Archive
Mr English: Where are National’s secret coalition negotiation papers?
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Bill English has been kicking up a shit-storm, demanding that Labour release what they have been describing as a “secret coalition agreement” between Labour and NZ First.
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English complained;
“This is a government that said it would be more transparent and more open. The document is clearly there somewhere, it must be important because it’s 38 pages and it’s come out of the agreement – people deserve to see it.
It sounds like there might be quite a lot more in this other piece of paper. If it’s at the core of how the Government’s going to run, it’s in the public interest.”
English defended his insistence that the coalition notes be made public by comparing the Coalition with his own previous administration “transparency”;
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“By any international standard the last government was open and transparent, and this government, as with many other things, has expressed these high-minded intentions and then fails to follow through.”
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Which is a patently dishonest claim considering that the last nine years of National governance has been one of secrecy; obstructing OIA requests; increased state surveillance; and misleading the public.
Former Dear Leader, “Sir” John Key was brazenly open only in one respect of the OIA. He openly conceded that his administration regularly and willfully delayed releasing OIA requested information for purely political purposes;
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“Sometimes we wait the 20 days because, in the end, Government might take the view that’s in our best interest to do that.”
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To which Chief Ombudsman, Dame Beverley Wakem, responded by reminding Key and his cronies colleagues they were were not permitted to flout the OIA legislation by deliberately delaying up to the twenty-day deadline;
“It’s pretty clear. It couldn’t be much clearer than that… As soon as you have made a decision as to whether you’re going to respond to the request or how you’re going to respond to it, you ought to convey that.”
During it’s nine years in office, National has widened the powers of the GCSB to permit it to spy on all New Zealanders; mis-used GCSB surveillance to secure leadership of the World Trade Organisation; spied on our Pacific neighbours; and unlawfully harassed National’s critics such as Nicky Hager and Martyn Bradbury.
But when challenged on whether the GCSB was conducting mass surveillance on New Zealanders, Key simply point-blank refused to comment.
Who can forget National’s obstruction and prevarication – including contradictory statements – over the SAS-led attack on two villages in the Tirgiran Valley in 2010 which caused fifteen injuries and the tragic deaths of six innocent Afghan civilians, including a young child;
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Lest we forget: Fatima, aged 3
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Just recently, it was revealed that an OIA request by Radio NZ, for details regarding the business case for a proposed new multi-million dollar Auckland City rail-line, was met with deliberate stone-walling from then-Minister, Simon Bridge’s “office“;
Transport Minister Simon Bridges has been caught trying to block an official information request for details about a proposed new $50 million Auckland railway line.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters tabled an email trail in Parliament yesterday showing that Mr Bridges’ office repeatedly urged KiwiRail last week not to release a business case on Auckland’s proposed third main railway track.
Initially, his officials opposed the document being released, saying it was part of an unsuccessful budget bid, but were told by KiwiRail on Thursday that the law was clear it should be released.
After consulting its legal team, KiwiRail told Mr Bridge’s office it would struggle to justify not releasing it.
But on Friday Mr Bridges’ office again urged KiwiRail not to release the business plan.
This time it used a scatter-gun approach – arguing the report was only a draft, was on a misleading template and that its proposed release was making them “extremely uncomfortable”.
Writer Harriet Gale…
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… said KiwiRail made it clear the business case did not need to be kept secret and that the minister’s behaviour was worrying.
Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, was obviously frustrated and disturbed by National’s attempt to suppress the Kiwirail Report and their continual flouting of the OIA;
“It’s so important that we get this Act flowing better than it has been and it hasn’t necessarily flowed that well.
And that’s why I’ve used this as an opportunity to exhort the Prime Minister to help me and support me in getting the roles crystal clear.
We are coming down increasingly heavier where we see instances where the Act is not being compiled with – and in some cases, where it’s been flouted.
I think there’s an understanding that we mean business.”
Hardly the hallmarks of an “open and transparent” government when a Minister’s “office” is prepared to conspire to break the law by circumventing the Official Information Act. Also not helped when the ombudsman’s office has to write a scathing letter to the Prime Minister demanding they obey the law.
