“The proposed Countering Foreign Interference bill includes wording that would seriously criminalise legitimate protest and limit rights to freedom of speech,” said Valerie Morse from Peace Action Wellington.

“The bill contains new criminal offences. The old saying that the ‘devil is in the detail’ is certainly true here.”

“What the bill says is that, if you commit even a minor offence and that provides a benefit to a foreign power, even unintentionally, you could be imprisoned for seven years. A ‘benefit’ is defined as: enhancing the political, economic, or military capability or influence of a foreign power. These are ridiculously broad and subjective measures.”

“An example is helpful to see how this could play out: A large group of peace activists stage a sit-in at the Minister of Foreign Affairs’s office to advocate for more aid to Ukraine. They are all subsequently arrested for disorderly behaviour, a very minor charge. The group is making the same demands as the Ukrainian government, and are thus likely to enhance the political influence of the Ukrainian government. Under this law, they could be prosecuted for providing a benefit to Ukraine, and along with disorderly behaviour charges, they could be imprisoned for up to seven years.”

“We know that the impact of this kind of legislation is to silence legitimate political activity. In particular this is likely to be the case where people are advocating for policies that are contrary to the position of the current government. It is a fundamental attack on our right to freedom of speech.”

“I believe that the broad wording is unintentional, but it is found throughout the proposed law. While we have indicated that we do not support the legislation in its entirety, there is an opportunity for the Select Committee to make critical changes so that it better reflects its actual intended purpose. It is our hope that they will remedy this through that process.”

We call upon everyone who is concerned about threats to our rights to make a submission by the closing date of 16 January.

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