This is a good time to abolish the SIS and GCSB!
The Green Party policy is to:
We would therefore institute a select committee enquiry into whether the SIS should be abolished and its responsibilities returned to the police. …
we will abolish the GCSB and close its two signals intelligence bases at Waihopai and Tangimoana immediately.
Meanwhile in Australia:
A TEEN terror suspect under investigation for making threats against Prime Minister Tony Abbott was shot dead by police last night after stabbing a Victorian police officer and a federal police agent.
The injured officers, both from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team, are in hospital in a stable condition. …
Senior intelligence sources confirmed that the terrorism suspect had been among a number of people whose passports were recently cancelled.
It is believed that the man was well known to police, and had displayed Islamic State flags in the local Dandenong shopping centre.
And globally:
A 42-minute audio recording by an ISIS spokesman was released on social media Sunday, in which the group calls on Muslims to kill civilians in countries that belong to the anti-ISIS, U.S.-led coalition.
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European, especially the spiteful and filthy French, or an Australian, or a Canadian or any other disbeliever, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” an ISIS spokesman says.
Note the reference to “any other disbeliever”.
The Herald editorial notes:
What should New Zealand do? Does this country have malcontents who would embrace even ascetic religious fundamentalism for the sake of a cause? Have any been with Isis and returned? Should this country, too, offer special forces to assist Iraqi troops on the ground? That depends on whether the new Iraqi Government is better than the last, and whether US air support alone might be effective, as it was in protecting Kurdistan. The decision must not be influenced by the possibility of terrorism at home. As Australia has shown, good intelligence can keep us safe.
This is worth reflecting on.
That doesn’t mean that the GCSB should be allowed to do what it wants. Absolutely not. I am against mass surveillance of New Zealanders (which does not occur in NZ). But be aware the Greens are not just against mass surveillance – their official policy is to abolish the GCSB entirely – and look at abolishing the SIS also. They take an unbalanced view on these issues, and that view has dangers as our closest neighbour comes under attack.