Ever wondered what actually happens within New Zealand’s security and intelligence agencies? Over the last three months, the New Zealand Centre for Public Law has shone a spotlight on this issue with its public officeholders’ lecture series “Spotlight on Security”, at Victoria’s Faculty of Law.

The first lunchtime lecture was held on 28 April, with Hon Sir Michael Cullen KNZM discussing the work of the Independent Review of Intelligence and Security.

The second lecture was held on 4 May with the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Cheryl Gwyn.

The third lunchtime lecture was held on 3 June with New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Director, Rebecca Kitteridge (video available to view here).

In the tradition of our public officeholders’ series, these lectures provided an opportunity to hear from the horse’s mouth how key figures in New Zealand security view their role.

This series wrapped up on 10 June with a panel discussion by critics and commentators on the topic New Zealand’s security apparatus: what should concern us most? The speakers were Thomas Beagle, NZ Council for Civil Liberties; Dr Paul Buchanan, geopolitical risk consultant; Nicky Hager, investigative journalist and Deborah Manning, lawyer.