Intelligence and Security Act 2017

In this section is everything you need to know about New Zealand's Intelligence and Security Act 2017.

In March 2016, Sir Michael Cullen and Dame Patsy Reddy presented their findings from the First Independent Review of Intelligence and Security in New Zealand to Parliament.

The reviewers recommended significant changes to the legislation governing the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and the oversight framework which governs their functioning.

The Government has accepted the vast majority of the reviewers' recommendations, and the resulting Intelligence and Security Act 2017 represents the most significant reform of the intelligence agencies in New Zealand’s history.

Intelligence and Security Act 2017

The Act replaces:

• the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Act 1969
• the Government Communications Security Bureau Act 2003
• the Intelligence and Security Committee Act 1996
• the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1996.

It puts in place a single legislative regime for the NZSIS and GCSB, providing for a single purpose and shared objectives and functions.

The Act was designed and drafted with a view to ensuring it broadly empowers the intelligence and security agencies to act as necessary to protect New Zealand and New Zealand interests, with appropriate limitations built into the empowering provisions and strong, world-leading oversight applying across all of the agencies’ activities.