Reporter: Alistar Kata. AUCKLAND: It’s no secret that NZ is spying on its Pacific neighbours. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager says intercepted communications from countries such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga and Vanuatu are captured as “full-take collection” by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) and passed onto the US National Security Agency. In an extended interview with journalist Selwyn Manning on the newly launched EveningReport.nz website, Hager says New Zealand’s position is “arrogant”. (ref. ER episode 1) He says the New Zealand move will prove bad for future relations with Pacific governments. “It’s those small countries, the ones were we don’t have a good excuse and we are just selling them out, where I think it’s going to be bad,” he says.
- Interviewees:
Investigative journalist Nicky Hager
Journalist and EveningReport editor Selwyn Manning
Pacific Studies Professor Steve Ratuva (Canterbury University)
Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, AUT University.
