Horan Brendan: Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHoran Brendan: Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 16 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:13962. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRENDAN HORAN (Independent): In taking a first call on Part 1 of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill I want to look at clauses 3 to 8 of the bill. I understand that the debate is quite tight and that we are looking at the definitions in clause 3 the purpose and principles relating to network security and interception capability in clauses 5 to 8. I have to say that I am unable to support the bill and unable to support Part 1 for the reasons that I will outline.I will start with clause 4. The heading of four words says “Act binds the Crown”. The clause itself adds only one word—“this”—to read “This Act binds the Crown.” Surely the purpose and principles of this bill cannot be for John Key to have his own private fiefdom effectively with New Zealand spies subject to no oversight no constraint and no law.In clauses 5 and 6 which relate to the purpose of the Act in relation to interception capability and the principles that must be applied in relation to capability it is apparent that the spy agency must be allowed to intercept anything anywhere at any time. That is a clear threat to New Zealand’s economic well-being and our future opportunities. The very legislation that members opposite would have us believe would protect our law-abiding citizens is in fact entirely the opposite.Prior to the release of this bill there was a salivating opportunity for New Zealand to take advantage of our position to take advantage of our isolation and in fact possibly to become the information-holding capital of the world. We could have held and reinvented economic systems. Take accounting systems which are currently all designed in analogue. With the relevancy the intimacy the convenience and the transparency that big data and the cloud represent the future was indeed looking bright. Thousands—in fact tens of thousands—of jobs were possible but not given the way that clauses 5 and 6 are written. According to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment the New Zealand information technology and services sector employs just over 22000 people and has a growth rate of 8.7 percent annually. Salaries are double the national average and research and development investment is triple the New Zealand average.With clauses 5 and 6 in this bill this National Government threatens jobs innovation and the future of the cloud in New Zealand. We are moving into an era where we will soon all have our own personal cloud. How do we protect intellectual property from the spy agencies that will have unlimited interception capabilities under clauses 5 and 6? Who will be communicating cooperating and collaborating with significant others across the world on matters of innovation when that information can be stripped by the Government Communications Security Bureau and immediately shared with agencies from other countries? How can it be that New Zealand companies will now have to design networks and systems for the convenience of the Government’s spy agency? How can we compete with the rest of the world when this Government is imposing that sort of Cold War Russian-style oppressive legislation? Who oversees it? What people and what businesses would want to dock deliver or deploy innovative information to a New Zealander under the degree of surveillance that this bill allows?This bill is madness and the sad thing is that it all could have been avoided if the Government had consulted with the broad sector of New Zealand information technology businesses the sector that could deliver our economic future rather than with just the one-dimensional telecommunications companies. The purpose and principles of this bill should have been inspiring but instead given the increasing reliance of businesses on software and services this bill will have a disastrous effect on New Zealand companies that provide internet-enabled technologies and services.So to this Government on behalf of all New Zealanders I plead: please do not rush to pass this legislation which casts a dark cloud over our digital sector’s future. Instead provide New Zealand with a bill that inspires confidence and investment. The job of this Government—