Two minutes of silence
There will be an official two minutes of silence tomorrow to mark a week since the Christchurch terror attacks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
A Muslim call to prayer will also be played on TVNZ and Radio NZ tomorrow.
Ardern said yesterday that many Kiwis were keen to express their grief a week on from the horrific attacks, in which 50 people were killed.
‘‘To acknowledge this, there will be two minutes of silence on Friday. We will also broadcast nationally via TVNZ and RNZ.’’
Ardern made her second visit to Christchurch yesterday since the attack.
She spoke at Cashmere High School, which lost two students in the attacks, and met police and ambulance first responders.
Ardern said nothing could prepare those people for what they saw in the attack, but they responded with professionalism and care. She said many police were the first administering first aid when they entered the mosques.
‘‘None of you will have experienced something of that scale and that magnitude. No-one can prepare for that. And yet, the way you responded demonstrated utter professionalism, clear compassion.’’
Ardern said she was watching those first moments after the attacks from a distance in Taranaki. ‘‘I switched on the TV and I saw you. I saw you working with speed and pace and care and I have no doubt that you saved lives.
‘‘On behalf of New Zealand, thank you. For doing what you do every day . . . for doing what you do on our darkest hours and our darkest days.’’
Ardern has promised swift action on gun law changes and the Cabinet made several ‘‘inprinciple’’ decisions on Monday.
Asked if New Zealand could be an example for other nations such as the United States on gun law, Ardern said no.
‘‘If we are a blueprint for anything, we are a blueprint of what not to do,’’ Ardern said.
She said announcements on the reform would come ‘‘very soon’’ and policy teams had worked through the night over the weekend getting proposals ready. She said New Zealand would act faster than the 12 days it took Australia to respond after the Port Arthur massacre but only through ‘‘considerable effort’’.
Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters had noted several times that the perpetrator was an Australian citizen who had only visited ‘‘sporadically’’. But she made it clear yesterday this would have no effect on the trans-Tasman relationship. ‘‘They did not grow up with their ideology here. They did come to us,’’ Ardern said.
‘‘But we do not see that as a reflection of our relationship with Australia.’’
Ardern has expressed several times her distaste with the way social media sites have allowed hate speech to spread – along with the 17-minute livestream of Friday’s event. In Parliament on Tuesday, Ardern said platforms could not continue to pretend to be neutral. ‘‘They are the publisher, not the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility,’’ Ardern said.
Yesterday, she elaborated, saying because the problem was global, the best solution would probably come from countries working together.
Asked if she wanted Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a parliamentary select committee, she replied: ‘‘I am not interested in a PR exercise.’’