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New Zealand has experienced few terrorist incidents in its short history and the threat is generally regarded as very low. However, theSecurity Intelligence Service (SIS) has warned against complacency.[1] This article serves as a list and compilation of past acts of terrorism, attempts of terrorism, and other such items pertaining to terrorist activities within New Zealand. Significant acts of terrorism include thebombing of theRainbow Warrior in 1985, an act ofstate-sponsored terrorism by France, and theChristchurch mosque shootings in 2019, afar-right attack which resulted in 51 deaths and 40 injuries.
A commondefinition of terrorism is the "systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective."[2] There is no single definition that commands full international approval,[3] but unlike many other jurisdictions, New Zealand has actually defined terrorism in anAct of Parliament.
The major piece of terrorist-related legislation in New Zealand is theTerrorism Suppression Act 2002.[4] The Act was introduced by the Government to strengthen itscounter-terrorism powers, in response to theterrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States.[5]The Terrorism Suppression Act defines terrorism, in New Zealand or elsewhere, as an act that "is carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause"[4] and with the following intention:
Alternatively, instead of the listed outcomes, "it occurs in a situation of armed conflict and is, at the time and in the place that it occurs, in accordance with rules of international law applicable to the conflict".[4]
TheSecurity Intelligence Service (SIS) stated in its 2006 report that "the risk of a terrorist attack on New Zealand or New Zealand interests is low", but also warned against complacency.[1] It has stated that there are individuals in New Zealand linked to international terrorism, although theGreen Party and others have dismissed these claims.[6] Once identified as a threat to New Zealand,Ahmed Zaoui became a citizen.[7] In another case, a man namedRayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was deported from New Zealand after being linked to the hijacker ofAmerican Airlines Flight 77 which hit the Pentagon on 11 September 2001.[8]
In response to theChristchurch terrorist attacks of 15 March 2019, the country's threat level was temporarily raised from "low" to "high" and was later lowered to "medium" on 17 April 2019.[9]
| Threat level | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Very Low | Terrorist attack, etc. is assessed as unlikely. | |
| Low | Terrorist attack, etc. is assessed as a realistic possibility. | |
| Medium | Terrorist attack, etc. is assessed as feasible and could well occur. | |
| High | Terrorist attack, etc. is assessed as highly likely. | |
| Extreme | Terrorist attack, etc. is expected. | |
Most attacks, or attempted acts, of terrorism in New Zealand have been bombings as a form of protest.[11]
On 30 April 1951, during anindustrial dispute, a rail bridge three miles fromHuntly, on theGlen Afton branch line, was dynamited.[12][13][14] Although the morning passenger train ran over the damaged bridge, it did not collapse.[14] After regular railway line patrols were commenced, trains ran normally again the next day.[12][15]Sidney Holland, the Prime Minister of the time, called it an "infamous act of terrorism".[14] Academic Lance Beath writes that the bombing might not be considered a "terrorist" incident because there was no intent to kill or injure people and the only objective was blocking supplies.[16] Conversely, author Len Richardson accepts the police assessment that the explosion was intended to intimidate open-cast mineworkers.[13]
In 1969–70 there was an alleged attempt to bomb theWaitangi flagpole, although any credible evidence of this occurrence is hard to find. Aside from the alleged flagpole bombing attempts, the intense protests against New Zealand's involvement in theVietnam War mostly involved throwing red paint (symbolic of blood) and flour.[11]
In 1976 theHutt Recreation Ground inLower Hutt hosted theMen's Softball World Championship. The tournament was controversial due to the participation of a team fromApartheidSouth Africa. Prior to the tournament start, an opponent to South Africa's involvement planted an incendiary bomb in the middle of the ground's softball diamond, which exploded and damaged a 10 metre radius. A caller then rang the Wellington newspaper,The Dominion, and claimed responsibility.[17]
On 18 November 1982, asuicide bomb attack was made against a facility housingthe main computer system of theNew Zealand Police, Courts, Ministry of Transport and other law enforcement agencies, inWhanganui. The attacker, ananarchist named Neil Roberts, was the only person killed, and the computer system was undamaged.[18][19]
On 27 March 1984, a suitcase bomb was left in the foyer of the Trades Hall inWellington.[20] The Trades Hall was the headquarters of a number of trade unions and it is most commonly assumed that unions were the target of the bombing.[11] Ernie Abbott, the building's caretaker, was killed when he attempted to move the suitcase, which is believed to have contained three sticks ofgelignite triggered by amercury switch. To this day, the perpetrator has never been identified.[21] It was revealed in a 2019 episode ofCold Case that police had a prime suspect, a retired marine engineer with explosives expertise and anti-union attitudes; however the evidence was consideredcircumstantial and insufficient to lay charges.[22]
