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Rush Over ‘Jihadi’ Law Changes Just Window Dressing

Rush Over ‘Jihadi’ Law Changes Just Window Dressing

Prime Minister John Key’s hullabaloo over the “urgent” need to “tighten laws” around the removal of passports is window dressing for political gain, says New Zealand First.

“There is no need to change laws to prevent jihadist fighters entering or leaving the country as the cancellation of prison escaper Phillip John Smith’s passport today confirms,” says New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“The government already has the power to cancel passports.

“The Prime Minister says he wants to change laws by Christmas but today Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne recalled Smith’s passport telling international agencies that it is invalid,” says Mr Peters.

“”The Prime Minister has spoken about ‘a range of issues’ that need further work and it is ‘the capacity to keep those passports cancelled or the renewal process you have to go through’.

“Is he therefore saying that the passport of Smith cannot be invalid in the long term?

“Some explanation about the need to change laws and do it with urgency is clearly needed.

“What the Prime Minister omitted at the time to mention, of course, is that when you have an underfunded Civil Service botch-ups soon happen no matter how sound the law is.”

ENDS

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