3. World travel – 15 April 2014 to 17 August 2017

3.1 Where he travelled and what he did

1

Between 15 April 2014 and 17 August 2017, the individual travelled extensively and always alone, except for his travel to North Korea as part of a tour group. The countries that we know the individual visited, or transited through, are set out in the table and world map below. This has been pieced together from a range of sources as part of our inquiry.

Table 1: The individual’s international travel between 2014–2017

2

The individual continued to use the internet during his travels. He communicated with Sharon and Lauren Tarrant on Skype and Facebook Messenger and sporadically used Facebook Messenger to contact online friends, including gaming friend. He also posted photos of his travels on Facebook. We have no doubt that he visited right-wing internet forums, subscribed to right-wing channels on YouTube and read a great deal about immigration, far right political theories and historical struggles between Christianity and Islam. And, as we will explain, he also posted some right-wing and threatening comments.

3

While extremist groups (including violent extremists) can be found in some of the countries the individual visited, there is no evidence that he met with them. Likewise, there is no evidence that he engaged in training or investigated potential targets. And although some of the sites he visited may have had resonance for him because of associations with past military action between Christianity and Islam, this is not the case with the vast majority of the destinations to which he travelled.

4

The individual told his mother, sister, his sister’s partner and gaming friend that he had been mugged while in Africa and all of them saw this as having increased the intensity of his racism. The individual told us that this incident had happened in Ethiopia and that it had not significantly affected his thinking. Despite his denial to us, it is possible that this incident was of some moment in the development of his thinking. As will become apparent, however, we see other influences as far more significant.

Figure 7: Map of the individual’s international travel

Download a PDF of Figure 7: Map of the individual’s international travel (PDF, 748KB)

3.2 The individual’s account of his mobilisation to violence

5

According to his manifesto, the individual’s decision to engage in terrorism was largely a response to events that occurred and his own experiences in 2017, in particular:

1. Dā’ish-inspired terrorist attacks in Europe, particularly the Stockholm attack on 7 April 2017 that killed five people, including eleven-year-old Ebba Åkerlund (whose name the individual painted on one of the firearms used in the terrorist attack);
2. the outcome of the 2017 presidential election in France, particularly Marine Le Pen’s loss on 7 May 2017;⁴ and
3. the number of migrants he saw in French cities and towns during his visit between 1 April 2017 and 1 May 2017.

6

His account suggests that his terrorist attack:

1. was retaliation for Islamist extremist terrorist events in Europe;
2. followed his recognition of the inability of the far right to obtain a democratic mandate for addressing immigration; and
3. was influenced by nostalgia for a pre-immigration past.

7

Ideas of this sort are commonplace on the far right. We see his language as calculated to draw support, or at least sympathy, from those on the far right.

8

The events and experiences to which the individual referred may have been significant to him. But as will become apparent we are satisfied that by the beginning of 2017 – that is before these events and experiences discussed above – he had already formed the intention of carrying out a terrorist attack. Indeed, we see this account of his mobilisation to violence as an exercise in propaganda and there is more on this in chapter 4 of this Part.⁵ 

3.3 Our assessment of the timing of his mobilisation to violence

9

We think the individual’s mobilisation to violence occurred earlier than the events to which he referred in his manifesto. Sharon Tarrant considers that the more the individual travelled the more racist he became. This sentiment was echoed by gaming friend. His sister recalls that when he returned to Australia for a month in June 2016, he was a changed person – he spoke regularly of politics, religion, culture, history and past wars, particularly those he had learned about during his travels.

10

After the terrorist attack, Sharon Tarrant told the Australian Federal Police that in early 2017, she felt the individual’s racism was becoming more extreme. She remembered him talking about how the Western world was coming to an end because Muslim migrants were coming back into Europe and would out-breed Europeans. She began to have concerns for his mental health.

11

The narratives provided by the people we have just mentioned are supported by what we know of the individual’s internet activity, donations to right-wing organisations, first contact with the Bruce Rifle Club and the timing of his travel bookings to come to New Zealand.

12

The individual was one of more than 120,000 followers of the United Patriots Front Facebook page. United Patriots Front was a far right group based in Australia. Between April 2016 and early 2017, the individual made approximately 30 comments on their Facebook page. At that time, the United Patriots Front was led by Blair Cottrell. Several of the posts made by the individual expressed support for Blair Cottrell. For example, when Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America, the individual posted on Facebook “globalists and Marxists on suicide watch, patriots and nationalists triumphant – looking forward to Emperor Blair Cottrell coming soon”.⁶ The individual also expressed support for Blair Cottrell on the True Blue Crew Facebook page. The True Blue Crew is another far right Australian group.

13

In one post to the United Patriots Front Facebook page, the individual threatened critics of Blair Cottrell by saying that “communists will get what communists get, I would love to be there holding one end of the rope when you get yours traitor”.⁷ In August 2016, he sent comments via Facebook Messenger to an Australian critic of the United Patriots Front, which included “I hope one day you meet the rope.”⁸ This threat was allegedly reported to Australian police but no action was taken. We see references to “the rope” as alluding to the “Day of the Rope” which features in The Turner Diaries and, as explained in Part 2, chapter 5, is sometimes used by those on the extreme right to refer to a race war.

14

Blair Cottrell told media he was aware of an AU$50 donation to the United Patriots Front made by the individual.⁹ We have been unable to verify this donation.

