The government put Parliament under urgency and its covert surveillance bill was passed into law on a 105-14 vote.
Attorney-General
Chris Finlayson said the legislation was an example of Parliament
working together to solve a difficult problem in just three weeks, but
while Labour backed it there was fierce opposition from minor parties.
The bill sidesteps a Supreme Court ruling and restores police authority to carry out covert video surveillance.
The Maori Party, the Mana Party and the Greens voted against Thursday's bill.
"We cannot allow something which is unlawful to be made lawful," said the Maori Party's Rahui Katene.
"Where are our constitutional rights? We can't allow the police to continue in this way."
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira said it was "terrible legislation" and would be used to monitor and punish dissent.
The Green's Keith Locke said the fundamental issue was the protection of civil liberties.
"Keeping
the state out of people's bedrooms and offices does mean some guilty
people go free - it is the balance between the rights of the whole
population and the powers that are given to police," he said.
The
bill is a quick fix, a rapid response to the Supreme Court's September 2
ruling that much of the evidence in the Urewera case was gained
illegally.
That ruling led to police suspending about 50 current operations, and now they can switch their cameras back on.
Labour
wouldn't back the bill in its original form and a select committee
changed it so it isn't retrospective and won't affect pending court
cases.
It has a sunset clause and its authority expires in six months.
By
then the next Parliament will have passed the Search and Surveillance
Bill, an overhaul of the entire system which has been in the pipeline
for two years.
NZN