The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the white supremacist atrocity has been announced and the questions that are being asked are the right ones, and they will be hard ones.
Beyond the how, what, where and who are the most important why…
• What relevant state sector agencies knew about him and his activities before this attack; what actions, if any, they took in light of that knowledge; and whether there were any additional measures the agencies could have taken to prevent the attack
• Whether there were any impediments to relevant state sector agencies gathering or sharing information relevant to the attack, or acting upon such information, including legislative impediments
• Whether there was any inappropriate concentration or priority setting of counter-terrorism resources by relevant state sector agencies prior to the attack.
…we know the Police were contacted directly about him, we know the Muslim Community was complaining about growing violence, we know the intelligence agencies were falsely focused on Muslims and activists.
The Intelligence Agencies will cry out for more funding and more powers, that should be resisted, they have the money and the powers right now, they’ve had them focused on the wrong threats.
This Inquiry may well be the most important examination of domestic intelligence ever conducted and it will be overseen by a Government who have clearly shown they will take direct action for change.
Good work ‘agent Bradley’.
The intelligence industry will be very uncomfortable at being cross examined like this.
Good to see the intelligence under the spotlight as they were getting to comfortable gate-crashing ‘peaceful folks like you, Nicky Hagar and several other peace loving folks.
I can already write their report now, I think the Commission will come to conclusions that can be drawn already. The remainder will be what the Police will present at the trial, as evidence.
This is another grandiose exercise, and the outcome will be somewhat predictable.
But it sounds and looks good.
Any chance of an enquiry into what we might possibly do in the nearish future about that existential threat that’s hanging around. That one referred to as our nuclear-free moment.
Shaw’s latest utterings indicate that NZ’s GHG emissions will continue to rise into the mid-2030s. Maybe a little enquiry into whether or not that’s actually going to help us avert the major impacts might be sensible?
“….we know the intelligence agencies were falsely focused on Muslims…..”
Er….no, actually. Several years ago, at the height of ISIS’ depredations in the ME, along with extremist Muslim attacks in Europe and elsewhere, intelligence agencies here would have been derelict in their duty not to have been keeping an eye out for evidence of extremism having taken root in this country. And they’d ignore this issue at our peril right now; after grief comes anger and the risks of retaliation. I don’t doubt that they’re aware of this.
We all need to remember: for all that he acquired his weapons in NZ, the fellow who shot up the mosques is Australian, and appears thus far to have had no connections to such white supremacist groups as may exist in NZ.
While – as those of us who’ve lived in ChCh in the past can attest – there has for many years been an undercurrent of white supremacy in that city, it has been largely subterranean in recent times. Some commentators assert that the earthquakes were the death knell of the ChCh movement, such as it was at the time. I’m sure that the intel agencies would be aware of that as well.
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