New Zealand taxpayers are shelling out $103 million a year as a "membership fee" for the country's intelligence agencies to the Five Eyes network whose members include the U.S., the UK, Canada and Australia. According to reports, the taxpayers' money funds spy agents to perform some "niche" tasks and employ the services of New Zealand's other partners for the rest. The declassified "Murdoch Report" from 2009 has recently been made public at the request of the New Zealand Herald under the Official Information Act.

The report contained a review of New Zealand's spy agencies after 9/11 when intelligence-sharing operations with the U.S. were reformed. Since the 9/11 event, the intelligence community in the country had grown in numbers in terms of staff. Funding has reportedly tripled to $103 million. According to the report, the funds should be viewed as an annual "subscription" paid by New Zealand to be part of the Five Eyes network. The country's contribution is considered small in comparison to the funds international partners put in.

The Murdoch Report said New Zealand had to play the role of a niche contributor but with "high quality competencies." It revealed New Zealand's various security challenges such as cyber threats to IT infrastructure, domestic or imported Islamic radicalisation and the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

The New Zealand Herald said the report it received had large sections blanked out, especially on the nature of relationships between the members of the Five Eyes network. The intelligence agencies were vague on the specific contribution New Zealand makes to the network. Previous reports had speculated the country is being used for its good position on the planet for satellite intercept missions. Other sources like previously released Edward Snowden documents had said New Zealand acts as a staging point for electronic surveillance on nations less friendly to the U.S. or the UK.

The Murdoch Report suggested there is a need for a complete restructuring of the intelligence community since it is a collection of agencies that had grown over the years without planning. The declassified report also mentioned the lack of formal links between agency heads with only a monthly "working lunch" to share the agencies' issues and views, but these had stopped late 2008 because the agencies got "too busy."