New Zealand's Labour leader, David Cunliffe hit out at Prime Minister (PM) John Key for misleading the parliament and public on the rationale for amending New Zealand's spy laws, last year.

Cunliffe, the PM candidate of Labour Party, demanded answers from the Prime Minister, about the disclosures of whistleblower Edward Snowden that New Zealanders are under mass surveillance. Snowden had claimed that the U.S. National Security Agency's mass surveillance tool XKEYSCORE was shared with New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

The Yahoo News report quoted Cunliffe asking Mr. Key to explain why he and other Labour leaders were never briefed on XKEYSCORE. He pointed out that details of another secret project called Speargun is also out. It was about purported snooping of the undersea Southern Cross communications cable connecting New Zealand and the rest of the world

To Review Intelligence

Cunliffe alleged that Key "misled the public and parliament about the full background to that law change" and expressed concern at Snowden's disclosure that NSA facilities are active in New Zealand. He said Labour Party would conduct a full scale review of New Zealand's intelligence agencies, if it forms the next government.

But PM John Key had rejected Snowden's claims as rhetoric and said there has never been any mass surveillance on New Zealanders.

Change of Law

The allegation is that the change of laws in 2013 had authorised the GCSB to spy upon New Zealanders on behalf of the SIS and police. But John Key denied this. Cunliffe said he never heard about a plan to tap the cable before and questioned why the information was withheld from the Parliament, when the new law was introduced.

Meanwhile, American journalist Greenwald who took on Prime Minister John Key said "significant" disclosures are yet to come. He said a part of the new reporting will identify the other nations on which GCSB was spying, either for its own benefit or at the behest of the United States. Documents released by Snowden in the past had put Australia on the defensive for having snooped on Indonesia president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his government officials, reported Stuff.Co.Nz