Major terror inquiry instigated
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a royal commission of inquiry into the country’s security agencies after the Christchurch terror attacks.
Last week, she said an official inquiry would look into the specific circumstances leading up to the mosque shootings on March 15 that left 50 people dead and 50 injured.
Yesterday, she announced a royal commission of inquiry – typically reserved for ‘‘matters of the gravest public importance’’ – saying it was clearly the appropriate form of investigation in this instance.
Cabinet members had also discussed some of the detail around the country’s new gun legislation but they were still waiting on advice from police on licensing and a gun register.
Questions were quite rightly being asked about how the terror attacks were able to happen here, she said. This included questions on the accessibility of semi-automatic weapons, the role social media has played, and the focus of our intelligence and security services.
The key agencies taking part in the inquiry would include the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS), the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), police, Customs and Immigration.
‘‘There are questions I too have asked and want answers to as well.’’
One particular question Ardern needed to have answered was whether these were activities of an individual that the intelligence community could or should have known about.
The purpose of the inquiry was to look at what all of the relevant agencies knew or should have known about the individual and his activities, including his access to weapons, and whether they could have prevented the attacks.
It would look at events leading up to March 15 and the actions of the agencies.
‘‘What I can say today is there will be a focus on whether our intelligence community was concentrating its resources appropriately and whether there were any reports that could or should have alerted them to this.’’
It was important that no stone was left unturned to get to the bottom of how the terrorism occurred and what, if any opportunities they had to stop the shootings, Ardern said.
‘‘I want recommendations on how any such attack in the future could be stopped.’’
The terms of reference and a timeframe would be finalised in the next two weeks.
Last week, the prime minister said there were few differences between a royal commission and a public inquiry but a ministerial inquiry would give a little more ability to manage timelines and more options around managing classified information.
The inquiry would also look at the individual’s travel movements to and from New Zealand, internationally, his activities here, his use of social media and connection to others.
Muslim Association of Canterbury president Shagaf Khan welcomed the inquiry but said it needed to be both swift and thorough ‘‘because we do not know how many others are out there with this mentality’’.
A flurry of anti-racism graffiti that appeared across Wellington after the Christchurch terror attacks has prompted the city council to set up designated graffiti spaces.
But among the messages of support, there has also been some racism. A swastika appeared on the Cuba St rainbow pedestrian crossing sign and there have been reports of homophobic and racist graffiti beside the Karori tunnel in the aftermath of the March 15 shootings at the two southern mosques.
In each instance, however, members of the public were quick to paint it over.
The council apologised last week after contractors removed graffiti reading ‘‘Love to all Muslims’’ and ‘‘Stand together, NZ. Our people murdered’’.
Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the number of graffiti complaints since the terror attacks was low but contractors were aware of ‘‘sympathetic and supportive’’ graffiti appearing on public and private property across the inner-city.
But the words ‘‘f... off Nazis’’ were removed from beside the Basin Reserve yesterday, while similar sentiments had appeared elsewhere in the capital.
The council was in the process of setting up a space in Civic Square where people could share ‘‘words of support and aroha for the Muslim community, migrants and those from a refugee background’’, MacLean said.
The spaces were partly in response to the graffiti but also because there was a desire for people to have a gathering point.
‘‘We would prefer people don’t graffiti public property but we understand the sentiment.’’
The wind shields at Waitangi Park could also be used to tag or graffiti positive messages.
MacLean applauded the work of Libby Greatnews, who cleaned a swastika off the Cuba St rainbow crossing sign. ‘‘Libby Greatnews is living the Wellington spirit.’’