Protesters take aim at Tangimoana spy base

Activists are vowing to step up a campaign to close the Government spy base at Tangimoana, near Palmerston North, which they say has been a "neglected" target in recent years.

About 15 Green Party members and other protesters picketed outside the eavesdropping facility for several hours on Sunday, watched by police.

The base is down a long driveway and screened from the roadside by trees.

Green Party co-leader Rod Donald, who attended the protest, said much of the anti-base campaign had centred on Waihopai near Blenheim but more attention would be paid to Tangimoana. Protesters would be back "within a couple of months".

Mr Donald is calling for more information about Tangimoana and Waihopai to be made public.

Anti-base activist Bob Leonard said Tangimoana was "unlike Waihopai in that it doesn't spy on New Zealanders", but it remained part of an "uncontrolled network" operated by the United States and Britain.

"New Zealand has no say over how it's run or what it does but it costs this country millions," he said.

Tangimoana and Waihopai are run by the Government Communications Security Bureau. Tangimoana tracks high-frequency radio communications from ships and land-based telephones.

A nearby resident said there was little evidence of the spy station in their midst apart from "a large mailbox and lots of cars arriving in the morning and leaving at night".

Mr Leonard said Tangimoana had the ability to "spy on half the globe", although a decreasing use of high-frequency radio meant its importance was diminishing.

However, he said New Zealanders should know what the base did.

- NZPA