Government changing the law to allow destruction of March 15 terrorist’s property

Author: Thomas Coughlan,
Publish Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2026, 1:29pm

The Government wants to change the law in a way that will allow Corrections to have the property of imprisoned terrorists destroyed once they die.

A Cabinet paper, released online, notes there is only one current person to whom the law would apply when it passes: Brenton Tarrant, the March 15 terrorist.

The change was included in a broader law change which addresses the conditions of high-risk prisoners, and responds to a recent Ombudsman report on the condition of these prisoners. The bill giving effect to those changes has had its first reading in Parliament.

When asked for comment, the office of Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell pointed the Herald to his first reading speech in which he said the measure “protects public safety by enabling the destruction of a prisoner’s property who was designated as a terrorist entity at the time of their death”.

“There may be some situations where the property of a prisoner who has been designated as a terrorist entity may cause harm if it gets released into the community.

“As an example, the property may cause harm to victims even when the item is not in and of itself an inherently harmful item but is just by the fact of who owned that item,” he said.

The bill was sent to select committee with the support of every party except for Te Pāti Māori and independent MP Takuta Ferris who were not in the chamber and had their votes cast by the Greens.

A law change will not allow the Government to destroy a terrorist’s property on its own.

Corrections will need to apply to the High Court to have a terrorist’s property destroyed if they believe the property is likely to cause harm, either because of the nature of that property or simply because it was owned by a terrorist.

The Cabinet paper makes it clear that the only person who currently fits this designation is the March 15 terrorist.

“At present, Corrections manages one prisoner designated as a terrorist entity under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 (i.e. the 15 March terrorist),” the paper said.

It added that currently, “Corrections must store their property as it cannot be released from prison”.

The bill included another, unrelated technical change that removes a requirement that prisoners be present for the destruction of their property.

Corrections said this was becoming “impractical” particularly when it related to the routine destruction of things like vapes when they entered prison.

Tarrant is currently housed at the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (Peru) inside Auckland Prison – also known as Paremoremo.

Peru was established in 2019, four months after the March 15 terror attack.

At the time Mitchell’s Cabinet paper was written earlier this year, it housed 15 prisoners including Tarrant and the president of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club.