S.I.S. name ban ‘gross censorship’

Press, 4 October 1977, Page 3

S.I.S. name ban ‘gross censorship’

iPA Wellington I Provisions of the Security [intelligence Service Amendment Bill would prevent the [exposure of possible misdemeanours by the service, a I Wellington publisher. Mr Hugh Price, said yesterday.

I In a letter to the member :of Parliament for Wellington Central (Mr Ken Comber) Mr Price said the provisioh which forbids the publication of the names of S.I'.S. agents was a gross and extreme censorship. In his letter, he reminded Mr Comber of a case in Britain in the 1960 s when newspaper investigations exposed three M. 1.5 members, one of whom was also a senior officer of the Russian K.G.B.

If the provisions of the S.I.S. bill had been in force in Britain at the time, the investigation which led to the exposure of the three agents could never have taken place, said Mr Price.

“While British citizens and the American public have the right to know about the misdemeanours of their security service officers, the New Zealand public, if the bill becomes law, will be denied such information about our own security force.” Mr Price said such censorship must make New Zealanders the laughing-stock of the world. “To other countries we will appear a simple - minded people who are free to read in books and magazines about the misdemeanours of everybody else’s security service, but who are not allowed to know about their own.”

As a book publisher, Mr Price said, he objected strongly to the bill and the censorship which would result if it became law would prevent the free and full writing of New Zealand history and political science.