The Government is strengthening laws aimed at stopping people who pose a threat to national security from committing terrorist attacks.
Wednesday's changes come in the wake of last year's LynnMall terror attack and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.
In a statement on Wednesday, Justice Minister Kiri Allan said the changes would strengthen the Control Orders Act and "expand the criteria for high-risk individuals who can be covered by the restrictions". This would limit people who pose a threat from carrying out an attack, Allan said.
"Following the terror attack in the LynnMall supermarket last year, where the individual responsible was known to be a threat to New Zealand's security, Cabinet sought a review on how the control order regime could be strengthened," she said. "While no law can ever stop a motivated terrorist from undertaking an attack, these changes will go a long way in preventing, disrupting and limiting their ability to do so."
Changes agreed by the Government include:
- Expand the eligibility criteria for those who can be covered by a control order to include if the person has received a conviction for objectionable publications that promote torture, extreme violence, or cruelty. This is in addition to the current criteria, which includes a conviction for objectionable publications that promote terrorism
- Expand the eligibility criteria to include people sentenced to home detention and community-based sentences (currently it is limited to sentences of imprisonment) and allow sentence conditions and control orders to exist concurrently for these offenders, to ensure a consistent approach to risk management
- Allow for greater judicial discretion when setting control order restrictions, to ensure they can be more closely tailored to risk
- Provide in more detail requirements of the following kinds: a requirement that the relevant person reside at and remain at a specified address and electronic monitoring requirements
- Make name suppression requirements more flexible so that an appropriate balance can be struck between preventing the glorification of terrorism activity and reassuring the public that a known terrorism risk is being appropriately managed.
The LynnMall attacker, a Sri Lankan national officials had been trying to deport for years, carried out an "ISIS-inspired" attack with a knife on shoppers at a Countdown supermarket in September last year.
It was later revealed the terrorist hadn't been deported because he was appealing the cancellation of his refugee status and was likely to be considered a "protected person".
Allan noted the Government was also working to strengthen the terrorist designations scheme.
She said it would amend the Terrorism Suppression Act so an imprisoned, designated terrorist entity:
- Cannot apply for revocation of the designation on the grounds that the entity is no longer involved in any way in the carrying out of terrorist acts
- Expiry of the designation would be paused and the designation remains in place while the person is imprisoned
- The Prime Minister will be required to review the designation every three years to determine whether it remains justified.
"Now, as the terrorism landscape has evolved, our laws need to also," Allan said.
She said the changes would make it clear "we will continue to push back to disrupt any designated individuals and groups to cause in our communities and against anyone who may attempt to support and glorify their acts".
"These amendments provide appropriate safeguards to ensure the designation scheme is effective in addressing the threat of further terrorist acts."
The proposed changes to the Terrorism Suppression Act were in line with recommendations made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attack on two Christchurch mosques in 2019, Allan said.
She said the Christchurch and LynnMall terror attacks "serve as a continuous reminder of the devastating consequences to individuals and communities from any terrorist attack".
"These are important amendments as we look to keep Aotearoa New Zealand as safe as possible."
