Terror attack report out ‘by Christmas’
The findings of the Royal Commission into the March 15 terror attack are expected to be released by the Government before Christmas.
The Royal Commission will hand its report to the internal affairs minister tomorrow, after more than 18 months of investigating what state organisations, including police and the spy agencies, knew about the terrorist and could have done to prevent the attack.
The terrorist, a 29-year-old Australian national, was sentenced to life without parole in August for the killing of 51 people, the attempted murder of 40, and for committing a terrorist act. The massacre took place at two Christchurch mosques on March 15, last year.
Under the Inquiries Act, Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti must table the report in the House ‘‘as soon as practicable’’, making it public. She expected that would be before Christmas, but the report was likely to be ‘‘quite lengthy’’.
Tinetti said it was an emotional time for the families affected by the terror attack, and it was important that theministers involved had the time to work through the response, because the processes had to be right.
The Royal Commission, headed by Supreme Court Judge Sir Robert Young and former diplomat Jacqui Caine, issued a statement last week saying it had completed its inquiry after nearly 400 meetings and interviews.
The inquiry interviewed and met families of the victims, survivors and witnesses of the attack, officials, academics, and international experts.
Those interviewed included Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister John Key, minister responsible for the intelligence agencies Andrew Little, and the former intelligence agencies minister Chris Finlayson.
The inquiry also interviewed the director-general of the Security Intelligence Service, Rebecca Kitteridge, the former chief executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Andrew Kibblewhite, and police’s national manager of national security, Greg Nicholls.
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, journalist Nicky Hager, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, the Human Rights Commission, and telecommunications company Spark also met with the inquiry. Those interviewed were subject to confidentiality orders, preventing them from speaking about the inquiry.