Finlayson ChristopherINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY BILLThird ReadingHon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) on behalf of the Minister for National Security and Intelligence: I move That the Intelligence and Security Bill be now read a third time. This bill is the most significant reform of the legislation governing the intelligence agencies and their oversight in our country's history. At the centre of the reform is replacing four Acts with one comprehensive piece of legislation which sets out more clearly than ever before the functions and the powers of the agencies along with their oversight regime.The bill is a response to the report of the first independent review of intelligence and security that was carried out by Dame Patsy Reddy and Sir Michael Cullen. I think that report was an exemplary piece of work and I want to thank those two distinguished New Zealanders for their contribution. They laid a solid foundation for this reform and the bill implements the vast majority of their recommendations.I acknowledge the thorough work of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee chaired initially by the now Hon Mark Mitchell and subsequently by Todd Muller. I thought the committee's work was outstanding. We asked the committee to consider some very complex areas of the bill including the approach to the definition of national security which in turn plays a critical role in determining when the agencies can obtain a warrant to target New Zealanders. The committee did an excellent job on this matter and a wide range of other issues such as narrowing the warranting regime and further strengthening the oversight of the bill.I want also to acknowledge the many organisations and individuals who made submissions to the committee. In particular I want to thank the Privacy Commissioner and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security both of whom made useful submissions to the committee and continued to work with officials throughout the process on a number of improvements to the bill.Can I acknowledge the Bankers' Association Spark New Zealand Vodafone New Zealand and 2degrees. Their submissions and feedback resulted in changes to the bill relating to the disclosure of business records information. These changes mean greater transparency and oversight of the agencies' access to this type of information. Other submitters such as the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee's external subcommittee the New Zealand Law Society InternetNZ the Human Rights Commission and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions all made very useful submissions addressing a number of points in detail.The current Commissioner of Security Warrants Sir Bruce Robertson also provided evidence to the select committee and I thought that was particularly useful in terms of the warranting process and it informs some of the changes the committee recommended to warrant application provisions.Can I particularly thank the officials who have worked on this bill—in particular the national security policy team at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. That team has worked tirelessly. They have done a tremendous job every step of the way. I also acknowledge the work of the Parliamentary Counsel Office. I am always saying we have some of the finest drafters in the world and they have proved me right once again with this effort.Finally I want to acknowledge the members of this House who I believe have engaged constructively on this legislation and that was evidenced by last week's Committee of the whole House debate. As we said at the beginning of this reform broad political support for the bill was crucial given the national security implications. I am pleased this has been achieved and I really do thank and commend all members who have engaged with the issues and the debate so productively.One of the unfortunate aspects of politics in many countries these days is that politicians seem to yell at one another. Positions are taken and defended with great ferocity. Lines are never crossed. Compromise is a dirty word. [Interruption] Oh they are yelling at me. Compromise is a dirty word. That is why I am so pleased that we as New Zealand parliamentarians avoided that dead-end with this bill. Of course there were important questions that were raised. Of course there were important points of principle that were taken. But I think the debate and the engagement was very constructive indeed.The provisions relating to the Intelligence and Security Committee which were robustly debated last week were a good illustration of this. I emphasise what I said last week. Clause 193 of the bill contains the mandatory periodic review of the intelligence and security agencies and their legislation every 5 or so years and this will provide us with an opportunity to ensure all provisions are working the way Parliament intended. If some members are disappointed with for example the size of the Intelligence and Security Committee that is an issue that can be revisited at some later stage.I particularly want to thank and acknowledge David Shearer when he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for what I thought was a really helpful contribution. I want to thank my opposite number the Hon David Parker for his searching questions for his ability to deal with some of these extremely difficult issues and he did so always from a very principled basis. I want to thank Denis O'Rourke from the New Zealand First Party for the way he worked on this legislation in the select committee. During my meetings with him he was always so very productive and helpful.I want to acknowledge Dr Kennedy Graham from the Green Party who had a different view of matters but was very constructive and with whom I always get on very well. I acknowledge his different world view or the different world view of his party but it was never acrimonious. It was always principled. Finally I want to acknowledge the leaders of United Future the ACT Party and the Māori Party who have given me considerable assistance and guidance throughout this exercise. In closing can I say this. It is almost trite to say that with great power comes great responsibility. Our intelligence agencies have extensive powers but they also have very serious responsibilities. They now have an explicit coherent legal framework within which to operate and last year through the Budget received a significant funding boost to ensure that they have the necessary resources to remain effective in a rapidly evolving security environment. They have a crucial role to play in protecting our fellow citizens from modern-day evils like terrorism and cyber crime. I expect them to operate to the high standards that Parliament requires of them. I think I can say on behalf of all of us that there will be no excuses for failure or mediocre performance. I commend the bill to the House.