Keith’s sister Maire Leadbeater is launching her book The Enemy Within: the Human Cost of State Surveillance in Aotearoa New Zealand in November 2024, following Keith’s death in June.
Published by Potton and Burton, the book outlines the history of state surveillance in Aotearoa over the last 100 years, with a particular focus on how it has been used to penalise activists working for social change. It makes the case that the major intelligence agencies (NZSIS and GCSB) do not work in our interest.
Of the part Keith played in the writing process, Maire says “my 2024 book owes much to the contributions of my brother Keith Locke. He not only assisted me with research, he read every word before I submitted to the publisher, and helped me to recraft and perfect my central argument.”
One of the most important chapters in the book tells Keith’s personal surveillance story. This chapter concludes:
“Half a century of intrusive surveillance and not one conviction to show for it. Conversely, Keith’s unceasing efforts as an activist and as a parliamentarian to curb the unaccountable powers of the security agencies met with some success. He was influential in ensuring that security and intelligence legislation is subject to vigorous challenge, and as a result some laws have been modified. Inquiries were held and the SIS’s egregious behaviour towards Ahmed Zaoui and many other individuals was exposed. In 2021 Keith received an Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to human rights advocacy. Did this mean he was now accepted by the establishment that had for so long regarded him as a threat?”
The book is dedicated to his memory.
Media commentary: