Parliament today marked the three year anniversary of the March 15 terrorist attack, however moves to strengthen hate crime and hate speech laws remain stagnant, with the Government unable to say if any changes will be made in this term.
Parliament on Tuesday marked the three-year anniversary of the March 15 terrorist attack, but moves to strengthen hate crime and hate speech laws remain stagnant, with the Government unable to say if any changes will be made in this term.
"March 15 is a date in our collective national history where we learnt about the very worst and the very best of humanity," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the House.
One survivor has made a remarkable journey. (Source: 1News)
"We remember the 51 who were killed. We remember the injured. We remember the families who suffered such all-encompassing loss, the communities that embraced them, and we remember the moment where we felt like everything changed around us in an instant.
"I will never fathom how it is in the wake of such hardship that our Muslim community have never shown disdain for their home, only pride and endless hope that it will be better. And that is what we owe them - better. Better comes through the systemic changes we make, like the changes to our laws."
Ardern was referring the swift changes to gun laws, the royal commission into the attack, the creation of the Christchurch Call and the changes to counter-terrorism laws.
"We honour the memories of the 51 shaheed who were killed with the actions we have taken to make our country a better home for all who live here. We acted as a country to deny infamy to the one who craved it. We acted as a country to cloak our Muslim community in love. And we acted as a country to strengthen tools both at home and around the world to violent extremism.
"But we must all every day work hard to do better, including to combat Islamophobia in Aotearoa New Zealand."
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In December 2020 Ardern told the survivors and family of those killed at Al Noor and Linwood Mosques implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry report was the "least we owe them".
The report called for "fit-for-purpose laws and policies... providing for hate crime offences, creating a workable approach to hate speech and encouraging the better recording of reports of hate crime".
The Government sought feedback last year on sweeping proposals, including changes to hate speech laws, and a move to make it illegal to incite others to discriminate against a protected group. It was met with confusion, with Ardern acknowledging the Government could have done a better job communicating the changes being proposed.
Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said the Government needs to act with greater urgency over hate speech legislation, saying they seemed to be dragging their heels.
"We have been waiting nearly three years for hate speech legislation to be strengthened in order to protect our communities. With public consultations finished, the Government must keep up the momentum.
"Implementation of such recommendations is a very serious matter. It needs to happen so we can learn from the mistakes of the past and make sure they don’t happen again.
"Every day our communities wait and the risk of more events triggered or incited by hate increases. We have had meetings galore; my suggestion is less meeting and more getting on with making Aotearoa a safer place."
Asked on Monday about the progress on law change, Justice Minister Kris Faafoi said that "on hate crime, I'm expecting some advice soon about how, and time frames, about how we proceed that".
"I think we need to make sure we can progress the hate crime changes that we look to make, but to do that in a way that doesn't actually whip up the kind of issues that we are trying to stop. We are going through a bit of work there."
He said the discussion document released last year "wasn't necessarily helpful to the debate and I think we've got to make sure we do that in a safer way".
Faafoi said he hoped work could be progressed when asked if it would be changed this term and "the reaction that we found and the technicalities and the complexities of those issues" are not going to stop "us having a good look".
"But we're still committed to making sure we deal with it because it is one of the recommendations from the royal commission."
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Ardern said they want "these pieces of law to be welcomed by the community, embraced because they're going to make a difference on the ground. We want to make sure we're also responsive to the recommendations of the commission and that our advisory group including members of the Muslim community support those changes.
"We had strong feedback in the consultation, we need to work through that. We're committed to change, we just need to make sure we get the change right."
In March last year, Muslim communities across the country said they still feel unsafe, after a report was released detailing the findings of 33 hui the Government held. They were told victims of March 15 needed more help, and hate speech and discrimination were still widespread. Many felt unsafe, didn’t trust New Zealand’s intelligence agency and experienced ongoing hate.
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