News that University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey has been spied on by the SIS, and that the SIS is now refusing to disclose what documents it holds has chilling implications for academic freedom according to Dr Kelsey.

“My experience since applying for my SIS file last November reveals two things: there is still no accountability for SIS actions in gathering intelligence on lawful dissent; and the SIS is apparently targeting academic critics of failed free market policies at a time when debate is needed most.”

It appears to the TEU that one of the reasons that the SIS is withholding Kelsey’s file when it has released files for other people is that it may not want to reveal its surveillance techniques and activities – that is, that it could have been electronically spying on Professor Kelsey while she was going about her paid work as an academic.

The Education Act confers statutory protection on academic freedom, defined as the ‘freedom of academic staff and students, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas and to state controversial or unpopular opinions’, and a responsibility to act as ‘critic and conscience’ of society. Moreover, there is an obligation on all government agencies to preserve and enhance academic freedom.

Kelsey notes that the SIS has a history of spying on academics. The file of economist Wolfgang Rosenberg dates back 50 years, and includes comments he made in the common room and his applications for academic jobs. Recent files of other academics focus on lawful activities undertaken in the course of their employment as academics, such as giving lectures, or participating in conferences.

Kelsey says that the effect of the SIS maintaining files on academics fulfilling their employment and statutory responsibilities sends a message that they may be spied on simply for doing their job.