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”

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 NZCCL and Mr Cook have both called for the entire Bill to be withdrawn, and the Ombudsman has called for part 5 of the Bill to be scrapped.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”

Why does Aotearoa New Zealand want to replace our Statistics Act with a new law that greatly extends the power of the Government Statistician to collect, aggregate, and share data, all the while reducing oversight and ignoring any possible downsides? Keep reading “What’s wrong with the Data & Statistics Bill?”

On the eve of legislation to enable vaccination passes being rushed through Parliament under urgency, the Minister has said it … Keep reading “Media release: Disgraceful government secrecy on vaccination certificates as legislation rushed through”

Select Committee made a minor adjustment in response to our submission, was split on one of our concerns, and failed to mention the third. Keep reading “Outcome of Maritime Powers Bill”

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”

Chairperson's report for 2021 discussing issues and events in New Zealand, and summarising the actions of the Council. Keep reading “Chairperson’s Report 2021”

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”

We are pleased to announce the launch of Aotearoa Justice Watch, a tool that will allow people to speak out about poor treatment they have experienced in Aotearoa's policing and justice systems. Keep reading “Launch: Aotearoa Justice Watch”

NZCCL Deputy Chairperson Andrew Ecclestone has an opinion piece published in Stuff discussing the government's lack of openness around the upcoming implementation of vaccination certificates. Keep reading “Vaccination certificates raise questions of privacy and trust”

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”

The NZ Council for Civil Liberties is deeply concerned about the government's plans to introduce Covid-19 vaccination certificates and mandate their use for access to certain events and venues. This is a major imposition on civil liberties and takes our country in a new direction; as such it should be done carefully and with adequate protections for civil liberties.

While we understand the government's need to move at speed, we still expect that any such moves should be taken after as much consultation with the public, civil society groups, and Māori groups as possible. This is not happening and the government has been refusing requests for information about their plans.

We have written to the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins to express our concerns and request this information. The text of that letter follows: Keep reading “Letter to PM and Minister re vaccination certificates”

The latest development is that the government has issued a new Public Health Order that tightens up the requirements and enforcement around both mask-wearing and record-keeping for the purpose of contact-tracing. Keep reading “Mandatory mask-wearing and record-keeping”

Video from our Facial Recognition and Human Rights panel discussion on 2021/02/23 featuring:

• Dr Marcin Betkier, Law lecturer, co-author of

… Keep reading “Video: Facial Recognition and Human Rights”

The New Zealand Government should not be helping Facebook to spy on New Zealanders. Yet by including Facebook supplied tracking … Keep reading “Media release: NZ Government enabling Facebook spying on New Zealanders”

NZCCL chairperson Thomas Beagle was a panellist with David Hood on the Pulse of a Nation session at the New … Keep reading “Video: Pulse of a Nation at New Echo Systems”