tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/christchurch-151/articlesChristchurch – The Conversation2022-09-08T20:05:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893692022-09-08T20:05:49Z2022-09-08T20:05:49ZCanterbury ratepayers risk paying the price twice if Tarras airport takes off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482895/original/file-20220906-5961-aroe17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C14%2C4977%2C3300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week saw the 12th anniversary of the first major Canterbury earthquake on September 4 2010. Since that event and the catastrophic aftershock of February 22 2011, the Canterbury economy has proved quite resilient. So it’s a good time to ask where the region as a whole is heading.</p>
<p>This is especially important in light of plans by Christchurch Airport <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300190390/tarras-international-airport-the-madness-and-genius-of-building-it-in-the-tiny-central-otago-town">to build a new airport</a> at Tarras in Central Otago.</p>
<p>This ambitious project has the potential to reshape Christchurch’s role in the economy of the South Island. And yet it remains unclear how much the Otago airport plans take the recovery of Christchurch into consideration.</p>
<p>Behind this lies the larger question of what happens to the Christchurch and Canterbury economies, now that almost all insurance claims have finally been resolved, houses have been rebuilt, and many (though not all) of the larger public infrastructure projects have been completed.</p>
<p>Helped by public funding worth many billions, the Canterbury economy grew rapidly in the years following the quakes. This isn’t unusual, as the flow of funds from insurance and government typically turbocharges the reconstruction. But this construction-based growth is not sustainable, and the real test is what happens next. </p>
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<p>Will Christchurch emerge with an economy that was “built back better” to serve its residents, the South Island and Aotearoa New Zealand in general? Or will it <a href="https://www.nowpublishers.com/article/Details/IRERE-0104">slowly lose its economic vitality</a>, now the large inflow of investment funding in reconstruction is petering out?</p>
<p>Crucially, where does the proposed new airport at Tarras sit within this broader perspective? </p>
<h2>Why a new airport?</h2>
<p>Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL) is set up as a commercial enterprise, with 75% ownership by Christchurch City Holdings Ltd, the asset management arm of Christchurch City Council. The other 25% is owned by the Crown.</p>
<p>So it’s ultimately the ratepayers of Christchurch who must decide, through their elected representatives, whether it’s in their best interests to develop a new airport in Central Otago. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/shortages-price-increases-delays-and-company-collapses-why-nz-needs-a-more-resilient-construction-industry-177052">Shortages, price increases, delays and company collapses: why NZ needs a more resilient construction industry</a>
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<p>Does a Tarras airport make sense from a commercial, profit-seeking perspective? More importantly, will the airport development benefit the ratepayers of Christchurch, who ultimately own CIAL? To answer these questions, we first need to ask how the recovery from the Canterbury earthquake sequence is fairing in 2022.</p>
<p>One sector has dominated Christchurch’s economy since 2011 – construction. Not surprisingly, it doubled in size between 2011 and 2015 when reconstruction activity peaked. </p>
<p>Since then, however, it has been slowly declining (though it’s still about 20% larger than it was the year before the earthquakes). Now that a lot of the infrastructure in Christchurch is new, the city will need even less investment in construction than it did before the earthquakes. </p>
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<h2>What replaces construction?</h2>
<p>The worry – one that has plagued many other urban recovery projects after large earthquakes – is that no other economic sector is taking construction’s place as the major source of employment and growth in the city. </p>
<p>The knowledge sectors (information technology, education, professional and scientific industries) have all seen a relative decline or have been stagnant in the past few years. </p>
<p>Tourism, accommodation and hospitality declined a lot after the earthquakes, and haven’t fully recovered. But they can be part of the solution to filling the emerging gap as construction activity unwinds. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-disaster-after-another-why-we-must-act-on-the-reasons-some-communities-are-facing-higher-risks-189217">One disaster after another: why we must act on the reasons some communities are facing higher risks</a>
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<p>It’s therefore important to understand how the plans at Tarras relate to these long-term challenges for the city. Will a new airport help fill that gap? Maybe, though the case has yet to be made convincingly.</p>
<p>One chief concern is that the other three airports in or near Central Otago (Queenstown, Dunedin and Invercargill) are not far away, are all centred around larger population centres and therefore cheaper to run, and are <a href="https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/tarras-international-airport-genius-or-madness">operating below capacity</a>. </p>
<h2>Other costs to consider</h2>
<p>The future profits from a new airport, should they materialise, also need to be weighed against other costs – some of them borne much sooner. Climate change, in particular, is leading to a dramatic rethink of many lifestyle habits. And all the indications are that one of the first sectors this will test is long-distance tourism. </p>
<p>Barring a significant (and unlikely) increase in the number of long-distance tourists (coming maybe from the mega-cities of Asia), the project will only be profitable if it manages to divert traffic from the other airports in the South Island, and especially from Christchurch International Airport. </p>
<p>Christchurch Airport is the one airport in the South Island that already lets wide-body planes land, so it should be the one most concerned about competition from a Tarras airport with a similarly wide runway. Would CIAL be shooting itself in the foot by developing this new airport? If so, it would be the ratepayers of Christchurch who would be left standing unsteadily. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sun-is-setting-on-unsustainable-long-haul-short-stay-tourism-regional-travel-bubbles-are-the-future-140926">The sun is setting on unsustainable long-haul, short-stay tourism — regional travel bubbles are the future</a>
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<p>The most likely scenario is that a Tarras airport will not be a profitable asset for many years, due to the high cost of development and operation. It would also divert domestic and international tourists, and lucrative freight, away from Christchurch, thus hitting the city’s ratepayers twice (losing money as the owners of Tarras, and losing business as the owners of Christchurch Airport). </p>
<p>The airport is far from a certainty. As CIAL Project Director Michael Singleton <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/fog-partially-lifts-on-ambitious-airport-plan">said recently</a>: “If the economic case doesn’t stack up, the airport won’t be built. On that basis, those who’re saying it’s nonsensical should be quite relaxed about our exploring it.” </p>
<p>But CIAL has already spent $45 million directly to buy the Tarras land, and more on other related expenses. Given the double jeopardy the project entails for Christhchurch’s ratepayers, it’s an open question as to how relaxed they will remain, especially given the upcoming local elections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189369/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilan Noy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A proposed new airport at Tarras would affect the entire South Island economy. Twelve years on from the Canterbury earthquakes, have the implications of such a project been properly thought through?Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1699472021-10-19T19:12:59Z2021-10-19T19:12:59ZIs it even possible to regulate Facebook effectively? Time and again, attempts have led to the same outcome<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427161/original/file-20211019-19-1l9g2o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C26%2C4367%2C2885&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Rourke/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-why-australia-may-be-powerless-to-force-tech-giants-to-regulate-harmful-content-169826">recent warning</a> to Facebook over misinformation is just the latest salvo in the seemingly constant battle to hold the social media giant to account for the content posted on its platform.</p>