15

The last time the individual was active on the United Patriots Facebook page was in January 2017. Following Facebook’s removal of the United Patriots Front Facebook page in May 2017, several former members of that group created a new far right group, called The Lads Society, which had club houses in Sydney and Melbourne. Thomas Sewell (a New Zealander based in Victoria, Australia and a founding member of The Lads Society) contacted the individual online and invited him to join.¹⁰ However, the individual declined this offer, citing his upcoming move to New Zealand.¹¹ He did, however, join a Facebook page created by The Lads Society and became an active member online. We will cover this in chapter 4 of this Part.

16

On 15 January 2017 and 17 January 2017, the individual made donations to right-wing organisations, Freedomain Radio (a podcast and YouTube channel created by Canadian Stefan Molyneux, who is prominent member of the far right) and the National Policy Institute (a white supremacist think tank and lobby group based in the United States of America). 

Table 2: The individual’s donations to right-wing organisations in early 2017

17

On 21 January 2017, the individual emailed the Bruce Rifle Club enquiring whether the Club was still open. During the communications that followed, he said that he was “not in the area” but was looking to “move down that way sometime in August”. 

18

When we asked the individual about this, he told us that he had developed an interest in firearms, and it was this interest that had prompted him to make contact with the Bruce Rifle Club. We do not accept his explanation. At this point, the individual’s only experiences with firearms had been during his 2013 visit to New Zealand and, as he told us, at two overseas tourist attractions while travelling. As his actions after he arrived in Dunedin show, his only interest in firearms was to develop proficiency in their use to carry out a terrorist attack.

19

In February 2017, the individual booked flights to arrive in Auckland on 17 August 2017 and to fly from Auckland to Dunedin on 20 August 2017.

3.4 Evaluation of the significance of the individual’s travel

20

The longest visit the individual made to any one country was to India where he stayed between 21 November 2015 and 18 February 2016. The countries that he visited for periods of about a month or more were:

1. Thailand (22 May 2014–28 June 2014);
2. Vietnam (22 July 2014–22 August 2014);
3. China (3 September 2014–8 September 2014; 18 September 2014–17 October 2014; 29 December 2014–28 January 2015; 2 March 2015–31 March 2015; 20 May 2015–18 June 2015; and 8 October 2015–29 October 2015);
4. South Korea (17 October 2014–13 November 2014);
5. Myanmar (1 December 2014–29 December 2014);
6. the Philippines (28 January 2015–2 March 2015);
7. Japan (31 March 2015–2 May 2015);
8. Georgia (12 July 2015–19 August 2015); and
9. Russia (8 September 2015–8 October 2015).

21

Of the countries that made up the former Yugoslavia, he visited:

1. Slovenia (18 April 2016–4 May 2016);
2. Croatia (25 December–28 December 2016 and 3–31 January 2017);
3. Serbia (28–30 December 2016);
4. Montenegro (30 December 2016–2 January 2017); and
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina (2 January–3 January 2017).

22

The individual was thus in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 25 December 2016 to 31 January 2017. It was during this time that he wrote to the Bruce Rifle Club, which we see as the first tangible indications of his mobilisation to violence.

23

The individual’s presence from late December 2016 to late January 2017 in the areas in which wars which led to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia had taken place may have been related to his decision to write to the Bruce Rifle Club in January 2017. But, as we have noted, there is no evidence of the individual engaging in training in his travels. Given the limited periods of time he stayed in the countries he visited, there would not have been much opportunity to do so. This is particularly so given the individual travelled between cities and towns in each of the countries. Nor is there evidence of him meeting right-wing extremists. As well, most of the countries in which the individual spent substantial periods of time have no association with right-wing extremism.

24

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack of 15 March 2019, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service received a substantial number of reports from international partners in relation to the individual, which we have reviewed. On the basis of the material that we have seen, it is likely that the individual occasionally shared some of his political views and interests with those he met during his travels. It is also at least possible that he visited some places because of their association with historical events in which he was interested. But more significantly, based on the information we have seen, there is no suggestion that the individual received training or met with known right-wing extremists.

25

Against this background, we see the primary significance of the individual’s travel as being that it provided the setting in which his mobilisation to violence occurred rather than its cause. It may be that the individual’s experiences while travelling had some role to play in his mobilisation to violence. But of far more materiality was the individual’s immersion during this period in the literature, and probably the online forums, of the far right and the social isolation of his solo travel. And, as will be apparent, we do not accept the individual’s account of when and why he decided to engage in terrorism – an account thatwe see as propaganda.

26

We see the individual’s travel between 2014 and 2017 as largely a function of his circumstances and personality. He had the money to travel and no employment, personal relationships or other purpose in life that precluded it. The purpose of the travel was not to meet up with extreme right-wing people or groups or engage in training activities, or reconnaissance of possible targets. Put simply, he travelled widely because he could and had nothing better to do.

_{4. Marine Le Pen is the President of the National Rally political party}

_{5. See the “Boiling the Frog” comment in chapter 4 of this Part.}

_{6. Alex Mann "Christchurch shooting accused Brenton Tarrant supports Australian far-right figure Blair Cottrell" ABC (Australia, 23 March 2019) ABC www.abc.net.au.}

_{7. Alex Mann, footnote 6 above.}

_{8. Graham Macklin "The Christchurch Attacks: Livestream Terror in the Viral Video Age" (2019) vol. 12 Combating Terrorism Centre at page 24.}

_{9. Alex Mann, footnote 6 above.}

_{10. Patrick Begley "Threats from white extremist group that 'tried to recruit Tarrant'" The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia, 2 May 2019) www.smh.com.au.}

_{11. Patrick Begley, footnote 10 above.}