Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, Andrew Hampton (right). Photo / Mark Mitchell
Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, Andrew Hampton (right). Photo / Mark Mitchell
Last December’s Bondi Beach anti-Semitic terror attack in Australia was the kind of attack that “could happen here”, the Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, Andrew Hampton, has warned MPs.
Speaking at Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, chaired by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Hampton said that although hewas shocked at the attack, which targeted a celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and killed 15, he was not “surprised”.
“This is the type of low-capability-without-warning attack the NZSIS frequently warns could happen here,” he said.
Hampton said the NZSIS immediately stood up an operation to “understand how the Bondi attack might impact the New Zealand threat environment”, which ran through the summer break.
“We continue to receive relevant intelligence,” he said.
Support was also given to Australian and New Zealand police in their response to the attack.
A note is pictured next to floral tributes laid at Bondi Pavilion in memory of the victims of the mass shooting at Bondi Beach. Photo / AFP
“The Bondi attack has unfortunately resonated with violent extremists from across the ideological spectrum. Faith-based extremist organisations like Isis and Al-Qaeda paid close attention,” Hampton said.
Anti-Semitic and Islamophobic organisations paid attention to the attack, as did anti-immigrant violent groups, he said.
“Another concerning dimension was the use of AI to falsify and spread online content about the attack,” he said.
Hampton also addressed the unfolding conflict in Iran. He said it was “early days” but there was no change as yet to the local threat profile.
Fears about radicalisation of young people
Hampton also addressed concerns about online radicalisation of young people, noting that a concerning number of young people were being radicalised.
“If you look at our current active investigations … it looks like a Year 13 boys’ school,” he said.
“There’s not a single ideology, there’s not a single ethnicity, but what’s common is these are largely people who spend a lot of time online who spend a lot of time engaging with violent content,” he said.
Hampton said parents should take a “pragmatic interest” in what their children were looking at online.
Proud Boys might not have met threshold to be terror organisation – NZSIS
In 2022, the Proud Boys, a group of self-described “Western chauvinists”, were designated a terrorist organisation.
Last year this designation lapsed, meaning the Proud Boys are no longer a terrorist organisation under New Zealand’s legislation. The decision drew some criticism last year.
Hampton said that at the time of the original decision in 2022, the NZSIS’ Combined Threat Assessment Group (CTAG) “didn’t think they met the threshold”.
However, “at that point, the view generally was that they should be recognised”.