<p>It came in the same week as the US Senate heard <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58805965">whistleblowing testimony</a> in which former Facebook executive Frances Haugen alleged the company knew of harmful consequences for its users but chose not to act.</p>
<p>Governments all over the world have been pushing for years to make social media giants more accountable, both in terms of the quality of information they host, and their use of users’ data as part of their business models. </p>
<p>The Australian government’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6680">Online Safety Act</a> will <a href="https://perma.cc/95A5-T79H">come into effect in January 2022</a>, giving the eSafety Commissioner unprecedented powers to crack down on abusive or violent content, or sexual images posted without consent.</p>
<p>But even if successful, this legislation will only deal with a small proportion of the issues that require regulation. On many such issues, social media platforms have attempted to regulate themselves rather than submit to legislation. But whether we are talking about legislation or self-regulation, past experiences do not engender much confidence that tech platforms can be successfully regulated and regulation put in action easily.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2021_rip/35">research</a> has examined previous attempts to regulate tech giants in Australia. We analysed 269 media articles and 282 policy documents and industry reports published from 2015 to 2021. Let’s discuss a couple of relevant case studies. </p>
<h2>1. Ads and news</h2>
<p>In 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/digital-platforms-inquiry-final-report">inquiry into digital platforms</a> described Facebook’s algorithms, particularly those that determine the positioning of advertising on Facebook pages, as “opaque”. It concluded media companies needed more assurance about the use of their content.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/consumer-watchdog-calls-for-new-measures-to-combat-facebook-and-googles-digital-dominance-120077">Consumer watchdog calls for new measures to combat Facebook and Google's digital dominance</a>
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<p>Facebook initially welcomed the inquiry, but then <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Facebook_0.pdf">publicly opposed it</a> when the government argued the problems related to Facebook’s substantial market power in display advertising, and Facebook and Google’s dominance of news content generated by media companies, were too important to be left to the companies themselves. </p>
<p>Facebook argued there was <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Facebook.pdf">no evidence of an imbalance of bargaining power</a> between it and news media companies, adding it would have no choice but to withdraw news services in Australia if forced to pay publishers for hosting their content. The standoff resulted in Facebook’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/facebook-has-pulled-the-trigger-on-news-content-and-possibly-shot-itself-in-the-foot-155547">infamous week-long embargo on Australian news</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-easy-way-to-rein-in-facebook-and-google-stop-them-gobbling-up-competitors-170104">The easy way to rein in Facebook and Google: stop them gobbling up competitors</a>
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<p>The revised and amended News Media Bargaining Code was <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Final%20legislation%20as%20passed%20by%20both%20houses.pdf">passed by the parliament in February</a>. Both the government and Facebook declared victory, the former having managed to pass its legislation, and the latter ending up striking its own bargains with news publishers without having to be held legally to the code.</p>
<h2>2. Hate speech and terrorism</h2>
<p>In 2015, to deal with violent extremism on social media the Australian government initially worked with the tech giant to develop joint AI solutions to improve the technical processes of content identification to deal with countering violent extremism.</p>
<p>This voluntary solution worked brilliantly, until it did not. In March 2019, mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch were live-streamed on Facebook by an Australian-born white supremacist terrorist, and the recordings subsequently circulated on the internet. </p>
<p>This brought to light <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/111473473/facebook-ai-failed-to-detect-christchurch-shooting-video">the inability Facebook’s artificial intelligence algorithms</a> to detect and remove the live footage of the shooting and how fast it was shared on the platform. </p>
<p>The Australian government responded in 2019 by <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/crime/abhorrent-violent-material">amending the Criminal Code</a> to require social media platforms to remove abhorrent or violent material “in reasonable time” and, where relevant, refer it to the Australian Federal Police. </p>
<h2>What have we learned?</h2>
<p>These two examples, while strikingly different, both unfolded in a similar way: an initial dialogue in which Facebook proposes an in-house solution involving its own algorithms, before a subsequent shift towards mandatory government regulation, which is met with resistance or bargaining (or both) from Facebook, and the final upshot which is piecemeal legislation that is either watered down or only covers a subset of specific types of harm. </p>
<p>There are several obvious problems with this. The first is that only the tech giants themselves know how their algorithms work, so it is difficult for regulators to oversee them properly. </p>
<p>Then there’s the fact that legislation typically applies at a national level, yet Facebook is a global company with billions of users across the world and a platform that is incorporated into our daily lives in all sorts of ways.</p>
<p>How do we resolve the impasse? One option is for regulations to be drawn up by independent bodies appointed by governments and tech giants to drive the co-regulation agenda globally. But relying on regulation alone to guide tech giants’ behaviour against potential abuses might not be sufficient. There is also the need for self-discipline and appropriate corporate governance - potentially enforced by these independent bodies. </p>
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<p><em>This article originally stated Google publicly opposed the ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry. A Google spokesperson told The Conversation that while Google <a href="https://about.google/intl/ALL_au/google-in-australia/aug-17-letter/">raised concerns</a> about specific aspects of the first draft of the News Media Bargaining Code that arose from the inquiry’s recommendations, it did not oppose the inquiry.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olga Kokshagina is affiliated with the French Digital Council (CNNUM): <a href="https://cnnumerique.fr/">https://cnnumerique.fr/</a></span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Karanasios does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Efforts to rein in the social media giant’s power have followed the same script: dialogue, then attempts at self-regulation, then a bitter dispute over legislation, followed by compromise.Olga Kokshagina, Researcher - Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT UniversityStan Karanasios, Associate professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1542692021-02-07T19:05:51Z2021-02-07T19:05:51ZTo shut down far-right extremism in Australia, we must confront the ecosystem of hate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382668/original/file-20210205-14-eg1rd4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C30%2C4657%2C3187&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A member of the Proud Boys at a rally in Melbourne in January 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Ross/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The worst ever terrorist attack <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/brenton-tarrant-when-the-terrorist-is-one-of-us/12618384">by an Australian</a> didn’t take place in Australia, but it was very much made in Australia. </p>
