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JUDITH But you’ve got the right to get it back, you’ve got the right to claim it, and the Police…

PAUL Yeah but then you’ve got a whole matter of procedure to go through because the cops have decided they suspect you got the property criminally.

JUDITH Well actually Police would lose all credibility if they went round doing that unnecessarily. They’ve got a lot of leads, they know exactly who they’re after, and they will be after them.

PAUL Search and Surveillance Bill – new powers for all enforcement officers, like Meat Board Inspectors, like the Overseas Investment Office, like the Civil Aviation Inspector, like the Pork Industry Board Inspector, like the Reserve Bank Inspector, the Dog Control Officer. When it comes to surveillance all of those people have the same powers now as the Police?

JUDITH It really is a terrible sounding list isn’t it Paul, and what is even more terrible is to know that those powers are already in legislation but they’re interested in a whole lot of different legislation, this bill has come in because of the work of the Law Commission looking at all the various powers and trying to put some rules around them.

PAUL The powers are extended. Look there’s two and a bit pages, I’ll read you a few. Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Inspector – Animal Products Inspector – Animal Welfare Inspector – Antarctic Marine Living Resources Inspector – Children Young Persons and their Families Inspector – the Extradition Act Inspector – Marine Mammals Protection Inspector. All of these people have the power to come into your premises, to command your IT provider to provide them with all their computer records, to detain you, to use reasonable force, to rub you down, pat you, search you – the Pork Industry Board Inspector.

JUDITH That sounds terrible doesn’t it? That’s one of the reasons why the Select Committee has actually said they’re not reporting back until May, they want to go through the whole bill and make sure they’ve got everything sorted out, but the Law Commission is very firm that these are existing powers but they often don’t have proper regulations around them. Look I’m like any other New Zealander, I want to know why would the Port Industry Inspector have those sorts of powers just like everyone else, and that’s why we’re certainly looking at them.

PAUL But at the moment what’s proposed in the bill, is that any of those people can break in premises, and to search everything, detain, use reasonable force, conduct a rub down search and command your IT provider to surrender your computer records, that’s what’s been proposed in the bill.