Remove PM from security oversight: Review

The Prime Minister and other ministers should be removed from Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to ensure the work of agencies responsible for New Zealand’s national security is done independently.

That’s one of the chief findings from the inaugural review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 (ISA) — a process required by law every five to seven years, which was brought forward to March, 2022, to consider recommendations made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack.

Among several recommendations was a view that New Zealand’s committee should reflect its counterparts in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom in that members of the executive — such as the Prime Minister and other ministers — should be prohibited from being members of the committee.

The ISA currently requires the committee to be chaired by the Prime Minister.

The recommendation was founded on the authors’ concerns that the committee lacked independence and didn’t have the capacity to “undertake meaningful scrutiny” of the work of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau.

In a statement, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he would consider the report and “await advice assessing the potential impact” of the recommendations before decisions were made. He also intended to consult with other parties.

The review’s two other main recommendations were removal of the distinction between warrants for New Zealand citizens and non-citizens, and defining what was meant by “protection of national security”.

On the former, authors noted the threshold for gaining warrants to carry out actions for the protection of national security regarding noncitizens was easier than for citizens.

They believed it was no longer necessary and this was supported by intelligence agencies.