Simon Power

Wellington, Aug 4 NZPA - Police and other law enforcement agencies will be given the power to compel people to answer questions under a bill that passed its first reading in Parliament tonight.

Justice Minister Simon Power said the examination orders would be used to investigate serious fraud or organised crime cases and would have to be authorised by a judge unless they were used in emergencies.

The Search and Surveillance Bill also authorises officers to hack into computers and retrieve information they need for evidence.

Officers can also take forensic copies, or clones, of computer hard drives.

"Through this legislation the Government will provide the police and other law enforcement agencies with a more sophisticated set of tools to investigate drug offences, organised crime and other offending," Mr Power said.

"It takes into account current and future technologies. Law enforcement officers must not trail behind criminals in using modern technologies, they must be able to use the most advanced technologies available to tackle crime."

Mr Power said search and surveillance was always intrusive and the bill balanced law enforcement and human rights.

The bill is based on a Law Commission report presented in 2007 and also brings together police powers which are scattered through numerous statutes.

Mr Power said some of those statutes were up to 50 years old and search powers had developed in an ad hoc way.

The bill passed its first reading on a vote of 112 to nine.

The Green Party opposed it and MP Keith Locke said while he agreed with some of its provisions there was too much unjustified intrusion into the privacy of ordinary citizens.

"This undercuts a citizen's traditional right to silence outside of when a person is a witness in a courtroom," he said.

"Accessing computers also opens up serious privacy problems."

Mr Locke said police could go on "fishing expeditions" and even read emails.

"Basically, the problem we have is that the technology of surveillance is developing so fast that there is a greater and greater potential for the state to introduce on our privacy in the name of law enforcement."

The bill has been sent to the justice select committee for public submissions.