As if to underscore National’s mania for secrecy, in 2011/12, New Zealand’s ranking in media freedom by Reporters Without Borders fell from eighth place in 2010, to thirteenth, in the world.
The Herald’s senior reporter, , wrote at the time;
The report did not say what was behind the fall – but it comes after a year in which newsrooms were searched by police, the New Zealand Herald was temporarily banned from the parliamentary press gallery and a proposed new law sought to give police greater powers to enter newsrooms.
Another story by Fairfax media’s Susan Edmunds, in May this year, also reported on New Zealand’s fall in World Press Freedom Index, citing Government secrecy;
The report said journalists were struggling with the Official Information Act, which gives government agencies long periods of time to respond to requests. Sometimes journalists were asked to pay for information.
“In August 2016, the government revealed a grim future for whistleblowers, announcing a bill that would criminalise leaking government information to the media and would dramatically increase the surveillance powers of the intelligence services. Journalists, bloggers, and civil society representatives would be among the potential targets of the proposed law, which could be adopted in 2017.”
Catherine Strong, from Massey University’s School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, said;
“Our lower standing is due to the growing list of government agencies trying to hide information by thwarting the Official Information Act, and these agencies are ruining our reputation.”
What is even more grimly ironic is that having been thrown out of office, National persists in refusing to disclose information to the public.
Remember that National Party leader, Bill English, recently demanded;
“This is a government that said it would be more transparent and more open. The document is clearly there somewhere, it must be important because it’s 38 pages and it’s come out of the agreement – people deserve to see it.
It sounds like there might be quite a lot more in this other piece of paper. If it’s at the core of how the Government’s going to run, it’s in the public interest.”
Following coalition negotiations, and Peters’s subsequent announcement on 19 October that NZ First would coalesce with Labour and the Greens, Radio NZ’s Susie Ferguson spoke with National’s Bill English on Morning Report.
On at least two occassions, Ms Ferguson asked Bill English if he would be releasing the text of coalitions negotiations with NZ First. English first replied;
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“Well again, I’m not going to be discussing that. It was part of the negotiations and New Zealand First actually required, rightly, confidentiality about those negotiations.”
When pressed, English was adamant that there would be no public disclosure;
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“I’m honour bound to stick with the confidentiality agreement. As are the other parties.”
Note English’s reference to “the other parties“.
That would be Labour. No one else was in the room with Peters and NZ First. So when it suited English, he was more than willing to point to “the other parties” to validate his refusal to release National’s own coalition discussion papers.
A month later, on 28 November, TVNZ’s talented Jack Tame interviewed Bill English on Breakfast TV. After English repeated his demands that Labour publish all coalition documents, Tame pointed out the apparent hypocrisy of demanding Labour make public their coalition papers whilst English refused to disclose National’s;
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TAME: “So are you prepared to release what your coalition negotiations with NZ First if the government does the same?”
ENGLISH: “Well, look, I don’t know if it’s a record of negotiations. We conducted ours under a confidentiality agreement. That was very clear right at the start.“
So according to English, National operated under a “confidentiality agreement“. He failed to explain how that differed from Labour’s confidentiality agreement with NZ First. As English insisted on 19 October, Labour was “honour bound to stick with the[ir] confidentiality agreement.”
Tame put the story on Twitter;
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Kudos to Jack Tame for being the only journalist (to my knowledge) to recognise and point out English’s double standard on this issue.
English’s refusal to come clean with the New Zealand public whilst demanding “transparency and openess” from Labour is a stark reminder of National’s toxic track record of paranoia, secrecy, and do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do arrogance. Every time English or one of his National Party parliamentary colleagues opens their mouths, we are reminded of their own hypocrisy.
They are political charlatans not to be trusted.
For the first time in our political history, it has become the role of the Government to hold the Opposition to account.
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And now…
Introducing the first (but not the last!) Paula Bennett Award for Hypocrisy. Named for the National party politician who used the Training Incentive Allowance to gain a free, tax-payer funded university education when she was a young mother on the domestic purposes benefit. Later, in 2009, as Minister for Social Welfare, one of her first actions was to scrap that Allowance, thereby denying other solo-parents the same opportunity for advancing their lives.
