Ko Tō Tātou Kāinga TēneiKo Tō Tātou Kāinga Tēnei

On the matters of how the attack occurred and what could have been done to stop it the Commission found no failures within any Government agencies that would have allowed the terrorists planning and preparation to be detected. But they did identify many lessons to be learnt and significant areas needing change, including failings within the firearms licensing regime and security and intelligence agencies. For many years the Muslim community has raised concerns over the disproportionate scrutiny by security and intelligence agencies. As one member of the community said recently, they could only assume that same level of scrutiny was being applied to those who may have posed a threat to their security. The report confirms that there was an “inappropriate concentration of resources”. The report specifically notes that before 2018, the concentration of resources was not based on an informed assessment of the threats of terrorism associated with other ideologies. While the commission made no findings that these issues would have stopped the attack, these were failings none the less. In addition, the report also discusses the permissive firearms regime that persisted in New Zealand for many decades. It talks about the Thorpe report in the 1990s, and that “deficiencies in the firearms licencing system had been recognised in a number of reports and reviews. Despite that, changes were not made until March 15, and for that we must take responsibility. The Police can be held to account only for the laws they enforce and the manner in which they enforce them. As the report itself states “for the most part, the issues we have identified with the firearms licensing system were recognised and understood by the New Zealand Police before 15 March 2019, and have been addressed by legislation passed after 15 March 2019". Ultimately, this roughly 800 page report can be distilled into one simple premise. Muslim New Zealanders should be safe. Anyone who calls New Zealand home, regardless of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation should be safe.