Legislation reforming the laws that New Zealand's spy agencies operate under is a step closer to making its way into the country's law books.

The Government has comfortably had the numbers to pass its Intelligence and Security Bill through its second reading in Parliament, 106 votes to 14, with only the Green Party opposing the Bill.

Green MP Kennedy Graham said while terrorism has become a fact of contemporary global life, its perception is distorted among Western governments.

"We know about the threat of terrorism, but there are different, more effective and more insightful ways of plying this trade than what we have before us.

"We shall be continuing to oppose the bill," he said.

The legislation, when passed into law, will have a single Act governing both the SIS and GCSB, as opposed to the two Acts they currently operate under.

It also creates a new regime for SIS and GCSB surveillance warrants and increases oversight of both agencies.

Parliament will resume debate on the legislation next week.

Meanwhile, a further broadening of the membership of the statutory committee overseeing the SIS and GCSB looks unlikely. Both Labour and the Greens are pushing for the move.

But the Minister for the SIS and GCSB, Chris Finlayson, is satisfied with the current provisions that increase the size of the committee from five to seven members, and prefers that membership be a matter for the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition to determine.

"It's up to the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister each to nominate a certain number of members of parliament to the committee, and in my opinion I don't think the bill should be any more prescriptive than this."