Recommendation 12 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019 - Proactive release of associated Cabinet paper and advice to the Minister of Police

Recommendation 12 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019 - Proactive release of associated Cabinet paper and advice to the Minister of Police

Date Published: 
November 2024

The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCOI) was instigated by the Prime Minister in response to the attacks on Christchurch Mosques on 15 March 2019.

The RCOI terms of reference were to investigate what State Sector agencies – including New Zealand Police – knew about the individual’s activities before the attack, measures agencies could have taken to prevent the attack, and measures agencies should take to prevent such attacks in the future.

The report, Ko tō tātou kāinga tēnei is a comprehensive response to the Royal Commission's Terms of Reference and was released on Tuesday 8 December 2020. It made 44 recommendations covering both national security, and wider social and community matters.

Police is the lead agency for eight recommendations, including the response to Recommendation 12:

Develop and promote an accessible reporting system that enables members of the public to easily and safely report concerning behaviours or incidents to a single contact point within government.

The following papers set out advice to the Minister of Police and Cabinet on the development of the cross-agency Business Case for a new reporting system in response to Recommendation 12.

Key sections of the Official Information Act 1982 under which information has been withheld

Certain information in the documents has been withheld under one or more of the following sections of the Act:

  • Information is withheld under section 9(2)(a) to protect the privacy of natural persons
  • Information is withheld under section 9(2)(f)(iv) in order to maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.
  • Information is withheld under section 9(2)(j) to enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation holding the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations).

November 2024

The following papers set out the remaining advice to the Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into the Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Mosques, the Minister of Police and Cabinet on the development of the cross-agency Business Case for a new reporting system in response to Recommendation 12, prior to the conclusion of the coordinated cross-government response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry, which included closing the government’s response to Recommendation 12 of the Royal Commission report. Further information on the decision to close the government’s response can be found in the documents published by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet here: https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/national-security/royal-commission-inquiry-terrorist-attack-christchurch-masjidain

Key sections of the Official Information Act 1982 under which information has been withheld

Certain information in the documents has been withheld under one or more of the following sections of the Act:

  • Information is withheld under section 9(2)(a) to protect the privacy of natural persons
  • Information is withheld under section 9(2)(b)(ii) in order to protect information where the making available of the information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information
  • Information is withheld under section 9(2)(g)(i) to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or members of an organisation or officers and employees of any public service agency or organisation in the course of their duty.