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RNZ News
9 minutes ago
- RNZ News
NZ facing toughest national security environment of recent times
Director-general of security Andrew Hampton. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins The intelligence service warns threats to national security need to be taken much more seriously than they currently are. The Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has released its third annual Security Threat Environment report, containing its assessments of violent extremism , foreign interference , and espionage in New Zealand. The report said New Zealand was facing the most challenging national security environment of recent times, with foreign interference, espionage, and online radicalisation all highlighted as threats. Much of the report contained similar analysis and threats to the two previously released reports, though the NZSIS noted further deterioration since last year's report. This was largely driven by less stable relationships between states, and increasing levels of polarisation and grievance, the agency said. Commenting on the report, director-general of security Andrew Hampton said the deteriorating environment had a direct impact on safety and security. "Increasing levels of polarisation and grievance are driving support for violent extremist ideologies and foreign states are more willing to target New Zealand organisations and communities in order to achieve their aims," he said. "We are seeing active cases of young and vulnerable people being radicalised online, there are foreign states seeking to interfere with our democratic rights, and there is almost certainly undetected espionage activity targeting valuable intellectual property crucial to our future prosperity." The "downward trajectory" of relationships between foreign states becoming less stable and less predictable was continuing. It meant some were wanting to gain more influence, power, and strategic advantage. The relationship between the United States and China was cited, as well as Russia's willingness to assert its influence in Europe. The conflict in the Middle East would also have an enduring impact. The report highlighted the strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, saying China had demonstrated a "willingness and capability" to undertake intelligence activity targeting New Zealand's national interests, in bids to extend and embed influence across the region. The NZSIS said several states were responsible for foreign interference activities, including transnational repression designed to target diaspora communities. Foreign states had also attempted to exploit people inside the public and private sectors to gain influence. A Pacific Regional and National Security Conference panel on transnational crime and national security last month. Photo: Facebook / Pacific Security College Over the last eighteen monthths, the NZSIS had seen an increase in foreign interference actors visiting New Zealand. The report said these foreign delegations were tasked with building relationships with specific parts of society, often by seeking an invitation from a New Zealand organisation to host them. "On the surface, few organisations will sense any issue but many will not know the delegation's link to foreign interference entities. Members of these delegations will conceal these links so our communities and organisations are unable to assess the risk involved in the engagement," the report said. They have also arranged travel for representatives of New Zealand organisations to build long-term influence. The trips would often include business deals or photo-ops with foreign officials, which were then used by the foreign state to promote a perception of close ties and political support from influential New Zealanders. "This can have an alienating effect on repressed communities back in New Zealand experiencing transnational repression activity from the foreign state." The NZSIS observed diaspora groups were being targeted, with foreign interference groups seeking to co-opt or replace leaders and then sideline anyone deemed to be a challenge to the state's agenda. Certain religions, ethnicities, rainbow communities, and pro-democracy movements were also targeted. While foreign states often flagged legitimate violent extremist concerns with the NZSIS, some states were accusing New Zealand-based groups of being extremists or terrorists when they were not. "The NZSIS is extremely cautious about this deliberate labelling tactic, as it is used to stigmatise particular groups and to justify repressive activity against them." While the report said China was not the only foreign state carrying out activity of concern, it would not specifically name those other foreign states. A Chinese warship operates north east of Australia in February. Photo: AFP / Australian Defence Force The assessement said the most plausible violent extremist scenario remained a lone actor who had been radicalised online. While no one ideology stood out to the service as presenting a greater threat than any other, grievances and polarising issues online were driving support for those ideologies. Young and more vulnerable people were seen as being particularly at risk of becoming radicalised, with ease of access being a key contributor to the cases brought to NZSIS' attention. "Individuals who hold mixed, unstable or unclear ideologies are especially vulnerable to being radicalised online. The NZSIS has identified a number of people who appear to explore a range of violent extremist beliefs online and adopt certain aspects to suit their grievance," the report said. Violent extremist content was easy to find, and frequently shared in anonymous online networks hosting groups contributing to the radicalisation of people both in New Zealand and around the world. "What might have previously been considered societal risks associated with internet safety, now have the potential to pose an ongoing risk to New Zealand's national