The New Zealand anti terror bill will not get support from the Green Party, which has been very vocal in calling it "anti-people." The party ruled out supporting the bill, despite some changes proposed by the John Key government in a bid to please the Labour Party.

The government also stated some key clauses will be amended before the bill is passed by parliament. But the Greens are not convinced. They describe the changes as "minor concessions to bad law." Greens are very unhappy at the most contentious measure in the bill—that of allowing the Security Intelligence Service, or SIS, to conduct surveillance without a warrant, even though now the period has now been reduced to 24 hours from the previous 48 hours, reports Yahoo News NZ.

The Green Party's security and intelligence spokesman Kennedy Graham said the SIS is still getting too much power. "Warrantless surveillance is warrantless surveillance, whether it is for 48 hours or 24 hours makes no substantive difference," Graham said. He called it back door illegal spying. He said the Greens will stay true to their principles and fight for New Zealanders' human rights. But the government says the bill is mainly to stop New Zealanders trying to join the Islamic State in the Middle East. The Green Party also echoed concerns about video surveillance. Now the minor change conceded by the government is to restrict the surveillance to foreign fighters and pulling back the sunset clause a year ahead to April 1, 2017.

Labour Satisfied

Reacting to the changes proposed in the bill, Labour leader Andrew Little said his party would vote for the bill when it comes up for second reading on Tuesday. Little said the Labour Party shared the government's perception about increased threat and the need for new measures to ensure that spy agencies are able to respond rapidly to terrorist threats.

It is now clear that the government is unlikely to get the support of all political parties for the anti-terror legislation. Though National and Labour have struck a deal to pass the bill, New Zealand First is also against it. Winston Peters of NZ First said his party had many reservations about the bill, according to Radio New Zealand.

Panel Suggests Curbs

Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade committee tabled its report in parliament and made some recommendations to water down the bill. The committee wanted a drastic pruning on the powers for surveillance without a warrant. The bill is expected to be passed on an urgent basis, possibly by Tuesday.