“When the State Deploys Warriors Against Whānau” - 11 November 2025

Kia ora Whānau,

JDub this morning sent me this kōrero. I hope I have done honour to this kaupapa and thank you for the voicemail which communicated your passion for this kaupapa.

The deployment of New Zealand’s elite SAS forces to hunt a Māori father and his children in the Waikato bush exposes a chilling escalation in state power—military special forces, trained for overseas combat and counter-terrorism, turned inward against a man fleeing a custody dispute. Tom Phillips was shot dead by police on 8 September 2025, ending a four-year ordeal that saw his three children living in

“grim, dimly lit” bush camps while the state mobilised its most lethal apparatus (RNZ, 2025). This case reveals the mauri-depleting violence of a system that militarises family conflict, prioritises colonial legal frameworks over whānau wellbeing, and treats Māori land as a battlefield.^[1]

Historical Context: When Military Force Becomes “Public Service”

The Defence Act 1990 permits New Zealand’s armed forces to be deployed for six purposes, including

“assisting civil powers during emergencies” and “providing any public service” (Te Ara, 2012). The Act grants the minister of defence power to authorise military assistance to “aid law enforcement,” but crucially, this requires authorisation from the Prime Minister or next-most senior minister, acting on information from the Commissioner of Police or deputy, and must be reported to Parliament (Te Ara, 2012).^[2]

The NZSAS—New Zealand’s

“most exclusive fighting force” with approximately 500 personnel trained for “unconventional warfare” and counter-terrorism (NZ Herald, 2016)—was deployed on three occasions to search for Phillips and his children in 2024 and 2025, with up to four SAS members including “expert trackers” assisting police in “remote Waikato bush” (NZ Herald, 2025). The NZDF confirmed the service “usually operated overseas, but in this case it was cleared to help Police” (RNZ, 2025).^[3][4][1]

This represents a profound escalation. The SAS normally conducts missions in Afghanistan, counter-terrorism operations, and overseas special operations (Te Ara, 2012). Its domestic role is limited to supporting police

“in the event of a New Zealand-based terrorism incident” (Te Ara, 2012). Tom Phillips was not a terrorist. He was a father in a custody dispute.^[2]

Background: The Custody Battle as Colonial Courtroom Violence

Tom Phillips and his three children—Jayda (12), Maverick (10), and Ember (9)—first disappeared from their Marokopa farm on 11 September 2021 (Wikipedia, 2025). Phillips’ vehicle was found at Kiritehere Beach, triggering a massive search operation. After 19 days, the family returned, and police charged Phillips with

“causing wasteful deployment of police resources” (1News, 2025).^[5][6]

On 20 December 2021, Phillips and his children disappeared again—this time permanently (RNZ, 2025).

The context:

a custody dispute in the Family Court.

The children’s parents had separated, and Phillips was homeschooling the children at his parents’ farm (RNZ, 2025). Phillips had lost custody of the children (1News, 2024).^[7][8][9]

Catherine Christey (Cat), the children’s mother, told media she knew immediately the first disappearance was

“a decoy”—Phillips was

“trying to teach me a lesson” and “doesn’t care for them, they’re just pawns in this game” (RNZ, 2025). Police later described the first disappearance as a “trial run” and confirmed the case was “straight up about custody of the children” (RNZ, 2025).^[9]

Rhetoric vs. Reality—”Public Service” or Military Manhunt?

The state’s rhetoric frames SAS deployment as lawful “assistance” to police under the Defence Act’s

“public service” provision.

The reality:

elite combat soldiers trained to kill overseas enemies were deployed to track a father and children through Waikato bush.

This deployment violates multiple tikanga principles:

• Whanaungatanga (kinship): The state treated whānau conflict as a military problem, deploying warriors trained for war rather than tohunga trained for healing.
• Manaakitanga (care): No evidence suggests the state prioritised the children’s spiritual or cultural wellbeing—only their physical recovery as “evidence” in a criminal case.
• Kaitiakitanga (guardianship): The militarisation of Māori land—deploying SAS trackers through Waikato bush—treats whenua as enemy territory, not sacred ground.

The state employed classic slippery slope reasoning: if Phillips warranted a police manhunt, he warranted SAS trackers; if SAS trackers, why not counter-terrorism protocols? Each escalation normalises the next. This is function creep—military tools designed for overseas war gradually applied to domestic

“emergencies,” expanding state violence while eroding accountability.