The first Award goes to Bill English, for saying one thing and doing another. Congratulations, Mr English!
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Acknowledgement
My thanks to a Radio NZ producer for locating specific audio that provided much-needed information for the completion of this story. I am indebted for the significant time and effort it took to assist me on this project.
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References
TVNZ News: ‘It’s in the public interest’ – Bill English calls for release of coalition document
Radio NZ: New govt has ‘no follow through’ – National
NZ Herald: John Key, mass surveillance and what really happened when Edward Snowden accused him of spying
Radio NZ: Spy agencies come under scrutiny
Fairfax media: New GCSB bill allows spying on Kiwis
NZ Herald: Revealed – Tim Groser sent GCSB spies after WTO job competitors
Radio NZ: NZ spying on Pacific ‘growing’
NZ Herald: Police house raid on investigative journalist Nicky Hager found to be unlawful
Mediaworks: Police accessed blogger’s bank records unlawfully – report
Radio NZ: PM refuses to comment on spy links
Fairfax media: Defence Force chief slams ‘major inaccuracies’ in SAS Afghanistan allegations
NZ Herald: Former Defence Minister concedes civilian casualty in 2010 SAS raid in Afghanistan
Fairfax media: Killed girl’s parents demand NZ Government inquiry
Radio NZ: Transport Minister tries to block official information request
Radio NZ: Ombudsman urges ministers to follow OIA rules
NZ Herald: NZ slips out of top 10 for freedom in the media
Fairfax media: Press freedoms stifled by cynical use of Official Information Act – Report
Fairfax media: Labour finally retakes power after Winston Peters gives Jacinda Ardern his support
Radio NZ: Bill English faces first caucus since defeat (alt. link)
Twitter: Jame Tame – 28 November
NZ Herald: Bennett rejects ‘hypocrite’ claims
Additional
NZ Herald: OIA tension raises questions over minister’s request for information
Other Blogs
The Standard: Key and Mass Surveillance – Was this the reason for the Golriz distraction?
TDB: Now we know Key lied about mass surveillance – let’s remind everyone what our msm said at the time
Previous related blogposts
Once upon a time there was a solo-mum
Judith Collins owes an explanation to voters
National whines about Cullen’s appointment – they should know about cronyism
National’s $11.7 billion hole is right where they left it
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This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 3 December 2017.
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Big Bro’ is Watching You!
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This piece by Dita DeBoni on TVNZ’s website is worth re-posting in it’s entirety – just in case it ‘mysteriously vanishes’ into the ether. Not that I’m implying the New Zealand is now more-or-less a quasi-Police State…
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Whether it be information about our household digital television account, or my child’s ear infection medication, or a text message, say, sent by a Prime Minister to a highly prominent sportsman or blogger, “privacy” is often the reason trotted out for stonewalling.
Sometimes it’s legitimate. Goodness knows what might happen if a complete stranger paid my household bills for me, or felt inclined to impersonate me at the chemist.
And do we really need to know that the Prime Minister and prominent All Blacks are in cahoots over the new flag design?
Some might say yes, but I reckon I could have figured that out by the sheer number of photographs we’re subjected to day after day featuring them gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes.
It seems the main reason a journalist – or even a citizen – is denied ‘official’ information much of the time is either that releasing it is going to unleash a torrent of (metaphorical) excrement, or getting the information you’re after would be a pain in the posterior for the person being asked for it.
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The exception to this is if the police are asking.
It now seems as though certain institutions are more than happy to hand over incredibly personal financial and other information if the plod request it, even if they’ve skipped the part where they’re supposed to get the proper legal documentation to do so.
Some institutions actually wait for a formal, legitimate request before complying with police fishing expeditions.
Others, notably Westpac Bank, do not.
We know this because it emerged this week that Westpac handed over 10 months of data from three of author Nicky Hager’s accounts when police were investigating the hacking of Cameron Slater’s blog and social media accounts at the end of 2014, willingly complying with detectives who simply explained it was part of their investigation into ‘criminal offending’.
There is nothing whatsoever to suggest the criminal offending they were investigating was anything to do with Nicky Hager.