Before her death in 2016, union leaderHelen Kelly (who knew Abbott) said she felt the bombing was a result of the "anti-union hysteria" created under the then government ofRobert Muldoon.[23]
On 10 July 1985, theGreenpeace vesselRainbow Warrior was sunk by the French foreign intelligence service, theDirection Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE). Greenpeace had planned to use theRainbow Warrior as part of protest efforts over French nuclear testing atMoruroa, and DGSE divers sank the vessel by detonating mines against its hull while it was berthed inAuckland. The crew left the ship, but one person, photographerFernando Pereira, was drowned when he returned to a cabin to retrieve his cameras, just before the vessel sank.[24]
France initially denied responsibility for the attack, but later admitted its role.[24] Two of the French agents involved in the attack were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 10 and 7 years on a military camp in French Polynesia. They were released in less than 2 years. Several others escaped prosecution.[25] French defence ministerCharles Hernu eventually resigned over the affair.[24] New Zealand Prime MinisterDavid Lange later referred to the sinking as "a sordid act of international state-backed terrorism."[26][27]
On 15 March 2019,Al Noor Mosque andLinwood Islamic Centre inChristchurch were attacked by a gunman in theChristchurch mosque shootings. Fifty-one people were killed and forty were injured,[28] making this the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand history.[29] Twoimprovised explosive devices were found attached to a car and were subsequently disabled.[30][31][32] Brenton Tarrant, an Australian man, was arrested and charged with murder and engaging in a terrorist act.[33] Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern described the shootings as a terrorist attack.[34] The gunman was later sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in August 2020. Ardern implored people not to use the gunman's name, stating “speak the names of those who were lost, rather than the name of the man who took them. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name.”[35]
On 3 September 2021,Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen acted as alone wolf using a knife to attack shoppers at aCountdown (now Woolworths) supermarket insideLynnMall,West Auckland.[36] He injured seven people and was being followed by police at the time. He was shot dead by officers at the scene about two minutes after the attack began. According to a statement by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Samsudeen held a violent ideology inspired by theIslamic State.[37]
The principal government agencies responsible for countering the threat of terrorism are theNew Zealand Police (who have responsibility for direct action) and theSIS (who have responsibility for providing information on which action can be based). The counter-terrorism capabilities of the Police have been expanded in response to the 11 September attacks in the United States,[38] and counter-terrorism also takes up a significant proportion of the SIS's budget.[1] One observer has argued that New Zealand "already had in place a very comprehensive set of counter-measures" before that point.[39]
Seventeen people were arrested in co-ordinated raids on 15 October 2007 by PoliceArmed Offenders Squads andSpecial Tactics Group. Those arrested includedenvironmental activists andMāori separatists, including noted activistTame Iti, but the raids also included roadblocks in theUrewera area by armed police who searched and questioned everyone who passed through.[40][41]
After lengthy legal proceedings, none of those arrested were convicted of anything more serious than violation of gun license rules under theArms Act. Although the search warrants used indicated that terrorism related offences were involved, no charges were laid under the 2002 Terrorism Suppression Act—with theSolicitor-General describing the legislation as "complex and incoherent".[42] Major amendments to the Act were being pushed through Parliament at the time of the raids, as well as legislation creating the charge of "participation in an organised criminal group", justified as necessary to address gang violence, a charge which was unsuccessfully applied to four of those arrested.[43]
In December 2008, Christchurch man Robert Gilchrist was exposed by his activist partner as a police informant, having been paid $600 a week to infiltrate a number of activist and political groups since 1998.[44] Gilchrist was given the codename “Muldoon” by police, and had infiltrated animal rights groups,Greenpeace, Labour, Greens, anti-war groups, theEngineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, theMaritime Union, theCouncil of Trade Unions, and other associations.[44][45] Gilchrist had been working under theNational Security Investigations Team since it was set up in 2004 as part of counter-terror legislation, a joint operation between police, the NZDF, NZSIS and GCSB.
In 2013, Gilchrist sued the police for $550,000 in damages over his time as an informant, including lost wages and damages for distress and humiliation.[44] Gilchrist and police settled in 2015 for an undisclosed amount.
'There is', in the words of Britain's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile of Berrew, 'no single definition of terrorism that commands full international approval'. [...] There are hundreds of definitions of terrorism in use [...].
Following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the US, New Zealand's Parliament passed the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002.