Reaction
Government ministers, including Police Minister Annette King, asked MPs to remain calm about the issue as a police matter, and wait until details were exposed in the courts. Prime Minister Helen Clark, who was also the minister in charge of the Security Intelligence Service, at first distanced herself from the raids, and refused to comment on SIS involvement. Later, while the case was before the courts, she told media that those arrested "at the very least" had been training with firearms and napalm. National Party leader John Key told media he was briefed by SIS staff days before the raids occurred. The Māori Party condemned the move, with the MP for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell, criticising the police for putting a community in his electorate "under siege," referring to the roadblocks imposed on the town of Ruatoki. Co-leader Pita Sharples said the action has violated the trust that has been developing between Maori and Pakeha and sets race-relations back a hundred years. The Green Party has also been critical, with co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons saying the raids traumatised the local population. The party later joined protests in Auckland to pressure the government to withdraw the Terrorism Suppression Amendment and called for those arrested to be released on bail. MP Keith Locke told TVNZ that the party would continue to protest until those held in custody are released. In a press release New Zealand First, MP Ron Mark stated that the police should be congratulated, and suggested a link between criminal gangs and the "suspected terrorist groups." He called for the anti-terrorism laws to be expanded to "outlaw criminal organisations such as gangs once and for all". Aaron Loyd of the New Zealand Law Society pointed out that the legislation could already be used against gangs. The Workers Party released a statement condemning the raids as "state violence." Socialist Worker called for the "Terror Laws to be abolished.
Political commentators took different views on the raids, with intelligence agencies researcher and journalist Nicky Hager suggesting the raids may have been the result of the increased police and SIS staffing and resources aimed at anti-terrorism since 2001. (The raids and the surveillance preceding them cost $8 million to plan and execute.) Veteran activist John Minto criticised the police for the move, claiming that their actions provoked a "climate of fear and repression" while left-leaning commentator and blogger Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury, sided with the police, saying that in his dealings with the activist community he had become concerned with the actions of "some clowns." The Herald was criticised for publishing these comments which did not mention who the "clowns" were or name the blog site Bradbury claimed to have communicated with them on. New Zealand Herald columnist Matt McCarten saw the raids as being over the top; "Some of the young people I know who were arrested are actually vegans who don't even believe in killing animals, let alone human beings. When you get the police searching homes of environmental activists trying to save snails on the West Coast, you know that things have got really silly." McCarten also stated that New Zealanders should be more worried about the country joining the US database of terrorist suspects, and "the creeping powers of our secret police." However the 'From the left' columnist for the Dominion Post, Chris Trotter reacted differently, saying "it wasn't the actions of the police that provoked my fury, but of those who'd forced their hand." When left-wing musician Don Franks wrote a protest song about the raids, "Safer Communities Together Blues" he took a swipe at Trotters reaction with the lyrics "The political climate's getting hotter / Got to watch out for the pigs and the pigs' Trotter."
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, which represented over 350,000 workers, called for the repeal of the Suppression of Terrorism Act. CTU President Helen Kelly commented "the use of this law is unhelpful and is having the effect of making all political groups nervous about how this law is being and could be used." Civil Liberties group Who's Watching You called the raids "a despicable show of force by the coercive arm of the state" and said that "The extensive use of surveillance to allegedly gather information is another telling example of the Government and police force’s willingness to disregard the people of Aotearoa." Canterbury University academic and social justice campaigner David Small told bFM that the raids were draconian and probably illegal. Former inspector in charge of the Auckland police criminal intelligence Ross Meurant called the raids "extreme and excessive" and claimed the police were guilty of "self-hype and self-justification." An independent survey taken in early November showed 48% of people wanted to wait and see what evidence the police had before they made a judgment on the raids, while 36% said they were already satisfied with the way the police reacted and 13% thought the police overreacted. The statistics were much different among Māori, with 40% of Māori saying the police had overreacted. The sample size was 750 people.
Read more about this topic: 2007 New Zealand Anti-terror Raids
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