The new net goes fishing

Every great fishing expedition needs an organising committee:

Submissions can be made until 12.00am (midnight) tonight, Wednesday, 28 September 2011.

The committee will hear from invited parties at its meeting this morning, and will hear oral submissions from interested members of the public and interest groups later tonight. These hearings will take place in Select Committee meeting rooms 1 and 2, on the ground floor of Bowen House, in public session.

Members of the public who want to give evidence at the public hearing are asked to be present at Bowen House between 7.00pm and 8.00pm. Written submissions do not need to have been made beforehand, but submitters are welcome to make a submission through the Parliament website, or to bring a written submission with them if they wish.

Video Camera Surveillance (Temporary Measures) Bill is now on the parliamentary website. The select committee is already meeting. The government - really the NZ Police, but same diff - anticipate the validation of their unlawful spying before the House dissolves for the general election next week.

The cops knew what they were doing was wrong. Their answer - because the police are NEVER wrong - is to get their wrongdoing put in as law. The search and surveillance bill has been before the House for some time now and the fishing expedition provisions are totally objectionable - they propose to authorise the cops off their own bat and without any judicial order to start spying if they feel like it, and then we have to trust them to desist if after a few days if they don't find anything. It is that which the NZ Police fear they won't get if that bill sits in the House and so now they concoct some alarmist scenario - without proof - to scare the politicians into permitting it by way of a special bill to be rammed through under urgency.

Will Labour and Act fold as the Nats have to the instructions of the NZ Police?

The citizens have until midnight to lodge a submission - a small mercy the Nats were forced into let us not forget.