Finance Minister Grant Robertson will put aside money to fight white supremacy in the Budget, Newshub can reveal.
The Finance Minister's office has confirmed "future allocations of funding" will be made in this year's Budget for the Government's response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terror attack.
"We will be ready to respond to the outcomes of that, including through future allocations of funding," a spokesperson for the Minister said.
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- Christchurch attack: The dark truth about New Zealand's white supremacists
- Christchurch attack: Warnings about threat from white supremacists were ignored
The failure by New Zealand agencies to address the rise of white supremacy is so clear, it is virtually certain to be raised by the Royal Commission.
"Obviously the March 15 terror attacks changed things, and that's why we set up the Royal Commission to look into what was being done on this issue," the spokesperson said.
The Royal Commission started last week and is investigating the events leading up to the attack and the performance of state sector agencies in relation to those events. It will report back in December.
The Finance Minister's Office spoke to Newshub after we contacted Police, SIS, GCSB, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Internal Affairs asking what they were doing to address white supremacy - and not one could point to anything substantive.
The Finance Minister defended the Government on the failure to deal with white supremacy, with the spokesman saying: "Agencies are being more active, as evidenced by the arrests taking place around harmful content, including of Philip Arps."
The spokesman confirmed "the Budget will also contain funding for issues around the response to the March 15 terror attacks" - likely to include the Canterbury District Health Board that dealt with it.
Newshub.
