Anti-terrorism bill ‘erosion’ of rights

Press, 7 May 1987, Page 24

Anti-terrorism bill ‘erosion’ of rights

PA Wellington The Government’s antiterrorism bill, which will allow news clampdowns during emergencies, is an “erosion” of civil rights, the democratic system and freedom of speech, news media organisations said. In a joint submission, the Broadcasting Corporation, newspapers and private radio stations said the International Terrorism (Emergency Powers) Bill was an affront to the responsible role traditionally played by the New Zealand news media. “To the best of our information, no other Western democracy has imposed such rigid censorship provisions (except South Africa), or provisions for taking over equipment or interfering

with communications for dealing with international terrorism,” said the submission to Parliament’s Justice and Law Reform Committee. Even the “mother” democracy which faced continuing terrorist activity in Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain had not found it necessary — with one exception — to introduce news media censorship. That exception made it an offence not to pass on information to the police about a future act of terrorism or about people involved in terrorism in the United Kingdom and connected to Northern Ireland. “It has not led to any prosecution to date,” the submission said. The news media clamp-

down in the New Zealand legislation is aimed at blocking information that might help terrorists and is one of a series of emergency powers. Those powers could be put in place for up to seven days by a gathering of at least three Ministers and a maximum of three weeks by Parliament. However, the news media submission said that had the bill been in force in recent years, it would have been of no practical use during the few experiences New Zealand had so far had with terrorism, such as the Rainbow Warrior bombing and domestic bombings at places such as the High Court in Auckland, the U.T.A. airline offices, and the Wanganui Computer Centre.