<p>The Australian man who shot dead 51 people and injured 40 in Christchurch in 2019 arrived in New Zealand two years earlier, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/white-bred-terrorist-the-making-of-a-killer-20190806-p52ee7.html">fully radicalised</a> and consumed with hate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-groups-have-used-covid-to-expand-their-footprint-in-australia-here-are-the-ones-you-need-to-know-about-151203">Far-right groups have used COVID to expand their footprint in Australia. Here are the ones you need to know about</a>
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<p>He had been expressing racist hatred <a href="https://apnews.com/article/intelligence-agencies-shootings-brenton-tarrant-new-zealand-new-zealand-mosque-attacks-d8217fa30fe4eeba45fb001b77857385">from his youth</a>, and from the age of 14 was active on extremist chat forums like the notorious <a href="https://theconversation.com/4chan-raids-how-one-dark-corner-of-the-internet-is-spreading-its-shadows-68394">4Chan</a>. </p>
<p>In his twenties he <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/brenton-tarrant-how-christchurch-terrorist-spent-final-months-before-attack/ca366435-03c8-4981-b382-051abec79f56">travelled extensively</a> overseas, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/the-european-journeys-of-the-alleged-christchurch-mass-murderer-20190322-p516k3.html">developing</a> his white supremacist views. He connected with like-minded individuals, such as Austrian Identitarian leader, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/16/christchurch-shooters-links-to-austrian-far-right-more-extensive-than-thought">Martin Sellner</a>.</p>
<p>And while he carried out his mass-shooting attack alone, he saw himself as a belonging to a global community of white supremacists. He was a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-23/christchurch-shooting-accused-praised-blair-cottrell/10930632">vocal supporter</a> of the notorious Australian extremist Blair Cottrell. He was very much a part of Australia’s far-right <a href="https://tacklinghate.org/about-us/">ecosystem of hate</a>.</p>
<p>Last month, a group of far-right extremists <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/neo-nazis-go-bush-grampians-gathering-highlights-rise-of-australia-s-far-right-20210127-p56xbf.html">made headlines</a> with a public and childishly provocative camping trip to the Grampians. </p>
<p>It is easy to dismiss them as being a bunch of attention-seeking fantasists, but the danger is greater than it appears.</p>
<h2>A pyramid of hate</h2>
<p>Far-right extremism is the ugly face of a much larger system of toxic synergies. Former race discrimination commissioner and author of <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/tim-soutphommasane/on-hate">On Hate</a>, Tim Soutphommasane, refers to a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-05/why-are-so-few-hate-crimes/11078972">pyramid of hate crime</a>”: </p>
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<p>The history of hate and racism tells us that any kind of violence or hatred cannot be separated from banal or low levels of prejudice and discrimination […] Hate speech leads to political violence if you allow it to escalate. </p>
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<p>In its <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-royal-commission-report-on-the-christchurch-atrocity-is-a-beginning-not-an-end-151663">final report</a> released last December, the Christchurch royal commission was critical of multiple shortcomings and failures in New Zealand, but found no evidence of an intelligence failure. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/impeachment-trial-research-spanning-decades-shows-language-can-incite-violence-154615">Impeachment trial: Research spanning decades shows language can incite violence</a>
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<p>While pointing out far-right extremism in New Zealand in general should have received more attention, there were few, if any, opportunities to have spotted the Australian terrorist in advance. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201208-no-plausible-way-christchurch-mosque-shooter-could-have-been-detected">commissioners concluded</a>: </p>
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<p>There was no plausible way that he could have been detected, except by chance.</p>
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<p>With no comparable investigation in Australia it remains unclear, even in hindsight, whether Australian authorities could have interrupted the vocal extremist before he become a mass murderer. </p>
<h2>Far-right extremism is growing in Australia</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, the Christchurch attack certainly focused the attention of Australian authorities. </p>
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<img alt="ASIO chief Mike Burgess" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382663/original/file-20210205-16-dlfuxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">ASIO chief Mike Burgess has warned about an increase in far-right extremism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span>
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<p>In February 2020, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-24/asio-director-general-mike-burgess-neo-nazi-threat-rising/11994178">gave a rare briefing</a>in which he spoke of far-right extremist groups regularly gathering in the suburbs to salute Nazi flags and promote their “hateful ideology”. </p>
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<p>In Australia, the extreme right-wing threat is real and it is growing. </p>
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<p>As of 2020, investigating far-right extremism now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/22/asio-reveals-up-to-40-of-its-counter-terrorism-cases-involve-far-right-violent-extremism">takes up 30-40%</a> of ASIO’s counter-terrorism caseload, up from 10-15% before 2016. </p>
<p>Although worryingly, efforts to explicitly condemn far-right extremism in federal parliament, such as last week’s neutered Senate motion, continue to be stymied by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/04/coalition-deletes-references-to-far-right-extremism-in-senate-motion">partisan politicking</a>.</p>
<h2>The warning signs</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/asia/new-zealand-shooting-brenton-tarrant.html">Christchurch shooter</a> did not go from hateful extremism to violent extremism overnight — it only looks that way. He had been cold-bloodedly <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/christchurch-terrorist-could-only-have-been-stopped-by-chance-20201208-p56ljh.html">preparing for</a> and planning his terrorist attack for years. </p>
<p>The warning signs were there in his <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-23/christchurch-shooting-accused-praised-blair-cottrell/10930632">hateful social media posts</a>, but they were lost in a cacophony of extremist noise. </p>
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<img alt="Worshippers outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382664/original/file-20210205-18-ggdhxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Christchurch shooter had been expressing racist hatred since his youth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Baker/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is possible that, with more attention, his deadly trajectory could have been identified and interrupted. But even if that is not specifically the case, it is clear in general that limiting space for hateful extremism reduces the likelihood of violent extremism. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CTED_Trends_Alert_Extreme_Right-Wing_Terrorism_JULY.pdf">United States</a>, far-right extremism has accounted for the <a href="https://www.adl.org/murder-and-extremism-2020#exploring-the-numbers">vast majority</a> of terrorist attacks over the past decade. This points to what happens when the ecosystem of white supremacist hate is allowed to flourish unchecked. </p>
<h2>Not as illegal as you think</h2>
