Labour votes for Surveillance State. NZ First Opposes!

A few weeks before the election, the New Zealand Labour Party decided to cash in on simmering popular discontent with the state of the surveillance state that National's set up. Never mind their own previous and well-publicized brushes with egregious state-surveillance ... they wanted people to know that in 2015, under a Labour Government, there'd be a full-scale and sweeping inquiry into our intelligence services, as well as the guaranteed repeal of several key bits of surveillance legislation that are open to perceived misuse and abuse.

It's all right here in this image, posted four days before the Election.

I guess it's a bit of a pity that the Labour Party's just voted in favour of the National-led government's "foreign fighters" bill, then...

Fortunately, there were two Opposition parties prepared to front-up and represent the interests of ordinary New Zealanders by voting against this bill. Guess who :D #BlackGreen2017

And while Winston's Godwinning of Parliament yesterday became a *little* overblown by declaring the "dogs of Naziism" would be let loose into peoples' homes with the passage of this legislation ... considering the very prescient point made elsewhere about the last big foreign Cause Celebre conflict which volunteers from Western countries found themselves swept up in [the Spanish Civil War] - perhaps he's quite right to draw our attention to the fact that once upon a time, the guys going off to fight in international brigades weren't regarded *quite* so perniciously.

Anyway. Full praise to New Zealand First for doing the principled left-wing thing and voting AGAINST this legislation.

Unlike Andrew Little, who says things are "appalling" ... and then votes for them anyway.

Full credit to Art for bringing this to my attention.