Hon Tracey Martin
Minister of Internal Affairs

13 November 2019
      Media Statement

Extension for Royal Commission into Mosque attacks

The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today.

The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019.

“There has been significant public interest in the work of the Royal Commission, which has received over 1100 public submissions to date,” the Minister says.

“The Commission requested an extension as it will need considerably more time to fully consider these submissions given the complexity of information and materials received.

“I was also contacted by the Muslim Community Reference Group and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand which both asked for the report back date to be pushed out.”

Extending the report back date required cabinet’s approval as it was a formal change to the Royal Commission’s terms of reference. Cabinet also approved an additional $3 million for the Royal Commission’s longer timeframe.

“The Christchurch mosques attack is an unprecedented mark in our history,” Mrs Martin says.

“The public, through the Royal Commission, deserves to know what the relevant state sector agencies knew about the individual’s activities before the attack, what, if anything, they did with that information, what measures agencies could have taken to prevent the attack, and what measures agencies should take to prevent such attacks in the future.”

ENDS

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