<p>In Australia, like the US, violent extremism makes enormous demands on law enforcement resources. But hateful extremism is not, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-28/anger-over-neo-nazis-chanting-camping-in-the-grampians/13097654">for the most part, illegal</a>. Violent extremism represents but the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-boogaloo-and-who-are-the-rioters-who-stormed-the-capitol-5-essential-reads-153337">What is the 'boogaloo' and who are the rioters who stormed the Capitol? 5 essential reads</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As we saw recently in Victoria, neo-Nazis are free to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/neo-nazis-go-bush-grampians-gathering-highlights-rise-of-australia-s-far-right-20210127-p56xbf.html">parade through national parks</a>, burning crosses and yelling things like “heil Hitler” and “Ku Klux Klan” in public places, certain of securing media attention and the infamy they desperately seek. </p>
<p>And while fascists were prancing around the Grampians, supporters of the Proud Boys — one of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-far-right-rioters-at-the-capitol-were-not-antifa-but-violent-groups-often-blame-rivals-for-unpopular-attacks-153193">far-right militia</a> behind the storming of the US Capitol — were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-27/far-right-proud-boys-symbols-in-melbourne-frightening-frydenberg/13094492">marching in Melbourne</a>. </p>
<p>Canada has just moved to declare The Proud Boys a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/canada-proud-boys-terrorist-capitol-siege/2021/02/03/546b1d5c-6628-11eb-8468-21bc48f07fe5_story.html">terrorist group</a>. It would help if we <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-04/proud-boys-right-wing-terrorist-organisations/13123000">followed suit</a>. </p>
<h2>Deadly inspiration</h2>
<p>It is true most of these neo-Nazi bullies, moving in packs and hiding behind balaclavas, will not cross the line and become violent extremists. </p>
<p>But the danger is they will inspire lone actors to launch violent attacks in the toxic-narcissistic hope of going from “zero to hero”, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-17/christchurch-shootings-brenton-tarrant-social-media-strategies/10908692">competing for attention</a> with avidly-consumed manifestos, live-streamed bodycam footage, and a sick obsession with “body counts”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Grampians National Park, Victoria." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382665/original/file-20210205-24-te7wdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In January, a group of white supremicists were heard chanting in the Grampians.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pablo Mena/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The details of far-right extremism vary. But running through its cocktail of toxic nationalism, nativism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant, misogynist propaganda and fascism is a river of hate. </p>
<p>Swirling around the edges of this vast ecosystem is a discourse of racism and bigotry, poisoning political rhetoric and public culture from <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/eddie-mcguire-couldnt-say-sorry-but-collingwood-players-can/news-story/f35c61e80866afe30c831eb03b34ba3e">organised sport</a> to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/12/channel-seven-settles-defamation-case-with-aboriginal-community-over-sunrise-segment">media comment</a>. And, like a killer rip at the beach, powerful undercurrents of conspiracy theory movements <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/">like QAnon</a> drag <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/playing-with-fire-the-curious-marriage-of-qanon-and-wellness-20200924-p55yu7.html">otherwise ordinary citizens</a> at the edges into dark places with frightening force and swiftness. </p>
<p>For the most part, this results in more noise than fury. But both the violent storming of the US Capitol and the gunning-down of 91 worshippers in Christchurch are reminders of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/boogaloo-bois-military-training-overthrow-government/?utm_campaign=frontline&utm_content=1612196341&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter">where this hate can lead</a>. </p>
<h2>A public register for hate crimes</h2>
<p>The time has come to deal with hateful extremism before it manifests as violent extremism. </p>
<p>Australia needs to constrain the space available for the ecosystem of hate to poison public spaces and discourse. This requires both <a href="https://www.adl.org/what-we-do/combat-hate/hate-crimes">tighter legal constraints</a> on hate speech and the incitement of hatred and investment in, and listening to and acknowledging, victims of hate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rioters storm the US Capitol in January 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382669/original/file-20210205-20-1drmpis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mob that strormed the US Capitol included members of far-right groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mihoko Owada/AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also a pressing need for a properly resourced and maintained open registry of hate crimes and incidents, rather than the shambolic, haphazard, disconnected, array of incomplete collections that currently exist. </p>
<p>Four out of five <a href="https://tacklinghate.org/blogs/tackling-hate-in-australia-stocktake-report-2019-2020/">organisations</a> tackling hate in Australia are non-government and largely focus on raising awareness. Police forces are tasked with addressing hate crime, but they need to be empowered to do this more thoroughly, with clearer guidelines and resources. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://christchurchattack.royalcommission.nz">Christchurch royal commission</a> points the way to what is required in Australia. This includes police revising the way they record complaints. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>to capture systematically hate-motivations for offending and train frontline staff […] [to] identify potential hate crimes when they perceive that an offence is hate-motivated.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also recommends police to better understand the perceptions of victims and witnesses and to record “hate-motivations”. </p>
<p>We also need to recognise the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20200318/frequently-asked-questions-about-hate-groups#hate%20group">many significant incidents</a> and groups that do not reach the threshold of criminality. There is much to be gained from carefully recording all incidents even if prosecution is unlikely (<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-05/why-are-so-few-hate-crimes/11078972">only 21 people</a> have ever been convicted of hate crime in Australia). </p>
<p>Listening to victims <a href="https://tacklinghate.org/blogs/comparing-different-sources-of-data-to-examine-trends-of-hate-crime-in-absence-of-official-registers/">is also important</a>, not just for their sake but so we have more <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map">complete evidence</a> to guide us. </p>
<h2>A healthier, happier society</h2>
<p>Doing this does not guarantee the next violent extremist attack could be stopped. But it would go a long way to making it less likely. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-far-right-and-white-supremacists-have-embraced-the-middle-ages-and-their-symbols-152968">Why the far-right and white supremacists have embraced the Middle Ages and their symbols</a>
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<p>At the same time, a society with less space for hateful extremism would a healthier and happier one for all, whether at the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2021/02/02/racism-issue-much-bigger-collingwood-heritier-lumumba">football</a>, taking <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/woman-arrested-charged-after-racist-incident-involving-two-women-and-a-child/news-story/73d2194ab1888debf5dba50fec7e9ccd">the train</a>, using <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/08/youtube-radicalized-christchurch-shooter-new-zealand-report-finds.html">social media</a> or <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/national-socialist-network-melbourne-neonazi-group-seen-in-grampians-uncovered/news-story/d6cee39c9d2b0d6e565cf7e339491a5a">picnicking</a> in a national park.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Barton receives funding from the Australian Research Council. And he is engaged in a range of projects working to understand and counter violent extremism in Australia and in Southeast Asia that are funded by the Australian government.</span></em></p>The time has come to deal with hateful extremism before it manifests as violent extremism. This includes having a public register of hate incidents.Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1518282020-12-14T18:17:22Z2020-12-14T18:17:22ZThe ‘epicentre of women’s suffrage’ — Kate Sheppard’s Christchurch home finally opens as a public museum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374655/original/file-20201214-17-17rwyox.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kate Sheppard was around 40 in 1888, the year she and her family moved into the brand-new wooden villa at 83 Clyde Road, Ilam. Now part of inner Christchurch, it was then a rural section some five kilometres from the city centre.</p>