Hager began the investigation as a ‘suspect’ but became simply a ‘witness’; he is not accused of stealing anything.
He did what good journalists do on a daily basis – was given information on nefarious wrong-doing that he believed the public needed to know. Then he published it.
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He’s been treated extraordinarily for a witness in such a case – had his house raided for ten hours, had personal files uplifted, been wire-tapped, had his records requested from as many as 20 different companies and sources, and been vilified by the government.
But whether you like Nicky Hager or not, whether you agree with what he set out to do or not, there is something rotten about the way the police acted in the case – and something profoundly out of order about the way Westpac Bank rolled over and gave away Hager’s bank records and other personal information on the strength of an unsupported request by police, without even telling their client they were doing so – which is also something they are required to do.
It now emerges Nicky Hager has complained to the Privacy Commissioner about what’s happened and also wants a ‘full and frank’ disclosure from Westpac.
It will be more than anyone else has had. Westpac say they won’t comment on what they do with customer information because it’s an ‘internal policy’.
Again, you may think Nicky Hager deserved the treatment he’s had. You may not agree with him in general.
But remember that whatever treatment’s been handed out to him can be handed out to anyone with the ‘wrong’ connections, the ‘wrong’ information, and the ‘wrong’ intentions.
Privacy increasingly seems to be only your right if you are on the ‘right’ side.
In case anyone has missed the point, Dita DeBoni’s column is a direct warning to the citizens of this country.
When the security apparatus of the State – in this case the New Zealand Police – can access private and confidential details without a search warrant, then we have reached a truly frightening stage in our nation’s developing history.
The only place where police have had such unimpeded access to the private information of citizens has been – up until now – the province of military junta-controlled regimes; Soviet-style “people’s republics”; and various banana republic dictatorships. Think of Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Pinochet, Papa “Doc” Duvalier – it’s a very long list. (And I haven’t even gone through the entire 20th century!)
Though New Zealand is not *yet* a One Party state – which is only one national “crisis away, before a “state of emergency” is declared – we have taken a further step toward the nightmarish society envisioned by C.K. Stead in “Smith’s Dream/Sleeping Dogs“. (That nice man, Prime Minister Volkner, had such a horrid time caused by those nasty terrorists. Why couldn’t they just all get a proper job?)
It might well be that the release of Nicky Hager’s private information to the police was an inadvertent slip-up by an ill-informed Westpac employee. Or it could be that there is now a nascent culture developing in New Zealand of fawning, unquestioning obeisance to Authority.
In a space of thirtythree years, we have gone from massive street protests and struggle against an increasingly authoritarian National government led by Robert Mudoon – to meekly accepting increasing State surveillance and seizure powers.
And in just seven years, we have gone from this;
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– to this;
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Yes, in just under a decade, National has taken New Zealand from complaining about reduced shower flows and ecologically-sound lightbulbs (!!) being “Nanny Statish” – to mass surveillance of the population; increased powers for spy agencies and police; forcing telco’s to keep client information for the State; and warrantless search and seizures.
In my youth, I visited my parents’ homeland whilst it was still under communist rule, and within the ‘sphere of influence’ of the Kremlin.
I can say, with a fair degree of confidence tinged with sadness, that New Zealand has moved closer to being a South Pacific replica of a former Soviet ‘satellite’ state. Only the Gulags are yet to be built. (Our Australian cuzzies have them already at Christmas Island and elsewhere.)
I can think of no other way to see this country. We have spy agencies monitoring New Zealanders; spying on our Pacific neighbours and trading partners; and harassing journalists who are critical of this government’s actions. Phil Goff’s political career was almost destroyed by National’s abuse of the powers of the SIS.
What else do you call a country where police can gain access to a citizen’s private information – without arresting him – and with no warrant? The term, I believe, is Police State.
If National Party supporters are “relaxed” about this, then I have this piece of advice for them; remember that governments change. Sooner or later, Labour will be in office.
And the Labour Prime Minister, with perhaps a few scores to settle, will have all the powers of search, surveillance, warrantless seizures, that John Key has gradually amassed since 2008.