security." Artificial intelligence had emerged as a way of facilitating violent extremism and state-sponsored interference activities. "AI is making harmful propaganda appear more authentic and allows it to be spread at scale and speed," the report said. "The ease of access to AI will be assisting violent extremists to research and plan attacks and is reducing barriers that previously made it difficult to access information about more advanced capabilities or weapons." Five Eyes intelligence alliance leaders at a technology summit in California, in 2023. Photo: supplied Throughout the report, the NZSIS provided case studies and security advice, with the agency warning it could not automatically pick up on all concerning activities. In mitigating foreign interference, it suggested steps such as researching someone online before agreeing to meet them, or determining whether their interest had become suspicious or persistent. Considering the opportunities and risks of hosting a foreign delegation was also suggested. "We are not all-seeing and all-knowing, and in a democratic society like ours nor should we be. In many cases the public will notice a threat before we do," Hampton said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
9 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Rate capping lessons and warnings from across the Tasman
Photo: Reece Baker A move to cap council rates in the style of Australia could punish the councils that have worked hardest to keep their rates low. That's the warning from experts in Victoria as local government minister Simon Watts works on a plan to tackle soaring rate rises here. Rate capping, or pegging, has been in force in New South Wales and Victoria for several years and is loosely based on the rate of inflation or the consumer price index. Victoria's rate cap this year is set at three percent, while NSW has a wider range from 3.6 percent to 5.1 percent. In both states councils can apply for higher caps but the process is complicated and deeply controversial with ratepayers. Watts is looking closely at the Australian model as a way to control runaway, double-digit increases, but Victoria Municipal Authority president Jennifer Anderson said an across-the-board cap could damage councils that had kept rate increases down and reward those that had imposed hefty increases. "Rate capping is here to stay. It does offer a sense of security to the community," Anderson said. It was brought in 10 years ago after outcry from ratepayers over years of big rate rises. "The difficulty was the base from which you've taken it will vary from different councils. "So there may have been councils that were working off a low base because they hadn't put their rates up very much, versus some councils that may have had higher rates to begin with and more reserves when they brought it [rate capping] in," she said. It has meant that many smaller councils are now seriously underfunded because they had less money to start with. Anderson said pegging it to the CPI or rate of inflation was also problematic. "The difficulty for councils is we're not like a home base where it's a shopping basket of the cost of bread and eggs and milk. "We've got many other costs that aren't based on CPI." Local body journalist Michael Giles agreed that ratepayers had embraced Victoria's Fair Go Rates scheme but there were unfair elements of it that the New Zealand government should be aware of. "These [New Zealand] councils that are increasing by 15 percent, that'll be locked in, so that any increases in following years of two and three percent, that just goes on top of those hefty increases that those local councils have brought in at the time," he said. Giles, the publisher of the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times in Wonthaggi, has covered local government for 40 years and said his capped rates bill did not cover everything. He also has to pay a waste levy and an emergency services levy. That differs from the NSW rate peg formula which includes the emergency services levy and takes into account population growth in the council area. Councils that have applied for variations on the caps or pegs have faced angry revolts from residents, including one Sydney authority where ratepayers rallied over an attempt to raise its rates by 40 percent over three years and another that voted to raise them by 87 percent over two years. Anderson said in Victoria the rules had also made it too difficult for councils to apply for variations to the cap. "The mechanism through which it has been delivered and the difficulties that councils face when they need to apply for variation, there are things that could be approved there to make it a more workable system that the community can understand and it makes the councils more financially sustainable to provide the services that the communities expect them to provide." She said many councils in a funding crunch were starting to cancel services, such as aged care. After 10 years of rate capping in Victoria, Giles said councils and ratepayers would start to feel the cumulative effect of lower rates incomes. "I think we're coming to a squeeze point," he said. "The sorts of things communities want to see - sports facilities, swimming pools, other increases in lifestyle infrastructure - these things are getting further and further away from local councils to deliver because of that cost squeeze." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
The Panel with Ali Jones and Simon Pound Part 1
Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Ali Jones and Simon Pound. First up, thousands of secondary school teachers walked off the job today in a dispute over pay. The Panel talks to Paul Stevens, a teacher at Auckland's Rangitoto College and a PPTA representative. Then they hear from independant Cameron Bagrie about the Reserve Banks decision to whack 25 points off the OCR - what does it mean for mortgage holders looking to refix? To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
