There's a "lame excuse" being used to justify widespread suppressions in the Royal Commission's investigation into the Christchurch terrorist attack, according to Foundation Against Islamophobia and Racism (FAIR) spokesperson Azad Khan.
Khan says despite assurances the report would be transparent and accountable, he didn't even know about the suppression orders until it was revealed in the media on Friday.
"We don't know what information is being suppressed, to whose benefit it is being suppressed. We definitely know it's not going to be to the benefit of the Muslim community what information is being suppressed," he told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning.
The Government received the final report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the March 15 terror attacks late last week.
It'll be largely released next week but some of the evidence presented to the commission won't be made public, including all the evidence provided by government agency chief executives, and current and former Cabinet ministers, which will be suppressed for 30 years.
Khan is worried about whether the promised accountability will still be delivered.
"I hope the Royal Commission has been bold enough to make preventative recommendations in the report and, at the same time, I believe and I hope the Government is going to show a real willingness and keenness to implement those recommendations."
He's labelling the Government's justification for the suppressions, citing potential future harm, a "lame excuse".
"That's the lamest excuse I've heard. If someone is intent on causing maximum carnage, there's heaps of material online — they can go and do that," Khan says.
"If you suppress information, make a blanket suppression, how do you hold people accountable? How do you hold people accountable for failures that were made? Where is the deterrent?"
Khan's concerns are echoed by ACT leader David Seymour, who's also worried about the justification being used for the suppressions.
"If it's true that there are loopholes that a future terrorist can exploit, we shouldn't be hiding those, we should be closing them," he says.
"And the question we need to ask is how does a guy who just got off the plane from Australia — a single male living alone who was doing all sorts of disgraceful things in terms of what he was into online — was able to buy 3000 rounds of ammunition by mail order that police signed off? Let's close those loopholes rather than trying to cover them up."
Seymour points to the Mahan report, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Erebus disaster, as evidence of "the power" of such a report.
"This is something that is hosted by the Queen, is above the Government of the day, and holds everybody accountable," he says.
"One question that I think needs to be asked is this, on the face of it, appears to be a failure of at least one Government department and perhaps by some of the politicians in charge at the time.
"Now the fact that the evidence by the chief executives and the Government ministers has been suppressed seems, on the face of it, to be a failure of the whole purpose of the Royal Commission."
Also appearing on Breakfast this morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked about the concerns being raised.
She says the Government wanted the inquiry to be "totally independent of us", adding that's what the Royal Commission does.
"None of these decisions are ours. The Royal Commission decided how they wanted to handle individual evidence," Ardern says.
"However, I would say they still have the obligation to tell us whether there's anything that could or should have been done. That was their terms of reference."
Ardern is encouraging people to wait until the report is released before making judgements on the validity of the suppressions.
The 800-page report is due to be tabled in Parliament on December 8.
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