Venkat Raman
Auckland, December 8, 2020
Government, Intelligence Agency and Police apologise to Muslim community over the March 15, 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden walking to the Debating Chamber of Parliament with Ministers Andrew Little and Priyanca Radhakrishnan and other officials shortly before 2 pm today (December 8, 2020)
Creation of a new Ministry for Ethnic Communities, a graduate programme for Ethnic Communities, amendments to hate speech and hate-related crimes and filling the gaps in the Gun Laws are among the initiatives that the government will implement on an urgent basis.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also announced that her government will move quickly to implement the recommendations made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch shootings that killed 51 Muslim men, women and children who praying at two Mosques on March 15, 2019.
She released the Commission’s Report at a special lock-up session for journalists in the Parliament Buildings this morning, ahead of tabling it at the Debating Chamber this afternoon.
Ms Ardern silenced her critics who had earlier said that the government would ‘hide the Report,’ and that it would remain in the dark forever.
Royal Commission of Inquiry Report
In her report for Radio New Zealand, Political Editor Jane Patterson said that the 800-page Report was released along with promises from the government to implement all 44 recommendations, including further changes to how firearms are managed, to hate crime laws, and eventually the creation of a new national security and intelligence agency.
“The Royal Commission was tasked with examining what exactly security agencies knew about the terrorist before the shootings and what it did with that information. It was also looking at what could be done to prevent similar attacks ever happening again. The inquiry found that there was ‘no plausible way he (the gunman) could have been detected except by chance’ by public agencies. However, it also paints a picture of under-resourced security agencies, a patchy system for information sharing and enforcement, lax practices for firearms licensing and too much of a focus on the threat of Islamic extremism. A major problem, it concludes, is that when it comes to issues like firearms licensing, social cohesion and counter-terrorism there has been limited political ownership and an absence of public discussion,” she said.
Threat of terrorism ignored
The Report found that there has been an almost ‘head in the sand’ approach to the threat of terrorism, an unwillingness to talk about it publicly and alert New Zealanders to the risk. People noticing the shooter (Brenton Tarrant) in the community, being aware of the risk of mass killings through access to semi-automatic weapons and being more proactive about reporting to authorities, would have had more chance of stopping his attacks than what government agencies would have had, said the Royal Commission.
“The Report found: He flew under the radar of the security agencies; 10 public sector agencies held information about him but nothing that would warrant a red flag. Tarrant emailed a manifesto to Parliamentary Service, along with politicians and some in the media, referring to the attack just eight minutes before the terrorist attacks started.
“Parliamentary Service ‘followed correct procedure and acted promptly’ and there was ‘no other information provided or otherwise available to any relevant Public sector agency that could or should have alerted them to the terrorist attack.’ The gunman ‘had no close friends and largely avoided social situations” and so was “socially isolated.
“He was financially independent and widely travelled…in his preparation and planning for his terrorist attack, he was methodical and single minded. The individual could present well and conduct himself in a way that did not attract suspicion. He was not identified as someone who posed a threat.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden speaking in Parliament after tabling the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Massacre of March 15, 2019 today (December 8, 2020)
Arden Apologises to Muslim Community
While Ms Ardern offered the government’s apology to the Muslim community, Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Rebecca Kitteridge and Police Commissioner Andy Coster apologised on behalf of their respective organisations.
“For many years the, Muslim community has raised concerns over issues like the disproportionate scrutiny by security and intelligence agencies. The Report confirms that there was an ‘inappropriate concentration of resources’ … and failings within the firearms licensing system. The Commission made no findings that these issues would have stopped the attack. But these were both failings nonetheless and for that I apologise,” she said.
NZSIS Director General Rebecca Kitteridge
Ms Kitteridge said that at the heart of the Royal Commission of Inquiry are the 51 victims of the March 15, 2029 terrorist attacks, their whanau, survivors and witnesses.
NZSIS Director General Rebecca Kitteridge
“I could not comprehend what they had been through and I reflected deeply on the submissions and public comments made by the Muslim community who felt they had been ‘targeted by the security agencies.’ I know that some people with whom NZSIS had engaged felt that they were under suspicion or were of security concern when that was not so. In some cases, this caused real anxiety, and led to the belief that the Muslim community was being monitored, which was not and is not the case,” she said.
Ms Kitteridge said that the Agency should have done better to explain what they were doing and listening to concerns from the community.
“I know that a number of people have found this upsetting, and to them I apologise,” she said.
Police Commissioner Andy Coster
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has ‘unreservedly’ apologised for the ‘failures in the administration of the firearms licensing system,’ saying that their administration of the Arms Act had not always been to the level the public would reasonably expect.
Police Commissioner Andy Coster
“I accept the findings (of the Royal Commission of Inquiry) that there was a “lack of coherent and complete guidance for processing applications when a near relative referee could not be interviewed in person and that training and review processes were not adequate,” he said.
Mr Coster said that the Police should have done “more to consider whether the two referees knew the individual well enough to serve as referees.”
“Whilst the Commission finds this would not have necessarily stopped an attack, we know that we need to reassure the public that we have learnt from this event and I am committed to ensuring that we give this work the priority that it deserves, and the public expects. Changes already made to firearms laws would fill the gaps that had existed before the attacks,” he said.
Mr Coster said that while the Commission did not mention any specific intelligence failure in respect to the Police, the Report concluded that their ‘intelligence function to assess strategic terrorism threats had degraded in recent years.’ We will work on strengthening that part of its operation, and the ability to deal with hate crimes. There are some hard lessons for police … but there are also some opportunities to improve and do better,” he said.
Imams urge for more
Imams from the Al Noor and Linwood mosques thanked the Royal Commission for its handling and sensitivity into the inquiry to produce the report, but said a lot of action would need to follow the findings.
Future Actions
The Royal Commission of Inquiry Report has said that New Zealand should boost its counter- terrorism expertise and capacity and offered suggestions as to how to ‘confront and engage openly on the hard issues better,’ tighten up firearms licensing and the way the regime is run, broaden hate speech laws, support affected survivors, whānau and the broader community.
Ms Ardern told Parliament that her government will adopt all the 44 recommendations of the Commission. Establishment of a new National Intelligence and Security Agency will need further consideration, she said.
“Cabinet Minister Andrew Little (Health and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) will be placed in charge of coordinating the government’s response and implementing the recommendations; a new Ministry for Ethnic Communities will be created; ‘Te Raranga,’ The Weave will be set up to help frontline Police identify, record and manage hate crime and be more responsive to victims; We will establish a National Centre of Excellence to research radicalisation, violent extremism and social cohesion in New Zealand, amend terrorism suppression and hate crime laws and create an early intervention Police programme for individuals showing early signs of radicalisation,” Ms Arden said.
Mr Coster said that the Police will release its review of its response to the March 15, 2029 attacks, along with more information to the public tomorrow, Wednesday, December 9, 2020.
The above Report has been sponsored by
