But yesterday National's Rodney MP Mark Mitchell closed the debate. And given that his speech immediately preceded that Third Reading debate on the GCSB Bill and its related legislation, it was especially signifcant.
This Sunday Star-Times profile of Mitchell from 2011 gives you an idea about why the MP is qualified to make the comments he made in his speech yesterday. And here, via Hansard, is the draft transcript of the speech:
MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): I would like to talk about something that has been in our media a lot over the last few months, and that is our national security.
In 2006 in Nasiriyah, Iraq, a supply convoy carrying food for coalition troops was attacked by al-Qaeda. During the attack, al-Qaeda operatives took a satellite phone from a dead driver. Before the account was cancelled, there were over 200 calls made. The calls were spread around countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the UK, some European countries, the United States, and 14 calls were made to New Zealand.
Why were terrorists who were attacking and killing our allies in Iraq making calls to New Zealand? That is why we have agencies like the SIS and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)—so they can find out who and why, and so they can protect us.
Mr Shearer said yesterday that when he was the victim of a terrorist attack, he witnessed the death, the human suffering, and the carnage that that brings. I am sure he has played over in his mind many times how that attack may have been prevented or stopped. The quickest way to invite a terrorist attack is to become complacent and to say that it cannot happen to me. Why would anyone attack us?
Is that what happened to Mr Shearer? Was he a victim of “It can’t happen to me.”? Had complacency crept in? Mr Shearer indicated yesterday that he had to witness death and suffering before he became serious about security.
Well, our Prime Minister has shown that he cannot and will not wait for people to die before he becomes serious about our security. He takes our security seriously right now. We are incredibly lucky in New Zealand that we have the most transparent and open political system in the world, which allows us to debate and challenge ideas and legislation.
The GCSB legislation has been a classic example of this. The legislation has had the full blast of sunlight on it for all to see. It has been debated until the cows come home. It is good legislation that has created certainty and clarity where there was none. It provides rigorous checks and balances and multiple hoops to jump though before any information is able to be obtained by the agencies tasked with protecting us.
Finally, I would like to share some of my own observations. I do not want to be an alarmist but, on the other hand, I do not want a malaise to become part of our psyche and that tells us that somehow we have become immunised against the threats that the global community faces. We have not.
For a decade I witnessed the pain, suffering, and fear that come with terrorism. I was forced to deal directly with groups like al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Sometimes they are brutal and unsophisticated in the way they operate. At other times they have the use of the best and the most sophisticated technology available.
Sometimes terror attacks are planned sitting on a dirt floor in a shanty town in Mogadishu. At other times they are planned in a penthouse in a European city. But one thing they have in common is a desire to defeat security measures that Governments put in place to protect their people. They can sniff out weakness and complacency at a thousand miles.
I would like to acknowledge our Prime Minister, who is making sure that we are not an easy target and who is taking the steps necessary to ensure that someone like Mr Shearer does not become a victim again. Thank you.
This was an outstanding speech from Mark Mitchell, who like David Shearer has had direct experience with terrorism. And the points he made regarding the need for surveillance are very pertinent.
We do not live in a benign environment. The threat of terrorism is ever-present. New Zealand has already experienced an act of terrorism when French agents sunk the Rainbow Warrior back in the 80's. We're kidding ourselves if we believe that our distance from the rest of the world makes us immune from terrorism.
The sun is shining as we type this, so it obviously rose this morning. The GCSB Bill was passed by Parliament, and the world as we knew it has not ended. Nor will it, despite the best efforts of LabourGreen and its fellow travelers to scare the horses.
Mark Mitchell may have closed his speech and the weekly General Debate with the words "Thank you.", but we should be thanking HIM for reminding us just why the 2003 GCSB legislation needs to be strengthened.
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