Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / John Battersby: Massey University International Security Expert on the risk of terrorism in New Zealand

Transcript

John Battersby: Massey University International Security Expert on the risk of terrorism in New Zealand · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A terrorism expert, says everybody boarding a plane in New Zealand,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: including regional flights, should go through security screening. It comes
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: after the release of a new assessment of the country's
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  Speaker 1: security threat. This is by the SIS the Security Intelligence Service.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: It says there's a realistic possibility of a terrorist attack
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  Speaker 1: in New Zealand, most likely a lone actor attack, but
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  Speaker 1: the terror threat level hasn't changed. John Battersby is Massi
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  Speaker 1: University Center for Defense and Security Studies expert with us
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  Speaker 1: this morning. John, Good morning, good morning, Thanks for being
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  Speaker 1: with me. How you reckon the regional flights? It is
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  Speaker 1: always weird when you go get on the plane and
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  Speaker 1: you haven't been screened. Do you think it's time we
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  Speaker 1: look at that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think the Essays report hasn't really said anything
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  Speaker 2: that's terribly different from the risk that has existed now
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  Speaker 2: for our let's say the last fifty years. Airports have
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  Speaker 2: been a vulnerable point for quast time now and what
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand needs to do is start to look at
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  Speaker 2: where the opportunities could be taken by an individual perpetrator
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  Speaker 2: wishing to do harm to a group of people. And
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  Speaker 2: that's one area to me that seems an obvious point
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  Speaker 2: at which we could just strengthen our security consciousness and
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  Speaker 2: eliminate another option that would be there.
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  Speaker 1: What's the difference between a bus and a plane. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: if you're thinking about a regional flight to Pame from Auckland,
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  Speaker 1: for example, I don't know how many you'd have on there.
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  Speaker 1: I do that flight quite often. You probably have twenty
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  Speaker 1: thirty forty people on there. You know, what is the
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  Speaker 1: difference between that and somebody getting a knife out on
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  Speaker 1: a bus?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Look, you're absolutely right. The risk that it's there
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  Speaker 2: are with anywhere where there are people in a confined space,
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  Speaker 2: that risk is there, and it overseas terrorist organizations have
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  Speaker 2: used those options. They tend to use those options less
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  Speaker 2: than they're doing a craft for some reason. But yeah, look,
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  Speaker 2: you're absolutely right, and you know, the realistic possibility idea
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  Speaker 2: is it's there. It's not a high risk. It's not
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  Speaker 2: like you know, it's going to happen tomorrow, and we
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  Speaker 2: know that it's just a risk that's sitting there and
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  Speaker 2: just a reminder for us to be a little bit
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  Speaker 2: more security conscious about things. So yeah, look, we can't
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  Speaker 2: we can't change absolutely everything we do. We just got
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  Speaker 2: a little more security conscious about how we do it.
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  Speaker 2: I think what the.
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  Speaker 1: Report more generally talks about the threat of radicalization of
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  Speaker 1: people here in New Zealand online over issues like Palestine,
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  Speaker 1: and we've seen lots of protests about that. Is that
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  Speaker 1: a big worry for you?
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  Speaker 2: I don't think anything's a bit worry. It's just it's
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  Speaker 2: just a lacent rest that's sitting there all the time.
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  Speaker 2: As if you look back across these industry sometimes these
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  Speaker 2: international events do seep through into interaction here. So yeah,
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  Speaker 2: where we have a strongly emotive issue that can motivate
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  Speaker 2: people to do something, there's always the elevated risk that
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  Speaker 2: something might occur. Does it worry me a great deal?
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 2: I think what worries me more is that zildas tend
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  Speaker 2: to not take these kind of things seriously and we
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  Speaker 2: just need to wake up a little bit to the
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  Speaker 2: risk that is there. That's only one issue. There are
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  Speaker 2: the others.
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  Speaker 1: John, thank you very much for your time, John badisbee
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  Speaker 1: Massy University's Center for Defense and Security Studies with us
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  Speaker 1: talking about that report from the sis yesterday. We don't
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  Speaker 1: really take things too seriously, do we, And it is
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  Speaker 1: nice getting on a regional flight. Oh that's right. I
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  Speaker 1: don't have to go through security. I mean, it's all
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  Speaker 1: rainbows and butterflies until someone takes the plane down. I suppose,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it.
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• 3:51
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