as the surveillance that the USA GCSB Waihopai spy base is part of would have a very corrosive effect on the kind of free and democratic country that generations have fought for. The Green Party will be opposing these bills. Thank you.