In this version of events, Phillips is a noble dad, a freedom fighter against a tyrannical Family Court, and his death is spun as proof of a conspiracy so vast it makes the Illuminati look disorganised. Social media has buzzed with people calling him a “hero,” saying he “died for his kids,” and insisting that the police were out to murder him all along.
Phillips was not a hero. He kidnapped his children. He alienated them from their mother, their wider family, their friends, and their school. He kept them in a makeshift camp in bleak and inadequate conditions; photos released by police show a living situation no child deserves.
He was also not simply “hiding.” He was breaking into local homes and businesses, stealing from his neighbours, teaching his kids to commit crimes, and arming them. When police closed in, he shot at an officer in a manner that can only be assumed was intended to kill. The cop he shot in the head and torso, critically injuring him, has now become a villain in this online mythology, cast as some kind of corrupt enforcer of a shadowy plot to destroy a loving father.
What Tom Phillips did was not love, nor resistance. It wasn’t bravery.
None of this is to say that all fathers who feel failed by the Family Court are wrong or dangerous. The truth is, there are legitimate grievances about the system: how long cases take, how financially and emotionally exhausting they are, and how alienation from children can devastate fathers who are trying to do the right thing. There are men who have been unfairly cut out of their children’s lives, and who are left without meaningful recourse. The system does not always get it right.
In some areas, there are severe backlogs. Northland alone has over 16,000 active Family Court cases, with an average case age exceeding 300 days.1 That's nearly a year of limbo for a family seeking resolution. Across the country, the number of families waiting more than three years for a Family Court resolution has tripled. Hearing wait times are punitive: a half-day hearing can take 3–6 months to schedule, a one-day hearing 8–12 months, and longer trials 12–24 months or more.2 This is critical time lost; parenting time, bonding time. It eats up both money and emotional reserve. No wonder frustrations simmer.3
Balancing the needs of children with the rights of both parents is a truly difficult task and when it falls to lawyers and courts, it gets messy. We need to be able to talk about improving the Family Court. To make it faster, more transparent, more consistent, and fairer to fathers who have not harmed their children or ex-partners. Those conversations are appropriate and should be had.
But Tom Phillips is not the man to build that conversation around. He was not a decent father wronged by the system. He was a man who broke the law repeatedly, endangered his children, and left a trail of harm in his wake. Making him the figurehead for reform not only insults the fathers who are doing it tough within the system, it undermines the cause entirely.
Especially since there is a lot of context that cannot be published or discussed. At the police press conference following Phillips’ death, a reporter from the New Zealand Herald asked a deeply alarming question; one that cannot be repeated here because of an urgent interim suppression order sought by Tom Phillips’ mother, the children’s grandmother. The suppression is intended to protect the children at the centre of this tragedy. It’s being challenged by some who argue for the public’s right to know and that the intention of the suppression is unfulfilled because rumours are flying around fuelling greater speculation.
The Police Minister, who knows the truth that is being suppressed, called Phillips a “monster”. I support this assessment. Our tongues may be tied by the courts, but trust me when I say this man is not your hero.
It is one thing to debate the fairness of our Family Court system, but elevating a man who has harmed his children, his community, and arguably himself into a kind of bush prophet is grotesque. It ignores the real victims: three children who just spent four of their formative years being dragged through hell, and who now have to navigate life in state care under the glare of a nation obsessed with their father’s legend.
References:
Ani O'Brien comes from a digital marketing background, she has been heavily involved in women's rights advocacy and is a founding council member of the Free Speech Union. This article was originally published on Ani's Substack Site and is published here with kind permission.
6 comments:
Have you spoken to his children for their side of the story O'Brien, or are you just trying to control the states narrative?
Enough of the smug nonsense and journalistic arrogance "trust me we know the truth but can't tell you".
It's not a secret we all know why the minister slipped in the term "monster". A basic google search lists those types of criminals.
For all ' the rhetoric both verbal, print, tv, social media et.al ' - ever since the death of Tom Phillips they have all (including the author of this article) - have " had a pile on" over the "supposed antics of a farther & his children". When will Tom Phillips be able to 'rise' and defend himself. No, he can not, thus the spin media (plus this article) have demeaned him.
Strange at the end a of a 4 year 'on the run' incident, no one - I repeat no one - (hello media) - has ever decided to look at why Tom Phillips acted as he did. Not One.
My Index finger points firmly at -
- Oranga Tamariki, being the agency that (possibly) set this sorry 'saga' in motion
- the Mother, whose recent actions with drink driving "would indicate" that maybe she was not of good character as far as managing her children
- any psychology intervention, who did they side with
- the Family Court [s]
- The NZ Police, all they wanted to do " was track, trace, and apprehend a criminal".
- finally the NZ Media - who every time " a sighting was made of.. went full tit" and posted stories to gain headline traction.
Sorry Annie, your article does not help.
The man is dead, he can not speak about his actions, but hose who have stood of recent and poked "the finger" have made him and "an evil person". Typical New Zealand approach.
Good on the Grandmother.
Phillips should have shot himself at the outset. Unlike other ousted Dads he had the means. Would have spared himself the possibility of years of potential torment as a worker outside the home all day competing for the children's love with a mother in extensive close contact with them. Usually wives manipulate the situation to win over the children and gain advantage in long term allocation, including of the home. Contrived situations during contact have to be constantly devised to match the natural interaction which the mother manages in the course of everyday contact. For very many devoted men the stress and torment is intolerable.
Sadly the comment by Robert Arthur, is tangible 'evidence' that he has believed the "spin Dr's" from NZ Police, who have also convinced our MSM - what they "say" is truth.
Note Robert that Oranga Tamariki 'is very silent ' on this matter - maybe because the NZ Family Court has " a thumb " over what they can say.
There is more to this incident than meets the "eye" and no doubt will be confined to "an archive" for 30 years so we learn nothing from it.
Please keep in mind Robert, Tom Phillips is "now" unable to defend his actions - and thus NZ will never be told the truth.
And I for one do not think that any Doco by Julie Christie is going to enlighten us on anything we do not already know, other than show that Police "acted" with integrity, that is what they want.
Tom Phillips shot a cop in the head
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