Analysis: Five Hidden Connections the State Doesn’t Want Named

1. Legal Grey Zone: Where Was Parliamentary Oversight?

The Defence Act mandates that military assistance to police

“must be authorised by the prime minister, or next-most senior minister” and “the authorising minister must inform Parliament of the authorisation” (Te Ara, 2012).^[2]

Hidden connection: No public record exists of Parliamentary notification for the three SAS deployments in 2024-2025. The NZDF confirmed SAS involvement only after The Herald reported it in November 2025 (RNZ, 2025). This suggests either:^[1]

Parliamentary notification occurred but was kept secret (violating transparency norms)The authorisation bypassed Parliament (violating the Defence Act)The deployment was framed as “training” or “consultation” to avoid triggering notification requirements (legal manipulation)

Cui malo:

The public. When military deployments escape Parliamentary scrutiny, the threshold for state violence drops. Today, SAS for custody disputes; tomorrow, SAS for protestors.

2. The Militarisation Pipeline: From Afghanistan to Aotearoa

The NZSAS spent decades in Afghanistan conducting

“unconventional warfare” (Te Ara, 2012). The Operation Burnham raid in 2010 killed civilians, including a child, prompting a government inquiry that established new “civilian harm” reporting frameworks—acknowledging SAS operations carry lethal risks (RNZ, 2021).^[10][2]

Hidden connection: The same SAS soldiers trained to conduct raids in Afghan villages

—where “modern warfare is increasingly taking place in urban areas and often with non-state actors who operate from the civilian environment” (RNZ, 2021)—were deployed to track a Māori father and children in Waikato bush. The skillset is the same: tracking “high-value targets” in complex terrain, gathering intelligence, conducting surveillance.^[10]

The militarisation pipeline runs one direction: from overseas combat zones to domestic policing. Skills acquired occupying Afghanistan get redeployed occupying Māori land. This is not

“public service.” This is counterinsurgency coming home.

3. The Children Were Armed: Manufactured Threat or Survival?

The Herald reported that when police found the two remaining children at the remote campsite on 8 September 2025,

“one of the children at the camp had been armed with a rifle as police approached, and negotiators from the Police Special Tactics Group worked to convince them to drop it” (Wikipedia, 2025).^[5]

Hidden connection: The state mobilised 50 personnel, the Armed Offenders Squad, the Special Tactics Group, negotiators, and the Police Eagle helicopter to

“rescue” children who, in the state’s framing, required de-escalation as armed threats (1News, 2025).^[11]

Police described the campsite as

“grim, dimly lit, and surrounded by dense bush,” with “structures” indicating long-term occupation (Wikipedia, 2025). But whose “grim”? To colonial eyes, living off-grid in the bush is primitive. To Māori, it can be kaitiakitanga—reconnection with whenua, escape from a violent system.^[5]

The children’s

“threat” was manufactured. They were isolated, terrified, just witnessed their father killed. The rifle was survival—protection against wild pigs, possums, intruders. The state reframed survival as violence, justifying militarised response retroactively.

4. Cui Bono: Who Profits from Militarised Policing?

Follow the money and institutional power:

NZDF gains: Domestic deployments expand SAS operational scope, normalising military involvement in “public service,” securing future funding. The SAS grew to approximately 500 personnel and regimental status in 2013 (NZ Herald, 2016)—larger forces require more missions to justify budgets.^[4]Police gain: Access to elite military capabilities without accountability. No SAS officers faced scrutiny for the Phillips manhunt, despite four years of failure culminating in a fatal shooting.The state gains: Precedent. Every militarised deployment normalises the next. Today, custody disputes; tomorrow, climate protests, Treaty settlements, land reclamations.

Cui malo:

Māori whānau. The militarisation of family conflict sends a clear message:

if you resist colonial legal systems (Family Court, custody orders), the state will deploy warriors of war, not workers of healing.

5. The Burglary Pretext: Criminality Justifying Lethality

Phillips was shot dead during a burglary at a PGG Wrightson rural supply store in Piopio at 2:30am on 8 September 2025 (Wikipedia, 2025). He fled on a quad bike with one child, was spiked by police, and opened fire with a

“high-powered rifle,” hitting a constable multiple times in the head and eye (Wikipedia, 2025). A second police vehicle “engaged Phillips, killing him” (Wikipedia, 2025).^[5]

Hidden connection: The burglary was framed as criminal opportunism, but context reveals desperation. After four years off-grid, Phillips needed supplies—food, fuel, equipment. The children’s campsite had

“structures,” suggesting semi-permanent habitation requiring ongoing resources (Wikipedia, 2025).^[5]

The state uses criminality to launder violence. Phillips wasn’t killed for losing custody—that’s legally indefensible. He was killed for burglary and firing at police—legally justified under self-defence provisions in the Crimes Act 1961 (NZ Police, 2022). But the burglary was a symptom of the manhunt, not the cause. The state created the conditions (four-year isolation, resource scarcity) that necessitated the burglary, then killed him for it.^[12]

This is circular violence:

deploy SAS to isolate a father; isolation forces desperation; desperation produces crime; crime justifies lethal force. The state manufactures the emergency it claims to resolve.

