GSCB still refusing to name the 88 NZ citizens illegally spied on
Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA and MP for Te Tai Tokerau
Friday 23 August 2013

“No I don’t feel reassured,” said Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA and MP for Te Tai Tokerau, following Minister Finlayson’s claim that Mr Harawira and fellow protestors and rights campaigners would not be targeted by the GCSB in light of its newly expanded powers to legally spy on New Zealand citizens.

In Parliament yesterday, Mr Harawira asked a series of questions concerning GCSB surveillance of New Zealand citizens – including those Iwi who, with the New Zealand Maori Council, are challenging the government’s right to sell water-based power companies given they have not yet properly recognised or settled Maori proprietary interests in fresh water.

“I don’t feel reassured because the government is still refusing to say who the 88 New Zealanders are it’s already spied on – and they never will. How can anyone be reassured by statements from a government who has lied about illegal spying again and again, and again some more?

“They don’t want us to know because it will give the public a very clear idea of who’s in the net already, and who’s likely to come next. And I bet it’s way more than 88 too. Kim Dotcom reckons it’s 1000s.

“I also don’t buy that refusing to do so is in the ‘public’s best interest’. Given that most New Zealanders have opposed the GCSB Bill, it would be fully in their interests to know who’s on the hit list so far and who’s not.

“The government is saying the GCSB will now be a more transparent spy operation – but the answers to my questions yesterday prove that, once again, it’s the usual pack of lies.

ENDS

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