<p>Today, 132 years later, what is now known as Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House will be opened by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.</p>
<p>The government <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/122992796/jacinda-ardern-says-kate-sheppard-house-will-open-to-the-public-this-year">bought the house</a> in 2018 to mark the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage and its former owner’s pivotal role in the movement. The landmark property will now be open to the public as a museum promoting and and celebrating Sheppard’s life and achievements.</p>
<p>The feminist pioneer had migrated to Christchurch from Scotland in 1869. She married city councillor and merchant Walter Sheppard in 1871. Their son Douglas was seven when they moved into Clyde Road, which was near where her two sisters, a brother and friends already lived. </p>
<p>Because women were largely excluded from the male world of politics, the house served as both home and unpaid workplace. Emblematically, a domestic space was the epicentre of woman’s suffrage, birthplace of the campaign that would see New Zealand become the first country in the world to enfranchise all women, regardless of race, class or creed, on September 19, 1893. </p>
<h2>A centre of activism</h2>
<p>During the prime years of her activism, from 1888 until 1902, Sheppard worked in the house, writing letters, speeches and articles. It was where newspapers and books were read, ideas formed and actions plotted. Other women activists, such as Ada Wells, and male supporters Alfred Saunders and John Hall were regular visitors. </p>
<p>It was in the dining room that the iconic <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/womens-suffrage-petition-presented-to-parliament">third petition</a>, with 32,000 signatures from around the country, was pasted together and wrapped around a wooden handle for Hall to roll down the aisle in parliament. And it was where the suffrage victory was celebrated. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-zealand-was-the-first-country-where-women-won-the-right-to-vote-103219">Why New Zealand was the first country where women won the right to vote</a>
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<p>After 1893 the property remained a hub of feminist ideas for social change. As Sheppard later put it, there were still many “fossilised prejudices” to work on. In 1896, she became the founding president of the National Council of Women, directing activities and fostering international connections from the house. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Kate Shappard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kate Sheppard.</span>
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<p>Sheppard worked hard, advocating for health and well-being, education and social, political and economic justice. The Married Women’s Property Act 1884 and the Divorce Act 1898 were two further important feminist victories, but it took until 1910 for the repeal of the 1869 Contagious Diseases Act, which unfairly targeted prostitutes.</p>
<p>Sheppard believed in women’s economic independence, their place in the professions and equal pay for equal work. She campaigned for women to be able to stand for parliament, to be appointed as justices of the peace, to act as jurors and to be guardians of children. </p>
<p>Despite its illustrious history, the Clyde Road house was mostly overlooked for decades. But thanks to a succession of owner-occupiers who poured love and money into the villa, it has not only survived but thrived. </p>
<p>John Joseph Dougall, lawyer and mayor of Christchurch from 1911 to 1912, bought the house from Walter Sheppard and undertook grand Edwardian improvements. It was further extended and modernised during the ownership of Julia Burbury and family, who for 33 years were the last private owners. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-a-tragic-family-secret-influence-kate-sheppards-mission-to-give-new-zealand-women-the-vote-141526">Did a tragic family secret influence Kate Sheppard's mission to give New Zealand women the vote?</a>
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</p>
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<p>Unlisted and largely unknown when Burbury bought it, the house eventually became a category one historic place in 2010. By then, a second wave of feminism had raised the status of women’s history, recovering and celebrating Sheppard and her colleagues as role models. </p>
<h2>A feminist shrine?</h2>
<p>With the 1993 suffrage centenary and Sheppard’s likeness gracing the New Zealand $10 note, she has become a national heroine. Is her house likely to become something of a feminist shrine, too? If so, it would be part of a global trend. </p>
<p>In 1965, the family home of US women’s rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls, New York, became a National Historical Landmark. She lived there from 1847 until 1862, and referred to the farmhouse as the “centre of the rebellion”. </p>
<p>It is now part of the extensive Women’s Rights National Historical Park. Opened in 1980, it focuses on the first Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls in 1848, but <a href="https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/elizabeth-cady-stanton-house.htm">claims</a> a broad philosophical brief:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is a story of struggles for civil rights, human rights, and equality, global struggles that continue today. The efforts of women’s rights leaders, abolitionists, and other 19th century reformers remind us that all people must be accepted as equals. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The former home of Cady Stanton’s suffrage partner, Susan B. Anthony, also became a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The celebrated American civil rights leader ran the National American Woman Suffrage Association from the house in Rochester, New York, where she lived until her death in 1906. </p>
<p>Today, the Susan B. Anthony <a href="https://susanb.org/">Museum and House</a> “collects and exhibits artifacts related to her life and work, and offers tours and interpretive programs to inspire and challenge individuals to make a positive difference”. </p>
<p>In Britain, Manchester’s Pankhurst Centre opened in 1987 as “an iconic site of women’s activism, past and present”. The home of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and her family from 1898 to 1907, the first meeting of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) took place in its parlour. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nz-was-first-to-grant-women-the-vote-in-1893-but-then-took-26-years-to-let-them-stand-for-parliament-123467">NZ was first to grant women the vote in 1893, but then took 26 years to let them stand for parliament</a>
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<p>Keeping activism alive, the house is also a women’s centre and home to Manchester Women’s Aid, a service for victims of domestic abuse. It <a href="https://www.pankhursttrust.org/pankhurst-centre">seeks to be</a> a “unique and vibrant place where women can learn together, work on projects and socialise”.</p>
<p>With hindsight, early European feminists were reformers, but they could also be agents of colonisation. In Aotearoa New Zealand, their connections with Māori focused on temperance and they tended to assume assimilation was inevitable. </p>
