P.M.’s fears of S.I.S. calmed

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 1

P.M.’s fears of S.I.S. calmed

By

MARTIN FREETH

in Wellington Two years in power have calmed the fears the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, once had about the Security Intelligence Service. In fact, Mr Lange now has nothing but praise for the S.I.S. As a new member of Parliament in 1977, Mr Lange opposed legislation to require only Prime Ministerial approval for the service to intercept mail or bug telephones. "For a power as Draconian as this to be vested in the hands of one person, whoever he will be, is a development in our law that we cannot afford to support,” ' Mr Lange was reported in Hansard. The bill became law, and "today Mr Lange is that person. “Circumstances differ according to where one is,

and I have now had the opportunity of being thoroughly briefed ... and I am absolutely satisfied that it (the 5.1.5.) does not procure warrants for anything other than proper reasons and, in fact, an extraordinarily small number of warrants are procured,” Mr Lange told reporters yesterday. Mr Lange said he spent much time with service staff with their reporting to him as Minister in charge of the S.I.S. “about four mornings a week.” “Of all my responsibilities, that is the one I have the most intimate contact with but not because I have any political direction at an over what they do,” he said. “It has been one department, which has been absolutely straight up and down in telling me what it is about. “I have had extensive

rethinks in day-to-day contact with it” Furthermore, Mr Lange suggested that some members of the public developed quite the wrong idea about the service. “There are a lot of people in New Zealand, as there are in other countries, who do not believe anything other than that they are being pursued by the S.I.S. “If all the people who wrote to me and complained about being followed by the S.I.S. (were correct), it would have to be the largest department of State with the biggest budget” Recalling 1977, Mr Lange said he was never opposed to the service as such, but to the prospect of the previous Prime Minister gaining authority to issue interception warrants. "I believe I was justified then,” he said.