How much do you trust New Zealand authorities? The current farce over Kim Dotcom is likely to erode the public's confidence in government, politicians, the police, officials - and in fact the whole Establishment. New Zealand's faith in institutions of authority has been on the wane for many years now, as evidenced by numerous surveys. For example, one credible survey a few years ago showed that over two-thirds of the public had either 'not very much confidence' or 'none at all' in Parliament, and three-quarters had little or no confidence in political parties. Similar levels of distrust and disquiet are often found in the public about other agencies of the state and authorities, and even business.
If provincial newspaper editorials are anything to go by, there is growing anger about the authorities' handling of Kim Dotcom. The Waikato Times' editorial entitled, NZ: 51st state of the US, is particularly worth reading. It says that the announcement of the illegal spying has 'heightened suspicions that this country's relationship with the United States has become one of servility rather than friendship'. The editorial's conclusion is worth quoting at length: 'Dotcom is wanted in the US to face nothing more threatening than breaches of copyright laws. The GCSB's involvement - like so much about this case, including FBI agents, helicopters, heavily armed police and botched search warrants - has turned the pursuit of him and the operations of our law-enforcement agencies into the stuff of farce. It is preposterous to suggest Mr Dotcom threatens our national security. The Government's unquestioning readiness to co-operate with American authorities, on the other hand, seriously corrodes our claims to be an independent state'.
The Southland Times editorial is equally scathing: Crusading against Kim 'The lickspittle anxiety of New Zealand Government agencies to impress Kim Dotcom's would-be prosecutors in the United States has become more than a general national embarrassment. It is now acutely troubling'. It goes on with more scornful analysis, concluding that the Government's 'supposed political oversight of our intelligence service' has become too 'laissez-faire'. Similarly, today's Press editorial, Dotcom mistakes, warns 'the authorities need to bear in mind that New Zealanders' trust in their capabilities has been impaired. The prime minister should consider also that his refusal to deal adequately with John Banks, and Dotcom's apparent ability to turn each of the various twists in his case into a public relations victory, are damaging to the Government's image'.
In another example which shows that it's not just Nicky Hager anti-Establishment types who are upset by the Dotcom case, business journalist Fran O'Sullivan is warning that the business community will be alarmed by what's going on - see: Dotcom spying worry for business. She says 'If the authorities are so supine in their relationship with their US counterparts and so eager to corral an alleged copyright criminal - allegations which Dotcom is strongly contesting - that they don't check the basics before mounting their interception, what guarantees do other businesses have that this is a one-off affair?' O'Sullivan says it's bad news to see that the PM and his deputy and finance minister are obviously not working closely together.
Brian Rudman has a must-read analysis of the illegal spying - see: Keystone Cops too busy bowing to FBI demands. He is critical of the Prime Minister for pleading ignorance, derisive of the spies for blaming the police, and warns that the Government's inquiry ('in-house affair, cocooned in secrecy') might not satisfy the growing public doubt about what is going on. And with the latest illegal spying coming soon after the police's unlawful spying on the so-called Urewera 'terrorists', Rudman thinks the public will be suspicious 'that similar transgressions' could be widespread.