<p>In the US and Britain the emerging feminist “shrines” have attempted to widen their remits accordingly. How Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House views its purpose and makes public history is a story that begins today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles received funding from Royal Society Te Apārangi as a James Cook Research Fellow and a University of Canterbury Tessa Malcolm Bequest. She was part of a Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Kate Sheppard House Interpretation Reference Group.</span></em></p>Overlooked for decades, the house where the women’s suffrage campaign was launched finally becomes a public landmark.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512032020-12-11T01:00:17Z2020-12-11T01:00:17ZFar-right groups have used COVID to expand their footprint in Australia. Here are the ones you need to know about<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374124/original/file-20201210-21-1hf2nez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=724%2C67%2C3279%2C2658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ERIK ANDERSON/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The threat of far-right terrorism has loomed large in Australia this week. An 18-year-old from NSW has been <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/teenager-charged-with-terrorism-offences-to-remain-behind-bars-20201210-p56mbm.html">arrested</a> on charges of advocating terrorism and inciting others to violence. According to police, he had not only been sharing white supremacist and neo-Nazi views online, but had expressed support for being involved in a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-09/nsw-albury-man-18-expected-to-be-charged-with-terrorism/12966514">mass casualty</a>” event. </p>
<p>The arrest coincided with the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/parliamentary-inquiry-to-examine-extremism-in-australia-amid-increasing-far-right-threat">launch of an inquiry</a> into extremist movements in Australia by the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security. Headed by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, the inquiry will consider both right-wing and left-wing extremism.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374128/original/file-20201210-14-136kofe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The teenager from Albury arrested this week by the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also this week, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-royal-commission-report-on-the-christchurch-atrocity-is-a-beginning-not-an-end-151663">royal commission report into the Christchurch terrorist attack</a> reported that New Zealand security and intelligence services had mistakenly ignored the potential of far-right groups to commit acts of terrorism due to an overwhelming focus on Islamist threats. </p>
<p>The commissioners confirmed the convicted terrorist behind the attack that killed 51 people had been active in Australian extremist groups before moving to New Zealand. </p>
<h2>The far right becoming more visible during pandemic</h2>
<p>Far-right extremism is not a new phenomenon in Australia, but it has certainly been on the rise in the past year in response to federal and state governments’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>In September, ASIO revealed that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/22/asio-reveals-up-to-40-of-its-counter-terrorism-cases-involve-far-right-violent-extremism">up to 40% of its counterterrorism efforts</a> were now directed at far-right extremist activities, an increase from 10-15% before 2016.</p>
<p>ASIO has also warned that far-right groups were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-12/asio-briefing-warns-far-right-is-exploiting-coronavirus/12344472">exploiting the pandemic</a> to expand their operations. New groups have emerged and existing groups have become more radicalised and increased their memberships.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-recognises-the-threat-posted-by-far-right-groups-so-why-arent-they-listed-on-the-terror-register-134019">Australia recognises the threat posted by far-right groups. So, why aren't they listed on the terror register?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One such right-wing group is the Proud Boys. They received what seemed like an endorsement this year from US President Donald Trump when, after being asked to condemn white supremacist and militia groups during the first presidential election debate in September, he said they should “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/opinion/trump-proud-boys.html">stand back and stand by</a>”. </p>
<p>The group has also been growing in Australia this year. Its vetting channel on the encrypted app Telegram has been increasingly active, with a steady stream of new applicants. And members have participated in protests throughout the year.</p>
<p>At the Melbourne Invasion Day rally, a group of Proud Boys posed at Flinders Street Station wearing T-shirts that said “<a href="https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pissboysinvasion-1.jpg">Governor Arthur Phillip did nothing wrong</a>”. They dispersed before the rally commenced.</p>
<p>By November, however, they were bolder and appeared wearing their signature Fred Perry polo shirts at an <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13093649/proud-boys-melbourne/">anti-lockdown protest</a> at Victoria’s Parliament House. They scuffled with police before being pepper-sprayed, arrested and fined. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374126/original/file-20201210-23-mx46hc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Proud Boys became more of a visible presence at a November protest in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erik Anderson/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Proud Boys are a self-described “Western chauvinist” street-fighting gang for men. They claim to be non-racist, but members must take an oath upholding Western civilisation as supreme. Their <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-should-be-wary-of-the-proud-boys-and-their-violent-alt-right-views-104945">process for becoming a member</a> also involves violence against each other and against antifascists or “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-antifa-and-where-did-it-come-from-82977">antifa</a>”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-should-be-wary-of-the-proud-boys-and-their-violent-alt-right-views-104945">Why Australia should be wary of the Proud Boys and their violent, alt-right views</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This year, Proud Boys members in America have been <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/09/30/proud-boy-arrested-on-six-felony-charges-in-portland/?sh=5a3943a86e2f">arrested</a> for assault, street brawls and weapons offences. They are an increasingly visible presence on the streets there, frequently wearing military body armour and carrying high-powered weapons. </p>
<p>The increased visibility of Proud Boys at demonstrations is concerning if it signals a new strategy by the group to engage in street violence either with police or left-wing protesters. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374131/original/file-20201210-20-ru8yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Proud Boys members protesting the presidential election outcome in Washington. Note right Wing Death Squad badge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">KYDPL KYODO/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Other far-right groups emerging</h2>
<p>Other right-wing groups in Australia have benefited from public anger to the government’s coronavirus responses, as well. </p>
<p>Relatively new groups such as the <a href="https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville-free-corps-using-neonazi-symbols-in-posters-around-city/news-story/15ac758b6ed7f1fe7cb5e61318411526">Townsville Free Corps</a> and the <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/alarm-as-neonazi-group-national-socialist-network-expands-to-adelaide/news-story/a68c9d4aa39ce51120c7ab8e3fdf7035">National Socialist Network</a>, an offshoot of the Lads Society and incorporating ex-Antipodean Resistance members, have stepped up their recruitment and propaganda activities in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland over the past year. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1335566072800415745"}"></div></p>
<p>The Southern Poverty Law Centre in the US, which tracks far-right extremist groups, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/08/12/base-exporting-accelerationist-terror">revealed</a> in August that the white supremacist terror group The Base had also interviewed potential Australian members using its Perth-based recruiter to set up cells. By late 2019, at least a dozen Australian men had applied to join The Base. </p>
<p>One potential member had been a former political candidate for One Nation, the SPLC reported. </p>
