English and Key face attack over Dotcom

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English and Key face attack over Dotcom

3News NZ

Prime Minister John Key (left) and Bill English will face questions from the Opposition today (Photo: Jared Mason)

Prime Minister John Key (left) and Bill English will face questions from the Opposition today (Photo: Jared Mason)

More details about the Kim Dotcom spy saga are expected come out when he appears in the Auckland High Court today.

The Government's intelligence agency the Government Security Communications Bureau (GCSB) is facing an inquiry over illegal spying on Dotcom who is facing extradition over alleged internet piracy and money laundering.

The GCSB is not allowed to spy on New Zealand residents without permission, but a Crown law memo shows police wrongly told them Dotcom was not a resident.

Yesterday it was revealed Deputy Prime Minister Bill English knew about the operation before Prime Minister John Key, but didn't pass on the information.

Mr English isn't commenting on the development, saying he wouldn't want to give the sense he can recall details that he can't.

Mr Key is now urging opposition parties to wait for the inquiry report on the GCSB's illegal spying on Dotcom before accusing the Government of incompetence, but they're in no mood to wait for answers.

Labour, the Greens and NZ First think they've got the Government on the ropes and they're going to launch another attack in Parliament today.

They want to know why Mr English last month signed a suppression order to keep the spying secret but only told Mr Key on Monday night.

"Wait for the report before jumping to conclusions," Mr Key told Parliament yesterday as he fended off a torrent of questions about the GCSB's actions.

Mr Key expects to have the report by Friday.

The opposition parties also want to know how the GCSB could have believed Dotcom was a foreign national when it spied on him in December and January, although he threw a $500,000 fireworks party in November 2010 to celebrate gaining residency.

Only the Security Intelligence Service is allowed to spy on New Zealand citizens and residents, and it needs a ministerial warrant to do that.

"There is incredible incompetence at the highest level of Government," Labour leader David Shearer said.

NZ First leader Winston Peters says the working relationship between Mr Key and Mr English is "woefully dysfunctional... This is evidence of a complete breakdown in communications".

NZN / 3 News

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Comments

27/09/2012 11:17:05 a.m.

Carlos wrote:

Amazing that the crap opposition, are wasting parliament time on this german. If he has not broken any laws, he will have no problem visiting the US Embassy in Wellington ?

27/09/2012 9:10:51 a.m.

cato wrote:

I have a comment to make!
Oops, can't remember what it was!!

26/09/2012 9:02:15 p.m.

Chargone wrote:

ehh, the conservatives wouldn't be terrible as part of a coalition with... not National. also: incompetence assumes it wasn't deliberate or intentional. still, i'd love to know how national still exists as a viable political party. this isn't the first time they've done incredibly stupid things. (Jenny SHiply's coup, muldoon's government near the end, the current idiots...) seriously, the only reason they haven't fallen long ago is because the only Other right wing parties were Worse. at this point, depending on your ideology, if you want something to actually Change (and not just for the worse) you need to vote Green, NZ First, and/or Conservative. (last i looked, they All had better ideas, economically speaking, than Labour or National. though they each only had part of it... if you want a government that's actually going to Improve things rather than sabotage everything you probably want a coalition of all three... much as that seems really unlikely to work from some angles, if they can agree to just Not Change the stuff they can't find an agreement on (rather than trading doing one stupid thing for one lot in exchange for doing another stupid thing for the other lot) just getting the stuff they Can agree on done would be a huge improvement.)

26/09/2012 7:33:46 p.m.

Ken Taylor wrote:

My worst fear is that when the next election rolls around,the N.Z public will have forgotten this

26/09/2012 1:22:56 p.m.

Lisa wrote:

I think we are watching someones career end.

26/09/2012 12:51:32 p.m.

David wrote:

@Ricardo... nothing surpases this... and I dont care who gets in as a replacement (except Act or the Conservatives)... it has to be better than Bennett, Colins, English, Key and company.. even a retarded monkey could do better than these clowns. Bennett has already broken the Law... Nick Smith practices Cronyism... granted definitely not uncommon in National. Colins was Minister of Police when thei all happened, and she continues to refuse to face up and take responsibility for the continued errors in ACC. This government is a practicle joke.. preaching responsibilty but taking absolutely none.

26/09/2012 12:45:31 p.m.

Just Me wrote:

Can Kim Dotcom please create a new political party and run for PM of NZ in 2014?Of late he and his associates seem to have more maturity,caring and appreciation of NZ(and NZers)than the current batch of politicians running amok in the NZ parliament.This lot(the National government)seem all too eager to spend and waste taxpayers money willy nilly whereas Dotcom cares about the country and not interested in compensation for all the illegal activities this government agreed to.

26/09/2012 12:02:21 p.m.

Daryll E Mac Alpine wrote:

Utterly amateurish & embarrassing behaviour from our top 2 in the government not to mention the incompetentcy shown by our top spy bureau.

26/09/2012 11:04:22 a.m.

Ricardo wrote:

David, sadly it wouldn't matter who was in power, the US pulls the strings and leaves the local pollies in all countries as the fallguys when it all comes out. Cast your mind back to Labour's faux pas...nothing changes. If Dotcom didn't have clout and dollars we would never have known any of this.

26/09/2012 10:42:30 a.m.

dennis wrote:

Subpoena Judith Collins, Kim (the Applicant under EA1999), or whomever was sitting in her seat on the day the formal extradition request was filed, plus the ning-nong that was sitting in her seat at the time of the application for a provisional arrest warrant, oh and don't forget Simon Power if he's not too busy counting money