The Prime Minister -?with the support of National’s Judith Collins -?is urgently pushing through?new counter-terrorism?laws in coming weeks.

Jacinda Ardern and the Police Commissioner Andrew Coster fronted media at Parliament on Saturday to outline legislative changes and provide more?details about the known extremist, who?was responsible for a terror attack in Auckland on Friday afternoon.

While Ardern says it’s ※purely speculative to say the law change would have made a difference for this individual§ the amendments to the Counter-Terrorism Bill?were already in the process of being expedited before the attack at a New Lynn supermarket.

The Opposition leader Judith Collins contacted?Ardern overnight to pledge her party’s support. At its first reading in May both the Greens and Te Paati Maori voted against the amendments.

More details and a timeline of the 32-year-old Sri Lankan man’s case have been released, but questions around his immigration status and why he hadn’t been deported, despite being on 24-hour surveillance, remain unanswered for now due to remaining court suppression restrictions.

Ardern says she hopes to be able to clear up that picture later on Saturday when she’s received a legal green light to do so.

There were seven people injured in the attack at Countdown in LynnMall on Friday before police shot the attacker dead.

Of the seven, five are in hospital - three are in critical condition and two are stable - and a further two people have been treated and are now at home.

What we know about the terrorist

The deceased man, whose name is suppressed for now, arrived in New Zealand in 2011 on a student visa but didn’t come to the attention of the police until 2016.

This was due to his online behaviour, in particular sympathising with terrorists overseas who had carried out attacks.

Police spoke to the man in both April and May of 2016 and his suspicious online behaviour continued.

In May 2017 as he tried to leave New Zealand, believed to be heading to Syria, police arrested him at Auckland?airport under laws?designed to stop people heading overseas to become foreign fighters.

Using a search warrant the police found a hunting knife and material that glorified violence. He pleaded guilty and was released on bail.

※In August 2018, whilst on bail, the individual bought a knife. The police arrested him again but also issued a search warrant and found objectionable or extremist material,§ Ardern said.

At this point he was kept in custody and in September 2018?he was sentenced to 12 months’ supervision, but remained in prison due to the additional charges he committed while on bail.

At the same time, ※Ministers directed officials to undertake further policy work on counter terrorism legislation,§?Ardern said.

That work progressed through 2019 and in July 2020 the Crown made an ※unsuccessful attempt to lay an additional charge under the existing Terrorism Suppression Act for the knife and online posts§.

This was rejected by the High Court, Ardern said.

In May 2021 he was convicted in the High Court on the charges of possession of objectionable publications with knowledge and failing to assist the police in exercising search powers.

That led to a 12 month?supervision sentence fon July 6, which included making available any electronic devices for?checking by a probation officer, when requested.

By then the man had spent three years in prison on remand and officials prepared for his release, Ardern said.

※Risk mitigations were already under way. This included police standing up surveillance coverage, including the use of the armed Special Tactics group. This is the group who were present yesterday at the scene, and shot the terrorist.§

When he was released into the community in mid-July the surveillance began immediately, and consisted of a team of up to 30?special tactics and surveillance officers.

Just last month, Ardern met officials, including Coster, and discussed expediting amendments to the counter terrorism legislation.

Making law changes

One of the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the March 15 terror attack was that it should be a criminal offence to plan an attack.?

In April, the Government introduced counter-terrorism legislation to the House which would make it illegal to plan a terror attack and give authorities greater powers to limit movements and actions of terror suspects. The bill is still in a select committee.

※I am committing, that as soon as Parliament resumes we will complete that work - that means working to pass the law as soon as possible, and no later than by the end of this month,§ Ardern said.

※There is one additional piece of work that I instigated in August which is relevant to this case. Unfortunately, it requires the suppression order to be lifted so I will provide an update when that occurs.§

Ardern had repeatedly suggested the matters still covered by suppression were related to the man’s immigration status and officials moves to address that.

Coster had raised with ministers expediting the amendments based on two factors.

※The primary factors on my mind were information?available to me that suggested nothing had changed in his outlook, and he had a hardened attitude in terms of what he hoped to do,§ Coster told Newsroom.

Also the team had been carrying out full-time surveillance for?53 days and Coster said he was ※concerned about the sustainability of the surveillance§.

Coster said that had nothing to do with resourcing or money, but simply that the team with the skills needed to carry out that level of surveillance was limited and there were concerns some of them may start to become familiar to the man, which could compromise the monitoring.

Ardern said the legislation she plans to?progress urgently had already gone?through a ※rigorous process§ at the select committee.

※It’s often very tricky legislation to draft because someone has not committed a crime,§ she told Newsroom.

As to the criticisms that there are gaps in the draft?legislation, she said, ※we have an obligation to move on that legislation and the select committee would have considered all of that feedback that came through§.

The steps leading to the attack

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster was reluctant to go into the forensic details of Friday’s attack given a full investigation is underway but has outlined more details leading up to police shooting the man.

※There was nothing unusual about his routine as he travelled by train to the Countdown in Lynn Mall. Some of his actions yesterday seemed to be planning for the future.§

Ardern clarified that the individual had taken steps earlier on Friday that suggested he was planning on being around in the coming weeks, which didn’t indicate an attack was likely.

Coster said the man had collected a shopping trolley and had been ※shopping normally for about 10 minutes before the attack started§.

While police were on the scene within 60 seconds of becoming aware of the attack, CCTV footage reveals the first stabbing took place about 60 to 90 seconds before that. So it was possibly two and half minutes from the first attack against a shopper and police being alerted and responding.

Police were unable to be in the supermarket keeping a close watch on the man because alert Level 4 lockdown conditions mean?there are fewer people in supermarkets and it is difficult for undercover police to disguise themselves in that environment.

Coster reiterated there were no legal grounds to detain the man but over time he had got ※paranoid about surveillance§, making it more difficult for those doing surveillance to stay close.

※I remain of the view that our police staff acted exactly the way I would have expected them to, and with great bravery and professionalism,§ he said.

The attacker was an ※outlier§ and Coster reassured the public that the police were not looking for anyone else and the terror level in New Zealand remained at medium.?

Ardern’s message

The Prime Minister wasn’t able to name the attacker on Friday or Saturday, and while that suppression may lift in coming days, Ardern has no plans to use his name.

※This is not something I had any intention of sharing regardless of the court ruling.

※No terrorist, whether alive or deceased, deserves their name to be shared for the infamy they were seeking,§ she said.

Both the police special tactics team and bystanders came to the aid of those hurt in the attack and Ardern acknowledged them for that.

※To the Auckland community, times are tough, and I know you’ll be feeling it.?

※We are all with you.§

※And the last thought I will leave is from the Imam of Al Noor mosque, who knows the impact of terrorism better than anyone,§ Ardern said.

※He said, ＆all terrorists are the same, regardless of their ideology. They stand for hate, we stand for peace and love’.§