Terrorist’s interview stays secret
The Christchurch mosque terrorist’s interview with the royal commission will not be made public.
Confirmation of a permanent non-publication order was included in a minute issued by the commission yesterday. The minute, written by commissioners Sir William Young and Jacqui
Caine, said the interview contained planning and preparation methods, and acknowledgements from the terrorist about what he saw as ‘‘mistakes’’.
The pair said releasing the interview and a transcript would be contrary to national security interests and could enable future attacks, and the terrorist speaking of his perceived mistakes could be seen as advice to others.
The interview contained some of the terrorist’s motives for the attack, but the commissioners said disclosure of those could ‘‘provide a platform for the dissemination of his views’’.
The 792-page royal commission report, which is hoped to be made public before Christmas, contained some details of the terrorist’s planning and preparation, ‘‘without disclosing matters that would be contrary to the public interest’’, the commissioners said.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that the report has been presented to Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, paving the way for it to soon be publicly released. The commission’s delivery of the report had been delayed by almost a year.
The commission looked at what state organisations, including police and spy agencies, knew about the terrorist and what they could have done to prevent the attack. The report has been written so that it can be made available to the public in full without redactions.
The commission held more than 400 meetings and interviews, and analysed 73,500 pages of evidence and submissions, during its 18-month investigation.
Young urged the Government to consider the report’s findings and act on its recommendations.
The commission also produced four sub-reports, one of which outlines proposed legislative changes to New Zealand’s hate speech laws. The other three include what survivors and their families said.