The Government has agreed to demands from opposition parties and will send the covert surveillance bill to a select committee, Prime Minister John Key says.
But that might not be enough to ensure their support for it, and Mr Key said Attorney-General Chris Finlayson was still working through contentious issues.
The bill has been drafted to sidestep a Supreme Court ruling that covert video surveillance evidence was inadmissible inthe Urewera case and that led to the suspension of 50 police operations.
Mr Finlayson wanted to push the bill through under urgency, without sending it to a select committee where expert opinions on it could be heard, but opposition parties refused to accept that.
He needs at least 62 votes to pass the bill and so far has 59, with Labour and ACT the only ones still open to negotiation because the other three have rejected the bill.
"We're working on it," Mr Key said on NewstalkZB on Monday.
"We're making progress, and my advice is that it will go to a select committee."
ACT's five votes would give the Government a bare majority in the 122-seat parliament, while Labour's 42 would deliver strong support.
But Labour has problems with the bill apart from the select committee issue, and says it gives police stronger powers than they had before the court ruling.
Mr Finlayson disputes that and says he is simply restoring the situation to what it was before the ruling.
ACT says its support depends on what shape the bill is in when it comes out of the select committee, which has the power to change its provisions.
The Government intends introducing the bill when Parliament sits on Tuesday.
NZN