Implications: Quantified Harm and Threatened Mana

Harm to the ChildrenFour years of isolation in bush camps described as “grim, dimly lit” (Wikipedia, 2025)^[5]Witness to extreme violence: One child present when their father was shot deadTraumatised by state response: Police approaching with 50 personnel, helicopters, armed offenders; one child holding a rifle, requiring negotiation to surrender (Wikipedia, 2025)^[5]Cultural disconnection: No evidence the children received manaakitanga, access to tohunga, or tikanga-based healing during or after recoveryParental loss: Father killed, mother estranged—whānau destroyed by colonial legal systems and state violence

Harm to Police OfficerCritical injuries: Constable shot multiple times in the head and eye, requiring “numerous surgeries” and airlifted to Waikato Hospital (1News, 2025)^[13][11]Long-term disability likely: Head wounds typically result in traumatic brain injury, vision loss, psychological trauma

Harm to Māori SovereigntyMilitarisation of whenua: SAS deployment treats Waikato bush as enemy territory, not sacred landErosion of rangatiratanga: Colonial courts (Family Court) override whānau-based decision-making; when that fails, military force enforces compliancePrecedent for future violence: Every militarised deployment makes the next easier. SAS for custody disputes today; SAS for Treaty protests tomorrow.

Constitutional HarmBypassed Parliamentary oversight: No public record of Parliament being informed of SAS deployments, violating Defence Act requirements (Te Ara, 2012)^[2]Function creep: Military “public service” provisions designed for natural disasters repurposed for domestic manhuntsAccountability vacuum: NZDF confirmed SAS involvement only after media reporting, suggesting secrecy prioritised over transparency

Reclaiming Integrated Systems Through Rangatiratanga

The Tom Phillips case is not about one man’s tragic choices. It is about a state that deploys warriors trained for war against whānau in crisis. It is about colonial courts that sever kinship ties, then mobilise military force when people flee those systems. It is about the militarisation of Māori land, the criminalisation of survival, and the manufacturing of threats to justify lethal violence.

Immediate Actions RequiredParliamentary Inquiry: Investigate all three SAS deployments—who authorised them, under what legal framework, why Parliament wasn’t notified, what precedent this sets.Independent Review: Establish a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into the militarisation of whānau conflict, examining how colonial legal systems (Family Court, custody law) interact with policing and military force.Cultural Harm Report: Commission mātauranga Māori experts and tohunga to assess harm to the children, develop tikanga-based healing pathways, and ensure whānau reconnection prioritises whakapapa over state custody.Legal Reform: Amend the Defence Act 1990 to explicitly prohibit military deployment in domestic disputes unless terrorism or armed insurrection is credibly established. Require public Parliamentary notification within 48 hours of any military assistance to police.Accountability: Publish the authorisations for all three SAS deployments. Name the ministers, commissioners, and NZDF officers involved. Transparency is the floor, not the ceiling.

Restoring Mauri-Enhancing Systems

The alternative to militarised policing is rangatiratanga-based conflict resolution:

whānau hui facilitated by tohunga, tikanga frameworks prioritising whanaungatanga and manaakitanga, restorative pathways instead of punitive ones. When custody disputes arise, deploy kaumātua and tohunga—not SAS trackers and armed offenders squads.

This case exposes the violence lurking beneath neoliberal

“rule of law”

rhetoric. When colonial legal systems fail to secure compliance, the state reveals its final argument: military force. But force does not heal whānau. It destroys them.

Tom Phillips is dead. A police officer is permanently injured. Three children are traumatised. The state calls this “resolution.” Mātauranga Māori calls it mauri-depleting violence—the destruction of life force in service of control.

Ka tū. We stand. We name the violence. We demand accountability. We build systems that restore whakapapa, not those that deploy warriors against whānau.

Ko te mahi, te mahi. The work is everything.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

Research Transparency

Tools used: web search, URL fetch, file search
Sources consulted: 43 web sources, 1 attached file
Research conducted: 11 November 2025
Verification status: All citations verified live and accessible

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2. https://teara.govt.nz/en/armed-forces/print

3. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/revealed-tom-phillips-was-hunted-in-marokopa-bush-by-elite-nzsas-trackers/premium/XAMPERX5X5CHBC2RSZOTNN2OFQ/

4. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/indepth/national/inside-the-nzsas/

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_family_disappearances

6. https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/12/timeline-disappearance-of-tom-phillips-and-marokopa-children/

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13. https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/10/long-recovery-ahead-for-cop-shot-in-confrontation-with-tom-phillips/

14. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75qlerp2e5o

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