Laws like these;
Search and Surveillance Act 2012
Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill (aka Customs and Excise Amendment Act 2014)
There may even be a new Minister for the GCSB and SIS. Perhaps Phil Goff. Or David Cunliffe.
Then the shoe will be on the other foot (the Left one). At that point, National and it’s supporters may start to regret the encroachment of State power into our lives.
I believe light bulbs and shower nozzles will be the least of their worries.
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References
TVNZ: Dita DeBoni – Privacy right is not a right when not ‘right’
National Party: Showers latest target of Labour’s nanny state
NBR: Ferguson confirms ‘mass surveillance’, Key reiterates GCSB acting lawfully
NZ Herald: Warning as second part of spy bill passes
NBR: ‘Undemocratic’ Search and Surveillance Bill made law
Fairfax media: Spy bill passes into law amid wide criticism
Newstalk ZB: PM won’t confirm Pacific spying
Fairfax: Private data deserves greater respect than Westpac showed Nicky Hager
Techdirt: New Zealand Spy Agency Deleted Evidence About Its Illegal Spying On Kim Dotcom
Yahoo News: English didn’t know GCSB spied illegally
NZ Herald: GCSB report: 88 cases of possible illegal spying uncovered
Other Bloggers
Kiwipolitico: Confronting executive branch excess
Kiwipolitico: Some questions about the Stephenson case
No Right Turn: An unwarranted demand for information
No Right Turn: The banality of intrusion
The Daily Blog: Police plotted to arrest and spy on Nicky Hager – the most interesting parts of 1 year on from Dirty Politics
The Daily Blog: What mainstream haven’t mentioned about Westpac corporate narking on Nicky Hager
The Daily Blog: News release on behalf of Nicky Hager concerning privacy breach by Westpac
The Daily Blog: Why what the Police are doing to Nicky Hager is so extraordinary
The Standard: Technology and the law – and going after Hager
The Standard: Angry at Westpac
The Standard: Dirty Politics was in the public interest
The Standard: “A creeping authoritarianism from the current government”
Previous related blogposts
Parliamentary spies and games – some bad numbers
National Party president complains of covert filming – oh the rich irony!
National’s disdain for democracy and dissent
Welcome to new glorious People’s Republic of New Zealand
Today’s irony was brought to you courtesy of former ACT MP and Govt Minister, Rodney Hide
Weekend Revelations #2 – Michelle Boag has a whinge
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This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 9 November 2015.
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USA, Vietnam, Peter Dunne – Pot, Kettle.
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Source: NZ Herald – US criticizes Vietnam new Internet control decree
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The US Embassy in Vietnam goes on to state,
“Fundamental freedoms apply online just as they do offline,” the embassy said in a statement. “We are deeply concerned by the decree’s provisions that appear to limit the types of information individuals can share via personal social media accounts and on websites.”
Source: IBID
Yes, of course our American cuzzies want the Vietnamese people to allow ” information individuals can share via personal social media accounts and on websites”.
Then their National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s GCHQ can mine that data via their PRISM, XKeyscore, and god-only-knows what other systems are used to store data on citizens.
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Source: The Guardian – XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’
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The government of Vietnam is right to be concerned with what it’s citizens may put online. With British and American spy agencies trawling the planet for information, it is now a matter of national security that nations protect themselves from this illegal spying. The internet poses a real danger to victims of this rampant, out-of-control spying.
The sheer hypocrisy of the US Embassy when it piously states that “Fundamental freedoms apply online just as they do offline” is breath-taking in arrogance.
It’s like Big Brother throwing a tanty when someone refuses to share their personal information, thus thwarting the spooks who are patiently waiting to hoover up the data.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties, led by the Greens, have succeeded in stalling the passing of the GCSB and Related Legislation Amendment Bill for two weeks.
Their ‘filibustering’ has successfully stalled the passing of the Bill, as this Radio NZ report explains,
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Legislation covering the Government Communications Security Bureau won’t pass all the way through Parliament this week as had been hoped by the Government.
The bill is now in its committee stages, where MPs debate it clause by clause. The opposition has employed delaying tactics since Question Time on Tuesday afternoon. An urgent debate on the Fonterra contamination scare delayed the debate further.
