Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Spy agencies want ways around encrypted devices, rift opens in government over refugee quota, and Bridges rules out supporting compulsory te reo. Internet NZ has issued a warning against a Five Eyes push to force vendors and service providers to give law enforcement more access to … Read more
The purchase of four surveillance planes signals an even closer military alignment with the United States, and the reflects badly on our non-aligned status, writes former Green Party defence spokesperson Keith Locke. It was disappointing to see a Labour-led government agree to spend $2.3 billion on four P8A surveillance planes equipped to detect and fight submarines. Back in … Read more
Earlier this month the government cancelled the New Zealand passport of a woman living in Australia, citing classified security concerns. Stripping a NZ citizen of their passport might seem unprecedented – but it’s happened before, writes David Belgrave. Most of us in New Zealand believe that we have a basic right to travel outside the … Read more
A High Court hearing was this week shut off to everyone, including media – something even the judge calls ‘anathema to the fundamental concepts of fairness’. Andrew Geddis explains what’s going on. Something quite strange is happening at the High Court in Wellington this week. Journalists doing their regular rounds of that place’s pathos, bathos, … Read more
Privacy commissioner John Edwards assesses the newly drafted Intelligence and Security legislation, and responds to Kim Dotcom’s suggestion he’s a government lackey and ‘clown’ Until last night I was unfamiliar with the commissioning process for pieces for The Spinoff. Mine came in the form of a Twitter direct message. “John! fancy writing us a post … Read more