The arson attack at the Melbourne synagogue is a serious wake-up call for New Zealand. Whilst no person was physically injured, the trauma and the sense of insecurity that the Jewish community is facing is manifestly serious and needs to be urgently addressed. FIANZ, the umbrella national Muslim organisation of New Zealand, is acutely aware that such targeting of places of worship by hate-filled cowards should not only be condemned but tangible steps need to be taken to mitigate the risks from extreme hate mongers. The March 15 terrorist had planned to also lock the doors of the Masjid with chains and then burn the people inside with the petrol cans he had ready in his car. We offer our deepest sympathy to all those who have suffered the trauma of this anti-Semitic attack.

There are three key lessons which can be learned from the Melbourne attack. With the exponential growth of Islamophobic and anti-Semitic vitriol both on-line and in-situ, the link between hate speech and hate crime was clearly identified by the Royal Commission. New Zealand has had hate speech laws since 1993; however it excludes faith as a protected characteristic. Currently legislation protects characteristics such as race, colour, gender and like. The Royal Commission clearly stated that this issue needs to be resolved. Until this happens, faith communities will always be subject to hate- motivated speech which are akin to verbal bullets. The legislative safety net afforded to characteristics like gender, race and colour should also be extended to faith. However, we do not agree that such legislation should be introduced, without extensive community discussion. Raising awareness of the need to have tolerance, respect and understanding of diversity is part of the essential narrative and an essential pre-requisite for social cohesion.

Secondly, we thank the Prime Minister for extending the funding for the protection of places of prayer under the Safer Communities Fund. At a time of fiscal constraint, the Prime Minister had the foresight to ensure that our places of worship have basic safety protection. This funding has enabled places of worship to monitor physical threats.

Thirdly, our security agencies, particularly the NZ Police and the NZSIS, should continue their well- established extensive engagement programmes with ethnic and faith communities. This provides a sense of safety, security and trust for our communities, particularly at times of extreme hate provocation. Along with this, we request the government to reintroduce community funding to promote social cohesion and address the hate-provocation that we have recently experienced from deluded deniers of diversity.

Whilst the NZSIS Threat Assessment report has clearly identified the on-going risks facing our country, we note that much work has already been done with respect to the Royal Commission Recommendations, however there are some key areas which have yet to be addressed and are pivotal for the safety and security of marginalized and vulnerable communities.

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