The Government will have to wait at least two weeks to pass the controversial legislation.
Source: Radio NZ – GCSB bill won’t pass this week
This gives opponants to the GCSB and Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Amendment Bills an opportunity to grow opposition and to educate the public what is at stake.
As for Peter Dunne, who is complaining about protesters targetting his home – my sympathy for him is zero.
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Source: Dominion Post – Dunne lashes back at noisy protesters
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Protester, Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati is 100% quite right when she says that their presence is to “to give him a taste of what it feels like to have your privacy intruded on“.
Mr Dunn doesn’t like being surveilled?
Neither do we.
Do the right thing, Mr Dunne – vote the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Amendment Bill and GCSB and Related Legislation Amendment Bill down.
It’s the decent thing to do.
You still have time.
Don’t be John Key’s errand boy.
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What would George Orwell – author of ‘1984’ – have made of all this, I wonder?
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 8 August 2013.
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Spying on the spyers…
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So once again, the State (through the Police), is found to be spying on a citizen,
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Source: NZ Herald – Police seize Cuppagate texts
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That complaint, as we all recall, resulted in police raids on the NZ Herald and Radio New Zealand newsrooms. It’s the sort of thing that might be commonplace in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe; Fiji under the military; or Chile, under Pinochet.
It appears to be becoming more and more commonplace in our own country. This doesn’t make New Zealand a “nanny state” as National and it’s supporters once screamed hysterically in 2008 (see: Showers latest target of Labour’s nanny state) – this is morphing a once liberal, progressive country into a policed surveillance state.
It’s as if the ghost of East Germany and thousands of it’s STASI operatives have descended upon our country.
Key, however, doesn’t like being spied on. No, not one bit;
John Key had called in police to investigate whether Ambrose had deliberately recorded the eight-minute conversation in front of a media pack in a Newmarket cafe, after Ambrose gave the recording to the Herald on Sunday.
Source: IBID
Key will happily empower the GCSB to spy on all New Zealanders and force telcos to hand over information on their clients. His right-hand man, Chief of Staff Wayne Eagleson, will spy on a journalist and strip away her right to privacy. And Key’s appointed “investigator”, David Henry, will gain access to an MP’s emails and phone log.
But if anyone dares to invade Key’s privacy (even if he was in front of a couple of dozen journalists and cameramen at the time), the Prime Minister will have no hesitation in bringing down the full weight of the state apparatus on the hapless ‘offender’s’ head.
What was it that Russell Norman said about John Key?
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Source: NZ Herald: Norman: Key ‘acting like Muldoon’
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Despite a bit of screeching; gnashing of teeth; and juvenile feet-stamping from rightwing tossers like Karl du Fresne, Cameron Slater, and others of their ilk – Russell Norman called it perfectly: John Key is as autocratic and manipulative as Muldoon was in his hey-day.
Which is not good. As Martyn Bradbury pointed out in a blogpost on 2 August (see: With all due respect to ‘Si & Gazza’ in the morning ),
It’s like the more Key rips up our civil liberties, the more the sleepy hobbits love him – we are a nation of political sado-masochists. There seems to be a dark streak of anti-intellectualism in our Shaky Isles that embraces Key’s nonchalant ignorance with the passion of a junkie to their dealer.
Enough New Zealanders loved Muldoon and his autocratic style to vote him into office as Prime Minister for consecutive nine years. Now we seem to have Muldoon v.2 – and that worries me.
All I can say is; thank god for MMP.
And to hell with the notion of a four year Parliamentary term.
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 5 August 2013.
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Radio NZ: Focus on Politics for 2 August 2013
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– Focus on Politics –
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– Friday 2 August 2013 –
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– Brent Edwards –
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A weekly analysis of significant political issues.
Friday after 6:30pm and Saturday at 5:10pm
The Prime Minister remained defiant this week despite evidence emerging his office had pressured the Parliamentary Service to release phone records to the inquiry into the leak of the Kitteridge report on the GCSB.
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Click to listen: Focus on Politics for 2 August 2013 ( 17′ 38″ )
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