<p>Many of these far-right groups are adherents to the same “great replacement theory” that motivated the Christchurch killer. According to this theory, white Europeans are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/05/great-replacement-theory-alt-right-killers-el-paso">threatened</a> by increasing non-white immigration and are therefore facing “white genocide”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-and-conspiracies-how-the-far-right-is-exploiting-the-pandemic-145968">Coronavirus and conspiracies: how the far right is exploiting the pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Base follows an “accelerationist” ideology, which aims to bring about societal collapse as a way of “winning the race war” for whites. </p>
<p>The National Socialist Network, which has <a href="https://t.me/s/nationalsocialistnetwork?before=53">more than 2,000 members on Telegram</a>, uses the “great replacement theory” to recruit. Its leader, Thomas Sewell, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/12/australian-white-nationalists-reveal-plans-to-recruit-disgruntled-white-male-population">specifically targets</a> young, white, “disgruntled” men. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1279777719132225540"}"></div></p>
<h2>When hateful speech turns into violence</h2>
<p>Tyler Jakovac, the 18-year-old man arrested in Albury this week, fits this description. According to NSW police assistant commissioner Mark Walton, he <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/a-nsw-teenager-who-allegedly-holds-neo-nazi-views-is-expected-to-face-terrorism-charges">hated anyone who did not look like him</a> and was specifically opposed to Jews, Muslims and immigrants.</p>
<p>The National Socialist Network issued a statement via an encrypted app claiming that Jakovac applied to join six months ago, but didn’t pass the vetting process. The group claims that after being rejected, Jakovac abused it as being “too moderate”.</p>
<p>The Christchurch killer, meanwhile, had been invited to join an earlier version of Sewell’s group. He <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/threats-from-white-extremist-group-that-tried-to-recruit-tarrant-20190501-p51j5w.html">declined</a> and went on to act alone.</p>
<p>This raises a problem: extremist groups with a public propaganda strategy are easier to identify, but as the inquiry into the Christchurch attack noted, lone actors can be almost invisible to authorities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-royal-commission-report-on-the-christchurch-atrocity-is-a-beginning-not-an-end-151663">The royal commission report on the Christchurch atrocity is a beginning, not an end</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are communities on gaming platforms, message boards and in encrypted apps that share racist, anti-semitic and hateful material every day. By “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/23/alt-right-online-humor-as-a-weapon-facism">"weaponising” irony</a>, users can hide behind plausible deniability (“it’s just a joke”) when challenged about the violence stated in their posts. But to outsiders, the language used can be confronting. </p>
<p>It is often insiders who have a more finely tuned sense of when someone is crossing over from sharing memes to something more sinister. We need to educate and support internet users to follow their hunches by identifying and reporting other users who are edging toward violent action. </p>
<p>The Christchurch murderer was reported to police in 2016 for threatening someone with retribution on the “<a href="https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/day-of-the-rope">day of the rope</a>”, according to the inquiry report. This is neo-Nazi shorthand for the mass murder of race traitors. Unfortunately, no police action was taken. </p>
<p>There are thousands of references to the “day of the rope” in online groups — knowing when to step in is the challenge. And, as the events of this week show, disruptive preemptive action is essential to reduce the risk of another mass murder.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaz Ross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New far-right groups have emerged during the pandemic and existing groups have become more radicalised and increased their memberships.Kaz Ross, Lecturer in Humanities (Asian Studies), University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1480062020-11-30T19:08:25Z2020-11-30T19:08:25ZCustodians of Antarctica: how 5 gateway cities are embracing the icy continent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365124/original/file-20201022-17-h1v50y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C2820%2C1827&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Elizabeth Leane</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://ourspaces.org.uk/antartica-day-2/">Antarctica Day</a> celebrates the icy continent and its unique governance system. It’s the anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty’s adoption on December 1 1959. Framed in a spirit of global co-operation, the treaty acknowledges Antarctica does not belong to any one country. Article IV states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In practice the region is the subject of <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australias-claim-to-antarctica-at-risk-33074">intense commercial and geopolitical interest</a>. Our work over the past four years has made clear the benefits of developing strategies to foster international co-operation among the five so-called Antarctic “gateway” cities rather than <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-05/international-competition-to-be-gateway-to-antarctica/8679924">international competition</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-cities-that-could-change-the-future-of-antarctica-66259">Five cities that could change the future of Antarctica</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These five cities on the Southern Ocean rim — Cape Town, Christchurch, Hobart, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia — share a unique interest in Antarctica and an opportunity to <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-cities-that-could-change-the-future-of-antarctica-66259">shape its future</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365116/original/file-20201022-21-1061cyn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The five Antarctic gateway cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do their residents feel about Antarctica?</h2>
<p>Our survey of 1,659 residents of these cities in July this year found they care deeply about the icy continent. Overall, and for many particular groups, environmental care greatly outweighs economic interests. Many residents express hope that this care might translate into more protective policies and action.</p>
<p>However, emotions were mixed, with pessimism and sadness also common responses. When we asked people how they feel about “the future of Antarctica in the next 20 years”, “hope” took first place, followed closely by “pessimism” and “sadness”.</p>
<p>The survey is part of the <a href="https://antarctic-cities.org/">Antarctic Cities Project</a>, which finishes this month. For the past four years an international team of researchers, city officials, national Antarctic programs and youth groups have worked together to develop a framework to strengthen Antarctic connections and a sense of guardianship for the continent. The framework encompasses the cities’ own urban sustainability strategies within a wider concern for the planet. </p>
<p>Our work focuses on shifting from the limited idea of “gateway” to this broader sense of becoming Antarctic “custodial cities”. </p>
<p>Our online survey of the cities’ residents over the age of 18 asked: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>how informed they felt about the relationship between their city and Antarctica</p></li>
<li><p>their opinion on how important Antarctica is to their city’s identity</p></li>
<li><p>how responsible they, their families and friends think they are for the future of Antarctica. </p></li>
</ul>
<iframe title="Responses to questions on Antarctica by city and sex" aria-label="chart" id="datawrapper-chart-Nc9Ut" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Nc9Ut/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>We posed the question: “Why is it important for your city to develop an identity in relation to Antarctica?” The response “it drives us to take care of the environment” was most common (57%) across all five cities. Other responses included: </p>
<ul>
<li>“it creates a unique brand for our cities” (36%)</li>
<li>“it creates more jobs” (32%)</li>
<li>“it attracts more tourists” (31%)</li>
<li>“it reinforces residents’ attachment to place” (29%). </li>
</ul>
<p>Caring for the environment was the most selected option for all ages. Women felt this particularly strongly. Men favoured the more economically oriented options, “it generates more jobs” and “it attracts more tourists”. </p>
