ZB ZB
Opinion
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

"Increased polarisation": NZ could experience similar attack to Bondi Beach shooting, NZSIS warns

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 5 Mar 2026, 9:22am
Photo / AFP
Photo / AFP

"Increased polarisation": NZ could experience similar attack to Bondi Beach shooting, NZSIS warns

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 5 Mar 2026, 9:22am

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  

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you