KEY POINTS:
The five-year-old Terrorism Suppression Act provides for sentences of up to 14 years in jail for anyone convicted of planning or preparing to carry out a terrorist act regardless of whether it is actually carried out.
Following yesterday's swathe of arrests on firearms charges, Police Commissioner Howard Broad raised the prospect of the act's being invoked for the first time since its passage through Parliament in 2002 against those involved in alleged military-style training camps.
But he cautioned against "jumping to conclusions" until the police had weighed up whether there was sufficient evidence to be able to obtain the necessary consent of Solicitor-General David Collins for charges to be laid under the act.
Under the law's provisions, a terrorist act is also deemed to have been carried out if there is a "credible threat" that such an act might be carried out, again regardless of whether it is actually carried out or not.
A "terrorist act" is deemed to be carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause with the intention of inducing terror in a civilian population or forcing a government to do something against its wishes.
It is further defined as resulting in death or other serious bodily injury to one or more persons (other than the person carrying out the act); or a serious risk to the health or safety of a population; or destruction of, or serious damage to, property of great value or importance, or major economic loss.
The law was introduced to bring New Zealand into line with United Nations and other international conventions on terrorism, rather than to counter domestically-sourced terrorist acts.
It had the backing of all parties in Parliament apart from the Greens, who argued that the definition of a "terrorist act" was too broad and risked encompassing standard and non-violent political protests. The legislation was rewritten to exclude any act of "protest, advocacy, dissent, strike or lockout".
The law also criminalises the financing of terrorism and the recruiting of members to a terrorist entity.
But it stops short of criminalising simple membership of a terrorist entity.
