This Amendment Paper amends the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill to remove the “agreement” of a foreign power from the grounds for conduct to be determined as “for or on behalf of a foreign power” in new section 78AAA(5).

It is unreasonable for whether any action was conducted “for or on behalf of a foreign power” to be determined on the basis of whether or not the action is undertaken with the agreement of the foreign power.

While the intention is likely to cover improper conduct undertaken with the coordinated agreement of the foreign power, there is a risk that where an official of a foreign Government expresses support for an action by a New Zealander, or even just ‘likes’ a social media post by a New Zealander, this may be deemed as “agreement”.

As proposed, this provision is dangerous for democracy, and therefore this Amendment Paper deletes the word “agreement”.