Labour seeks banc on surveillance

Press, 14 May 1981, Page 4

Labour seeks banc on surveillance

PA Wellington Surveillance of New Zealand citizens by the Security Intelligence Service should be made illegal, the Labour Party conference in Wellington decided last evening. However a remit calling for the abolition of the service was defeated after a plea from the party leader (Mr Rowling). He urged delegates ‘ not to confuse the abuse of the system with the svstem itself.- ’ “We have seen a blatant abuse of the S.I.S. in this country, particularly in the last 12 or 18 months,” he said. “It has been dragged into the political arena and in consequence a great deal of discredit has been brought upon that service — not through any fault of its own but because of the political machinations of the Prime Minister. Mr Rowling was the only speaker to support the continuation of the service. About six others opposed its existence. Although the conference agreed to Mr Rowling’s, plea to throw out the remit, the delegates demonstrated their opposition to the service in voting to make the surveillance of New Zealand citizens illegal. Mr Rowling said that the role of the S.I.S. was to combat terrorism. “If we believe that New Zealand is outside the scope of terrorists then we delude ourselves,” he said. | "I happen to be one of I those who is reasonably ap- $ of the activities of > tire service in New Zealand J at present. The person in < charge of the organisation at i the moment (Mr P. L. Moli- s neaux) is a person of in-? tegrity.” ? Mr Rowling said that he j .foejfeved Mr Molineaux § waffled to establish an organ- i isation ' that protected the rights of New Zealanders and did not interfere with them. “I do believe that his ac- > tivjties'are directed at pro-1 teetingithe integrity of this *

country and the people ot this country,” he said. Whether a service was good or bad depended on the Government, he said. "If we are a good government then we can use the service in the interests of the people." he said. Mr Rowling said that he agreed with the remit — which the conference later passed — calling for the repeal of the 1977 S.I.S. Amendment Act, which broadened the powers of the service. But he appealed to the delegates "to at least give a Labour government the chance to use the service in the interests of the protection of the people, and not to pre-determine that situation.” The conference also called for the use of listening devices by any government department or quasi-autono-mous body to be made illegal. Another remit, which was supported, called for a limit on the type of personal information a private citizen was obliged to give to the Government.

‘ Mr D. Strachan, of the Mosgiel branch, called on delegates to take a ‘‘strong stance supporting the abolition of the 5.1.5.” Labour Party people and trade unionists had been subjected to the scrutiny of the service, he said. “I suppose the premise is that in some way these people are a threat to the national interest.” The service had been “manipulated b.v the present Prime Minister to suit his own personal ends,” Mr Strachan said. Mrs D. Sutcliffe (Te Atatu South branch) said that the S.I.S. should not be "spying on our citizens.” Mr W. A. Jamieson (Karori branch) said that if it had not been for the Federation of Labour there would have been more pressure by the S.I.S. to intimidate, interrogate, and generally push around the working people of New Zealand. Until he saw some Rightwing politician being interro- ? gated he could never support any kind of secret police in New Zealand, he said.