FIANZ, the national Muslim umbrella organisation, is closely monitoring the unfolding situation as part of our National Safety and Security Programme. We are particularly concerned about the welfare, well-being, and the trauma experienced by the students at the schools, their parents, teachers, staff, and the wider community. We have been in contact with the New Zealand Police and other relevant authorities. We thank the NZ Police for their urgent and diligent response to this threat. However, we wish to highlight three relevant points in this context:

1) Last week, FIANZ raised concerns precisely like this situation and noted that, due to fiscal retrenchment, the government has defunded, deprioritized and dismantled many of the key national security framework components of the Royal Commission. This includes the withdrawal of already allocated funding for Recommendation 12, which had completed its business case study and was funded. The Lead Coordination Minister’s decision to withdraw these funds is a retrograde step, taken without consideration for the safety and security of New Zealanders and without any consultation with vulnerable communities. Other factors include ending the Safer Communities Fund and reducing key expert staff from the Department of Internal Affairs, who monitor online threats, the Lead Coordination Minister’s has demonstrated very short-term thinking regarding crucial national safety and security issues. We note that there has been no consultation on these changes, nor have any regulatory impact statements been provided.

2) The vitriol surrounding the reintroduction of military-style semi-automatic (MSSA) firearms and the safety provisions in the Arms Act, implemented after the March 15 terror attack, seems to have emboldened would-be terrorists to discuss shooting Muslim children at schools in New Zealand. This should serve as a wake-up call for the Rt Hon Prime Minister that his Associate Minister for Justice is jeopardising the safety of all New Zealanders, disregarding national security. While the Prime Minister has claimed that she is an expert on firearms safety, the Associate Minister's actions - such as allowing gun clubs to omit reporting on the sales of arms or ammunition in their annual reports through an Order in Council - demonstrate a lack of transparency and accountability to her Cabinet colleagues and the New Zealand public. It is important to note that the regulatory impact report by the Ministry of Justice highlights a lack of consultation and points to potential safety ramifications. The Rt Hon Prime Minister should urgently review and rescind some of the Associate Minister’s performance to-date.

3) In a globally connected world, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has accurately highlighted that online radicalisation and the conflation of issues are significantly impacting young people. To foster social cohesion in New Zealand, it is essential that young people develop skills to identify and counter misinformation and disinformation, as countries like Finland have been doing for several years.

Finally, what is unfolding at the Muslim schools in Auckland could well have been a threat to a synagogue, church, community centre, women's refuge, or even a shopping centre. We urge the Rt Hon Prime Minister to reconsider the decision of his Lead Coordination Minister regarding the most important recommendation of the Royal Commission: to establish a dedicated and purpose-specific national security agency. Threats like this demonstrate why we need to have a strategic approach for our national security.

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