SpeechMOTIONSChristchurch Terror Attacks—Third AnniversaryRt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): I seek leave to move a motion without notice to mark the third anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks.SPEAKER: I'm just going to warn people I'm going to take a little longer as far as waiting for objection because of the fact that we're working remotely to give people the opportunity to do it. It was pointed out to me that I didn't previously. Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I move That this House remember that three years ago today 51 people lost their lives and more than 40 were injured in the terror attacks on Christchurch masjidain that it acknowledge the continuing impact on the Canterbury Muslim community and Muslim New Zealanders reassert the promise we made as a House to protect Muslim New Zealanders and their right to be safe from fear and thank all those who have worked so hard to rebuild the impacted communities.Today I stand here on behalf of New Zealand to acknowledge those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of March 15. 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. March 15 is a date in our collective national history where we learnt about the very worst and the very best of humanity. I have many reflections from the days and weeks following the attack. Almost every single one of them is a memory or a lesson from our Muslim community. We were reminded not just in the aftermath of the attack but across the course of the sentencing process of the strength of courage unity and determination of our Muslim community. After the sentencing of the perpetrator of this horrific act the Imam who stood at the front of Al Noor mosque who watched his own community gunned down in the midst of prayer who that night was in such shock that I recall when I spoke with him he uttered but two words. That same man stood outside the court in Christchurch and said: Extremists represent hate. We represent love and compassion. Muslim and non-Muslim people of faith and no faith. That is us New Zealanders. We are very proud to be Muslims in New Zealand."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. Six days after the attack we announced the ban for all military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles. This took 61000 over-powered firearms 2800 modified firearms and more than 200000 firearms parts and accessories out of our communities. We have also established a dedicated firearms unit within Police to take over firearms regulatory activities as well as a firearms registry to be set up from June 2023 which will address the 30-year deficit of information when it comes to knowing what legal firearms are out there in our communities.Ten days after the attack a royal commission of inquiry was set up. It provided 44 recommendations to help our country to become the diverse safe inclusive country we hope for it to be. And as such a Ministry for Ethnic Communities is in place. Last year was the first annual hui on counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism. A national centre of research excellence for preventing and countering violent extremism is under way and a Master's scholarship programme has launched. In September last year our Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill passed into law giving enforcement agencies greater powers to protect New Zealanders from terrorist activity and in particular ensuring the planning and preparation for a terrorist act is now a criminal offence—a long outstanding gap in previous laws that has now been fixed.But the work continues. "Better" means changing more than the law. The 17 minutes of terror that was live streamed on social media on March 15 remains available on some parts of the web despite measures to take it down. It's clear the terrorist had spent a great deal of time in the deepest recesses of the web spiralling into extremism. And so two months after the attack alongside France we brought together heads of State and Government and leaders from the tech sector to adopt the Christchurch Call to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. The Christchurch Call community now includes the member States of the European Union and the European Commission the United States Japan Korea and many others—55 countries in total—and UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Ten online service providers have joined the call. The call's civil society advisory group represents more than 50 different organisations and individuals from around the world. We pledged to work with each other and with civil society to tackle the underlying causes of terrorism and violent extremism and to develop technical solutions that improve the online environment and make social media platforms less hospitable to terrorists and violent extremists. We have made substantial progress but the work continues including on our own social cohesion agenda. So 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. Three years on we turn to our Muslim community for inspiration to remain resolute in our task to protect one another to better understand one another to work together towards a safer kinder New Zealand. Assalamu alaikum."