5AA’s Across The Ditch was Recorded LIVE on 9/05/13.
New Zealand’s National-led Government managed to narrowly pass the first stage of a bill that will make legal the illegal operations that New Zealand’s GCSB spy agency has been committing for up to ten years.
Basically, the bill will make it legal for the GCSB to use its full electronic arsenal to spy on New Zealanders. It has been found to have been doing this illegally since 2003.
The Government has also pushed through under urgency another spying bill called the Telecommunications Interception Bill that will make all telcos in New Zealand subservient to the GCSB, even requiring telcos to seek approval from the GCSB for any new electronic products intended for Kiwi consumers.
The bills are now before a special security committee at Parliament, and are expected to be reconsidered by the legislature in two month’s time.
Forget 1984, this is 2013 National’s John Key style. For more, see UPDATED: On Relevancy And Lifelines – The Strategic Rise & Rise Of Winston Peters.
And on the weather: WeatherWatch.co.nz has issued a heavy rain warning for New Zealand’s Northland and Auckland regions. It says we can expect up to 25mm of rain per hour in Auckland, and up to a massive 140mm of rain over the next 24 hours in parts of Northland.
The weather agency’s Philip Duncan says Aucklanders can expect flooding in some parts, and there is potential for land slips. He is warning people to stay away from cliffs. He says cracks are still in evidence on cliff-faces caused during the summer-long drought. These cracks can cause the earth making up cliff-faces to break away.
Across The Ditch broadcasts live weekly on 5AA Australia and webcasts on The Daily Blog and LiveNews.co.nz.
The Government has also pushed through under urgency another spying bill called the Telecommunications Interception Bill that will make all telcos in New Zealand subservient to the GCSB, even requiring telcos to seek approval from the GCSB for any new electronic products intended for Kiwi consumers.
So the government is quick to cry foul on opposition policy for power regulation, yet are blind to their own measures of market regulation, regulation stemming from a secretive government agency.
All the more reason to vote this lot out come election time. Their paranoia of the public suggests a third term will be fraught with unpopular dictatorial policies, hence paving their way now to facilitate them.
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