Collins: ‘Rip up passport’
Nats want release of legal information around possible deportation of terrorist
National leader Judith Collins called on the Government to share the legal advice it received on deporting the Lynnmall terrorist, Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen.
The Government has said Crown Law advice was that the likelihood of persecution, were Samsudeen to be deported to Sri Lanka, was so great, he would likely be classified as a “protected person”, making it “very, very difficult” to deport him.
Collins called on the Government to “consider making any legal advice available for the Opposition to view confidentially” to assist it “coming together with a solution”.
The advice is legally privileged and it would be highly unusual for the Government to release it.
GCSB and SIS Minister Andrew Little, responding to Collins, left the door open to some form of cooperation. “I hear what the member is suggesting, and I will discuss that with colleagues,” Little said.
Labour and National closed ranks on Tuesday, reiterating their promise to swiftly pass a change to New Zealand’s counter terrorism laws in light of last Friday’s attack.
The Greens and Act took a different tune, condemning the terrorist attack, but urging Parliament to take its time before legislating a response.
MPS debated a Ministerial Statement on Tuesday. These are special, free flowing, debates that give MPS the opportunity to ask ministers probing questions on areas of Government policy.
Little, who has responsibility for terror laws as minister in charge of the security agencies and the Government’s response to the attack on the Christchurch mosques, said it had been known for some time there were holes in our terror laws.
Little said that as early as November 2007 “the then Solicitor General found the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 to be unworkable”.
The problem, Little said, was that it “was found not to contain a criminal offence of planning or preparation for a terrorist attack”.
He said work did not begin on plugging that hole until August 2018, and the results of that work are currently before a Parliamentary select committee.
He defended the time taken between August 2018 and now to get the law into shape.
“It was a very significant piece of work because of the interplay between security, individual freedoms and human rights,” Little said.
Collins urged the Government to consider whether anything further could have been done to deport the terrorist, saying the event raised “unique issues around refugee status and immigration law in New Zealand.”
“We have international obligations to ensure the rights of refugees are upheld, and we have moral obligations too.
“However, it is my strongly held opinion that the Government of New Zealand must prioritise keeping New Zealanders safe above all else.
“If a refugee or an immigrant commits an act of terror or goes overseas to take part in extremist activities, we should rip up their New Zealand passport,” Collins said.