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New Zealand will appoint a new minister to implement the recommendations of an extensive investigation into the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings that killed 51 people, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
“The [Muslim] the community will want to see accountability in terms of implementation, they will want to know who is responsible for coordinating some of those efforts and we will be providing it, “he told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday.
The prime minister, who visited the survivors and families of those killed in the South Island city over the weekend, said the government would provide an “initial response” to the findings after the report was released on Tuesday.
Due to the breadth of the recommendations, some would take time to implement, while others could move forward fairly quickly, Ardern said.
Families have already received an advance copy of the 792-page investigation report.
The announcement came as the Islamic Council of Women of New Zealand (IWCNZ) asked the government to make a formal national apology.
“The nation needs an apology … and that apology should not come only from the police, but from the entire government,” said its spokesperson, Aliya Danzeisen.
“An apology is the first step to heal and repair the damage caused. Asking for forgiveness is expressing true sorrow for loss and damage. It would be a good start. “
In his comments on Monday, Ardern declined to say whether his government would apologize and said any response would come after the report was released. “That will allow us to give a bit of context,” he said.
The government instigated a royal commission of inquiry into the country’s security agencies in the wake of the March 15, 2019 shootings, the deadliest in New Zealand’s modern history and the worst committed by an Australian citizen.
Before the attack, the gunman, Brenton Tarrant, posted multiple references to his plan online, was able to legally obtain a weapons license, and carried out reconnaissance missions at both mosques. When he was sentenced in August to life in prison without parole, it was revealed how he had meticulously planned the two mosque shootings, as well as more attacks.
The 20-month investigation was conducted behind closed doors and included interviews with everyone from top security officials to survivors and current and former prime ministers.
Presentations by the Islamic community described attempts to alert authorities over the past months and years to what they saw as a growing threat from far-right extremists. This included a threat made by someone else to burn a Koran outside a mosque on the day of the terrorist attack.
“Not a single police officer or investigator came to question or follow up on [that] threat, ”Aliya Danzeisen, a spokesperson for the IWCNZ, told AAP.
Writing in The Guardian last month, Danzeisen, who has led the government’s commitment to the IWCNZ, said New Zealand Muslims had put their faith in research to help heal and protect the nation.
“We also hope that the report includes clear ideas on how the government can address growing hatred and ‘otherness,’ and offers suggestions on how to further maintain and promote that union that the nation displayed immediately after the attack,” he wrote.
In the wake of the atrocity, New Zealand passed laws to ban semi-automatic weapons and introduce a gun buy-back scheme. New laws to establish a national firearms registry and new licensing requirements have stalled.
This year, the gunman pleaded guilty to all 92 counts, one of participation in a terrorist act, 51 of murder and 40 of attempted murder, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
