NZ Council for Civil Liberties

thomas@nzccl.org.nz

Blog Posts / News

The Ombudsman’s reply

Yesterday, the Council wrote to the Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, to complain about the decision made in his name to close our complaint against the former Minister for Covid-19 Response. The Ombudsman has replied to the Council, apologising for the management of our complaint, re-opening the matter, and undertaking to conduct an investigation. The text of the Ombudsman’s reply is below. Keep reading “The Ombudsman’s reply”

Articles

Media release: Disappointment at Select Committee’s refusal to fix the Data and Statistics Bill

The deeply flawed Data and Statistics Bill has passed through the Governance and Administration Select Committee largely unchanged.  The Committee has fallen in line with the advice of Stats NZ and ignored the significant concerns raised by, amongst others, the Ombudsman, a former Government Statistician, and the NZ Council for Civil Liberties. Keep reading “Media release: Disappointment at Select Committee’s refusal to fix the Data and Statistics Bill”

Articles

Media release: Privacy Commissioner joins Ombudsman and former Government Statistician in criticising the Data and Statistics Bill

The NZ Council for Civil Liberties is pleased that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has reacted to public pressure and made a late submission highlighting problems with the Data and Statistics Bill. In doing so, the Privacy Commissioner joins the Ombudsman, and the former Government Statistician Len Cook, in highlighting serious flaws in the Bill. NZCCL and Mr Cook have both called for the entire Bill to be withdrawn, and the Ombudsman has called for part 5 of the Bill to be scrapped. Keep reading “Media release: Privacy Commissioner joins Ombudsman and former Government Statistician in criticising the Data and Statistics Bill”

Submissions

Supplementary Submission: Data and Statistics Bill

Our oral submission asked some important questions including "Where is the Privacy Impact Assessment?" and "Why is Statistics talking about the NZ govt 'warming up the public gradually' to further data sharing?" . The Committee asked us to put these points in a supplementary written submission. Keep reading “Supplementary Submission: Data and Statistics Bill”

Submissions

Submission: Data & Statistics Bill

The Council opposes the Data and Statistics Bill, which gives more power to the state, and takes it from the public. The bill increases government collection, use and sharing amongst itself of information about us, while weakening our rights both to privacy and to access information held by government agencies. Keep reading “Submission: Data & Statistics Bill”

Articles

Grant of Honorary Life Membership

The awarding of honorary life membership is a recognition of an individual’s support for civil liberties both through their own efforts and through their work with the Council. After a gap of some years we are pleased to award life memberships to three people who have all contributed generously of their time and effort to the cause of civil liberties in New Zealand. Keep reading “Grant of Honorary Life Membership”

Articles

Vaccine mandates and certificates vs our liberties and rights

From a civil liberties perspective, there’s a big difference between encouraging people to get vaccinated, and the state mandating that people have to do so in order to keep their jobs. In this article we first talk about some of the ethical frameworks that can be used to analyse the choices that need to be made. Then we look at the human rights issues - how the requirements will interact with the Bill of Rights Act and the Human Rights Act, as well as the privacy issues. Keep reading “Vaccine mandates and certificates vs our liberties and rights”

Blog Posts

Blog: Wide-ranging Content Regulation Review a threat to freedom of expression?

The government's Review of Content Regulation, in all its vast scope, is potentially the biggest threat to freedom of expression in New Zealand we've seen in years. I participated in the initial engagement sessions and came away concerned that the Department of Internal Affairs have bitten off far more than they can chew. Keep reading “Blog: Wide-ranging Content Regulation Review a threat to freedom of expression?”

Articles

Media release: Government secrecy on vaccination certificates is dangerous

The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties has today written to the Prime Minister expressing its deep concern about the secrecy surrounding the introduction of Covid-19 vaccination certificates. The Council has called for immediate publication of the information provided by the government to the events and hospitality sector, and the advice it has received from the Privacy Commissioner and officials who have looked at the human rights issues involved. Keep reading “Media release: Government secrecy on vaccination certificates is dangerous”