Andrew Hampton: NZSIS Director-General on the agency's view that a terror attack like the Bondi Beach shooting could happen in NZ

A warning an attack similar to the Bondi Beach shooting could feasibly happen on New Zealand soil. 

The Government's intelligence agencies have told a Parliamentary Select Committee the attack helped to feed extremist views. 

Fifteen people were fatally shot in the December attack on a Jewish celebration in Australia's Sydney, with others wounded. 

NZSIS Director-General Andrew Hampton says anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are diseases. 

He told Mike Hosking they’re seeing increased polarisation in society across the board – lots of ‘us and them’ narratives and people with a sense of grievance. 

Hampton says those people look online for others who may share that view, and the risk is that grievance can move to viewing violence as the answer pretty quickly. 

LISTEN ABOVE  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we find out this morning that our SIS has
concluded the Bondi attack in Australia could happen here. They
call it low capability terror. It's the sort of incident
we need to be prepared for. Andrew Hampton is the
Director General of the SIS and as with thes Andrew,
morning to you, Hi, Mike. Taking nothing away from your
undoubted expertise, this is hardly rocket science. Is that if
you're just looking for one nutter who's been a bit

(00:21):
radicalized and get his hands on a gun, there's your trouble,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well? Us and police are aware of a small number
of people who we know have the intent and could
easily get the capability to undertake an attack here. Similarly,
we know that there's a lot of people, particularly young people,
engaging in violent extremist narratives online, and then your factor

(00:46):
in the deteriorating global situation, and all those factors mean
that we see another attack here as a realistic possibility.
It's likely to be an individual who's acting alone. Radicalized
online users read available capabilities like a knife or or
a car, maybe a gun if they can get hold
of it. I think one of the notable things is

(01:08):
there's no single ideology dominating. So yet we have white extremists,
we have people inspired by ISIS and al Qaeda. We
have people who see violence as a way to achieve
some political outcome. But we're also seen and this is
concerning young people who are just really shopping around between
different ideologies online and maybe the thing that's driving it

(01:31):
is just a fixation with violence.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Can you spot them a mile away?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
And the democracy like ours, we're not all seen and
all known in us in place in my colleagues at GCSP,
we're doing the best we can to locate these people.
But the fact is it is likely that someone in
the public will spot the signs of radicalization before we do.
And so we've produced a pretty i think, practical set

(02:03):
of guidance. It's online and you can we circulated to
teachers and things around what are the signs of radicalization?
And you know, this is based on twenty years of
being in this business of investigations and much of it
is about people engaging with that violent content online, but
there's there's other other indicators as well, you know, people

(02:24):
who may be adopting, you know, sort of an odd
security approach. We're doing doing research into you know, particular capabilities,
that type of thing. So we really encourage people to
just spot those signs and let us or police know
if they see someone who seems to be on that pathway.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's amazing, it's an amazing that you should read that,
you should see the text feed into the show every morning.
I mean, you know, most people have got a brain,
but I can tell you what the world. In my
forty five years in this industry, the world has changed
in a dramatic way.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, we're seeing increased polarization in society across the board. Obviously,
lots of and them narratives. People with a sense of
grievance and then look online for others who may share
that view, and the riskers grievance can move to see
violence as the answer pretty quickly.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right, Andrew, nice to talk to you. Appreciate it. Andrewhampton,
who's the DG of the S on a S.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.