Garth George: In a nasty world we need to be safe

John Key answers questions on the GCSB.

Until I read a couple of troubling statements made during the third-reading debate on the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill on Wednesday, I remained somewhat ambivalent about the haste with which the bill was rammed through Parliament.

It seemed to me that there would be no harm in delaying the legislation so there could be more consultation inside and outside the political sphere.

But now I'm not so sure.

Prime Minister John Key told Parliament on Wednesday that, "The bill is being passed right now because it is needed right now. Others may play politics with the security and lives of New Zealanders, but I cannot and I do not and I will not."

And, furthermore, Mr Key said that if he could disclose some of the briefings he had had about risks to New Zealand, it would "cut dead" some of the opposition to the GCSB bill, but he could not divulge them.

So seriously has he taken this legislation that earlier in the week he promised to resign if the GCSB ever conducted mass surveillance - only the second time he has played the resignation card in his political career. Now you can't tell me that any prime minister is going to play such a card unless he is absolutely sure it will never be trumped.

The second statement that caused concern came from National's Rodney MP Mark Mitchell, who was once a security specialist based in Iraq, a man who knows terrorism first hand. He told Parliament that in 2006 in An Nasiriyah in Iraq, an allied supply convoy was attacked and al-Qaeda operatives took a satellite phone from a dead driver.

Between the time the phone was stolen and the account was cancelled, 200 phone calls were made all around the world - 14 of them to New Zealand.

"Why were terrorists who were attacking allies in Iraq making calls to New Zealand?" he asked. "That is why we have agencies like the SIS and GCSB, so they can find out whom and why and protect us." The quickest way to invite a terrorist attack, he said, was to become complacent. For a decade he had watched the pain, suffering and fear that came with terrorism.

The fact is we live in a nasty, dangerous world. Just read the world section of the newspapers day after day.

And although we are a small nation at the bottom of the world, we are known internationally as an active ally of the United States, Britain and other countries who battle terrorism.

So anything that might protect us from the depredations of Stone-Age terrorist madmen is okay with me.

I note that David Shearer has stepped down from the Labour leadership on the grounds that he can no longer trust his caucus.

That's not the real reason. His colleague, Labour Whip Chris Hipkins, gave us the real reason. He said Mr Shearer was "a man of great integrity, honesty and compassion", who has "humility and dignity".

Politics is no place for a man like that, and I'm surprised that Mr Shearer has opted to keep his Mt Albert seat.

garth.george@hotmail.com