New memorial planned for Christchurch terror attack victims

Tuesday, 7 May 2024

The Masjid Al Noor Mosque in Deans Ave, Christchurch, pictured on the day of the anniversary of two years after the March 15 terror attacks, which also involved the Linwood Mosque.

Officials from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage are in the early, exploratory stages of considering a memorial to commemorate the victims of the March 15 attacks in Christchurch.

The plans supersede an ambitious proposal released in 2019 from the NZ Federation of Islamic Associations, which previously drew up concept plans for a memorial to “capture the legacy of how New Zealanders all came together as one” after the shootings at two Christchurch mosques.

Those ambitious plans involved a large ornamental water feature, playground and a conference centre.

Abdur Razzaq, chairperson for the federation’s Royal Commission of Inquiry committee, said the 2019 plans had been shelved as the group became occupied with other matters, such as the royal commission and the ongoing war in Gaza.

Razzaq told The Post no decisions had yet been made on the new memorial. The federation had nothing to do with it, as it was not leading the new project.

Abdur Razzaq, who was the chairperson for FIANZ Royal Commission committee, says the federation has abandoned previous plans to lead work on a national March 15 memorial. (File photo)

While not guaranteed to be constructed, The Post can reveal the culture ministry has taken steps to advance the idea of a national memorial.

According to released documents, officials raised possible costings for a March 15 memorial with Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith in November of 2023.

“National memorials are costly to create and to maintain. Aside from the costs to select, design, build, maintain and depreciate a memorial, extensive consultation with the families, injured and other stakeholders is required to ensure the memorial meets their needs,” the released aide memoire said.

“The cost estimate for the memorial itself is not easily arrived at – there is no standard measure to decide the scale, and therefore cost, of a national memorial. More detailed costings for a 15 March national memorial will be provided in a further separate briefing from which the ministry will also seek your formal decision as to how to proceed with respect to this project.”

A montage of the faces of the 51 people killed in the mosque terror attacks in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.

Goldsmith said he would continue to discuss the idea with officials but no decisions had been made.

The ministry would not put forward any person for an interview on the matter, with a spokesperson saying it was in the “very early, exploratory stages of considering a March 15 memorial”, so there was nothing additional to comment on.

However, the ministry confirmed the exploratory work it had done considering a national memorial was totally separate to the work the NZ Federation of Islamic Associations commissioned in 2019.

There were no concept plans for the new memorial available.

The terror attacks on two Christchurch mosques on March 15, 2019 were the worst mass killings during peacetime in New Zealand history. The killer was convicted of terrorism, the murder of 51 people and the attempted murder of 40 people.