Police get new powers

11.45am

New terrorism offences have passed into law today giving police new powers to deal with all criminal activities.

Sitting under urgency, all parties in Parliament , with the exception of the Greens, supported the majority of the proposals put forward in the Counter Terrorism Bill.

Justice Minister Phil Goff said the law was necessary to implement international treaty obligations after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The bill contains a number of terrorist-related offences.

Participating in or recruiting members of terrorist groups, as well as procedures for the designation of terrorist entities and the freezing of their assets, become new offences under the legislation.

New offences created by the legislation include:

* improperly dealing with nuclear material, radioactive material or unmarked plastic explosives;

* harbouring or concealing a person who had carried out or intended to carry out terrorist activity;

* causing sickness or disease in animals, intending to endanger the health or safety of an animal population and causing major economic damage;

* contaminating products such as food, water or crops intended for human consumption;

* threatening to do an act likely to cause major risk to people, property or the economy intending to significantly disrupt the civilian population, or infrastructure or the administration of government or commercial interests.

New investigative powers include allowing police and customs officers to use tracking devices.

People would be required to provide computer access, including their computer password, if police had a warrant to search their property.

Evidence of serious criminal offending, including terrorism, lawfully obtained by interception warrant, would be admissible in court even if the warrant was issued for a different offence.

Mr Goff said these investigative powers were not limited to terrorism offending.

There was a need to balance civil liberties with fighting general crime and terrorism.

"The sorts of things the terrorists do and the powers needed to track down terrorists are the same powers needed to deal with other forms of serious criminal activity,' Mr Goff said.

Green MP Keith Locke said the powers were an intrusion on civil liberties and it was misleading to label the measures anti-terrorist when they were very wide-ranging.

"It allows for fishing expeditions," Mr Locke said.

Mr Goff said the law changes complied with the Bill of Rights.

Among the many concerns raised during the debate was one by ACT MP Stephen Franks, who said the definition of a tracking device was so wide it could include a pair of binoculars, a flag on a bicycle or a sticker on a suitcase.

When the bill was split into several amendment bills, ACT voted against the tracking device proposal, with Mr Franks labelling it "nuts".

New Zealand First MP Ron Mark said the legislation would be meaningless without adequate resources.

- NZPA