National memorial considered for Christchurch attack victims
Officials from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage are in the early, exploratory stages of considering a memorial to commemorate the victims of the March 15 attacks in Christchurch.
The plans supersede an ambitious proposal released in 2019 from the NZ Federation of Islamic Associations, which previously drew up concept plans for a memorial to “capture the legacy of how New Zealanders all came together as one” after the shootings at two Christchurch mosques.
Those ambitious plans involved a large ornamental water feature, a playground and a conference centre.
Abdur Razzaq, chairperson for the federation’s Royal Commission of Inquiry committee, said the 2019 plans had been shelved as the group became occupied with other matters, such as the royal commission and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Razzaq told Stuff no decisions had yet been made on the new memorial. The federation had nothing to do with it, as it was not leading the new project.
While not guaranteed to be constructed, Stuff can reveal that the culture ministry has taken steps to advance the idea of a national memorial.
According to released documents, officials raised possible costings for a March 15 memorial with Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith in November 2023.
“Extensive consultation with the families, injured and other stakeholders is required to ensure the memorial meets their needs.”
Ministry for Culture and Heritage
“National memorials are costly to create and to maintain. Aside from the costs to select, design, build, maintain and depreciate a memorial, extensive consultation with the families, injured and other stakeholders is required to ensure the memorial meets their needs,” the released aidemémoire said.
“The cost estimate for the memorial itself is not easily arrived at – there is no standard measure to decide the scale, and therefore cost, of a national memorial.
“More detailed costings for a 15 March national memorial will be provided in a further separate briefing from which the ministry will also seek your formal decision as to how to proceed with respect to this project.”
The ministry would not put forward any person for an interview on the matter, with a spokesperson saying it was in the “very early, exploratory stages of considering a March 15 memorial”, so there was nothing additional to comment on.
However, the ministry confirmed that the exploratory work it had done considering a national memorial was separate to the work the NZ Federation of Islamic Associations commissioned in 2019.
There were no concept plans for the new memorial available.
The terror attacks on March 15, 2019 were the worst mass killings during peacetime in New Zealand history. The killer was convicted of terrorism, the murder of 51 people, and the attempted murder of 40 people.
Goldsmith has been approached for comment.
The Government has announced a $1.9 billion boost over four years to Corrections’ “front line”, with more than $400 million of that reprioritised within Corrections itself.
The announcement by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell includes an 810bed extension to Waikeria prison; 685 new frontline staff at Corrections, 470 of those Corrections officers; and $78m going to extend rehabilitation programmes for prisoners on remand.
Luxon called it a “significant uplift in funding for the frontline of Corrections, so that we can increase the capacity in our prisons and support more offenders to turn away from crime”.
It comes after a man was found dead on Auckland’s Ponsonby Rd on Sunday night, after reports of a firearm being discharged.
Confusion over the number of beds at Waikeria dominated the announcement, and whether 600 extra beds already planned for Waikeria were part of the additional 810.
A statement following the press conference confirmed that the funding would go towards an 810-bed extension at Waikeria prison, which was on top of the 600 planned beds.
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins called it a “horrific performance” that left “a lot more questions than answers”.
Corrections staff will also be in for a pay boost, but the Government would not release any details, instead pointing to the mid-year pay negotiations and December pay negotiations. “We’ve got to go through a bargaining process as per normal,“Luxon said, adding that it was budgeted for.
The $400m saved from within Corrections would be used for recruitment, training and deployment of the additional Corrections staff. The savings have come in part from not filling some back office roles, and doing a stocktake of more than 100 programmes and services to ensure they are value for money
On the extra frontline staff, Corrections Association president Floyd du Plessis said: “It’s all nice to say, but we have been short for a long time.
“We’re currently about 500 (staff) short, roughly, and we need about 500 to go back to baseline, on top of that.
He said that previously, it had been difficult to recruit over the last six years due to staff assaults, the competitive job market, “and in those times, Corrections isn’t exactly the most glamorous or well-paid out there.”
Du Plessis said there had been an improvement in recruitment over the last six months, while Mitchell said there had been a “massive uptake” in Corrections recruitment. “We’re currently recruiting, training and deploying 130 Corrections officers a month,” he said. ”Finally, we've actually got ahead of attrition.”
Earlier this year, staffing shortages and the increasing number of people being remanded in custody ahead of trials or sentencing continued to put pressure on New Zealand's prisons system.