NRT: An admission

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, August 14th, 2012 - 3 comments
Categories: Annette King, crime, law - Tags:

Idiot/Savant at NRT on the need to reform the Terrorism Suppression Act.

An Admission

Back in 2002, in the wake of 9/11, Parliament passed the Terrorism Suppression Act. The Act brought us into line with international law on terrorist financing and bombing, but it also went further than that, and at the time there was widespread concern that it would impact on democratic rights. These concerns were strengthened by amendments in 2007 which criminalised ex post facto unknowing interactions with entities the government (or the US government) later decided that it didn’t like.

And then of course there was the Urewera mess, where the police abused the law to get surveillance powers which they then overstepped…

The upshot is that in the cold light of day, the law looks a little extreme. And to her credit, Labour’s Annette King (who was Minister of Police and Justice at the time the later amendments passed) has admitted it:

Suppression of terrorism Act was passed in the crazy days after 9/11.Its time to review and change.

Hopefully this means that a future Labour government will review the Act and restore civil liberties.

3 comments on “NRT: An admission ”

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  1. Bill 1
    14 August 2012 at 11:45 am

    Hopefully this means that a future Labour government will review the Act and restore civil liberties.

    If that was on the cards, I’d have expected the word ‘repeal’ to have a part of that King quote. But she says it’s time to ‘review and change’ which would lead me to expect a honing of the existing legislation should a Clark-esque Labour led government win a term.

  2. Murray Olsen 2
    14 August 2012 at 5:08 pm

    I really expect nothing but cosmetic changes from Labour, and wouldn’t be overly surprised if they specifically included something along the lines of “Illegally gained evidence, even if the police in question knew they were acting illegally, may be introduced into evidence at the discretion of the Minister of Police.”
    Given recent trends, we may see new measures to include roof painting by beneficiaries included among any secret list of terrorist acts.

  3. bad12 3
    14 August 2012 at 8:19 pm

    I quite like Annette King, sometimes She behaves like an old time Labour politician, it doesn’t last long tho, half a day later there’s a quiet retraction or clarification…

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