A High Court judge has today ruled on which documents police have to disclose to author Nicky Hager's lawyers relating to a raid on his Wellington home in October.
Nicky Hager launching 'Dirty Politics' at Unity Books in Wellington on Wednesday evening. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
The raid was part of the police investigation into the hacking of blogger Cameron Slater's computer.
Mr Hager has asked the High Court to review the issuing of the search warrant and the subsequent search.
Information from Cameron Slater's computer obtained by the hacker known as Rawshark was published in Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics, and Mr Slater filed a complaint with the police about the hacking.
Mr Hager has asked the High Court to declare that steps taken in issuing the warrant and searching his home were unlawful and for orders that his property be returned.
Justice Dobson has ordered that several documents should be released to Mr Hager's lawyers, including those relating to journalistic privilege claims by Mr Hager and those looking at whether the hacker could be identified from another source.
Mr Hager's lawyer, Felix Geiringer, said his client had challenged the issuing of the search warrant and the subsequent search.
"The police have failed to balance their interest in their investigation against the damage it's going to do, firstly to his ability to receive confidential informants of the kind of Mr Rawshark but also his ability to receive confidential informants of any kind and, more generally, the ability of any journalist in New Zealand to receive confidential informants."
The documents should show whether the police took all these things into account when they sought the warrant, Mr Geiringer said.
The case will be heard in March.