<p>Women and people between the ages of 31 and 40 reported higher levels of “hope” and lower levels of “indifference”. Indifference was higher among people between 18 and 30, reaching 16.42%. In this age group, and with men overall, “pessimism” significantly outweighed “hope”. Punta Arenas and Ushuaia residents expressed more “hope” than in other cities. </p>
<p>Young people’s expressions of pessimism and indifference bear witness to the urgent work of reforming our relationship to the Antarctic region. They will be the beneficiaries, and increasingly the drivers, of this reform. </p>
<h2>A decade of co-operative custodianship</h2>
<p>The cities first came together with the 2009 signing in Christchurch of a statement of intent to promote peaceful co-operation. Though it expired 18 months later, various city and national government policies have reinforced the five cities’ “Antarctic gateway” status. They have put forward visions for enhancing and capitalising on their Antarctic identities, a key part of their relationship to the world. </p>
<p>In an example of action at a local level, the City of Christchurch is moving towards a custodianship model by basing its 2018 Antarctic strategy on two key principles:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>embracing the Maori principle of <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/kaitiakitanga-guardianship-and-conservation"><em>Kaitiakitanga</em></a> –
meaning guardianship, protection, preservation or sheltering –
and a customary way of caring for the environment based on traditional Māori world view to guide the city’s involvement in the region</p></li>
<li><p>taking a leadership role in sustainable actions for the benefit of the Antarctic region and the city. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/non-human-democracy-in-the-anthropocene-it-cannot-be-all-about-us-51404">Non-human Democracy: in the Anthropocene, it cannot be all about us</a>
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<p>In coming together, the five cities are showing they can play an important role in defining how Antarctica is imagined, how discourse is framed and how the continent is vicariously experienced. </p>
<p>The Antarctic Cities Project has created an interlinked network of organisations that can learn from and benefit each other. This network of local government, national Antarctic programs, youth groups and polar organisations has produced <a href="https://antarctic-cities.org/game/">Antarctic Futures</a>, an educational online <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-serious-games-all-time-juliette-denny/">serious game</a>. </p>
<p>The network also founded the <a href="https://antarctic-cities.org/ayc/">Antarctic Youth Coalition</a>. It was launched in February 2020 during an expedition to Antarctica with the <a href="http://www.inach.cl">Chilean Antarctic Institute</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://antarctic-cities.org/the-expeditioners/">Five young leaders</a> from each of the cities steer the coalition. This year they put together an online <a href="https://www.hobartcity.com.au/Community/Events-and-activities/Antarctic-Day">Antarctica Day Festival</a> to celebrate and learn more about the ongoing importance of this polar region.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365115/original/file-20201022-13-1k7ahcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Antarctic Youth Coalition team with Juan Salazar at Collins Glacier, King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula, February 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Elizabeth Leane</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Principles for Antarctic cities</h2>
<p>During 2020 we began work on a Charter of Principles for Antarctic Cities in collaboration with the Hobart and Christchurch city councils. It draws from Christchurch’s 2018 <a href="https://www.christchurchnz.com/media/3o1dd2ca/antarctic_strategy.pdf">Antarctic Gateway Strategy</a> and the 2017 <a href="https://www.antarctic.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/164749/Tasmanian_Antarctic_Gateway_Strategy_12_Dec_2017.pdf">Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy</a>. This charter will guide sustainable urban practice and embrace Antarctica’s significance to the economies of these cities while charting ways forward for sustainable development. </p>
<p>The charter aims to celebrate the unique polar heritage of these cities and emphasises the crucial role of youth organisations for engaging with the future of Antarctica. And it acknowledges that human connections with Antarctica extend well beyond the last two centuries, embracing Indigenous conceptions of caring for Country, both land and water.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-official-welcome-to-the-anthropocene-epoch-but-who-gets-to-decide-its-here-57113">Anthropocene</a>, global public consciousness of, and responsibility for, the icy continent in a time of climate change is increasing. These cities’ relationship with the region to their south and to each other is a valuable part of their urban identity and Antarctica’s future – something worth celebrating on Antarctica Day.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-the-south-pole-is-warming-faster-than-the-rest-of-the-world-141536">New research shows the South Pole is warming faster than the rest of the world</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148006/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juan Francisco Salazar receives funding from the Australian Research Council Project LP160100210. He is affiliated with Future Earth Australia. He is an ARC Future Fellow (2020-2023). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Leane receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Magee receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul James receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Marx and Marina Khan do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Antarctic cities’ residents care deeply about the continent, with environmental concerns outweighing economic priorities. Asked about its future, they feel a mix of hope, pessimism and sadness.Juan Francisco Salazar, Professor, School of Humanities and Communication Arts & Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityElizabeth Leane, Associate Professor of English and ARC Future Fellow, University of TasmaniaKatie Marx, PhD Candidate, Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of TasmaniaLiam Magee, Senior Research Fellow, Digital Media, Western Sydney UniversityMarina Khan, PhD Candidate, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityPaul James, Professor of Globalization and Cultural Diversity, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1455392020-09-04T02:22:00Z2020-09-04T02:22:00Z10 years since the Darfield earthquake rocked New Zealand: what have we learned?<p>Many of us may remember the magnitude 6.2 <a href="https://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/3468575">earthquake that hit Christchurch</a>, New Zealand, on February 22 2011. The quake caused 185 deaths, thousands of injuries and <a href="https://www.icnz.org.nz/natural-disasters/canterbury-earthquakes/">billions of dollars in damage and economic loss</a>.</p>
<p>But six months before that earthquake an <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Quigley_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Solid_Earth.pdf">interconnected maze</a> of <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/eos.pdf">previously unidentified</a> active faults ruptured beneath the alluvial plains some 20km to 80km west of Christchurch.</p>
<p>This multi-fault rupture produced a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that released 13 times more energy than the Christchurch earthquake. It was named the <a href="https://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/3366146">Darfield earthquake</a>, after the nearest town, and violently shook us from our beds at 4.35am on September 4 2010.</p>
<p>No deaths occurred, but the significant damage to land and infrastructure stimulated numerous scientific investigations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-sits-on-top-of-the-remains-of-a-giant-ancient-volcanic-plume-139019">New Zealand sits on top of the remains of a giant ancient volcanic plume</a>
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<p>Ten years on and it is useful to summarise some of the lessons learned in its aftermath.</p>
<h2>Early discoveries</h2>
<p>Within hours of the Darfield earthquake, scientists rushed to the scene. They located evidence for a major ground surface rupture at <a href="https://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Our-Science/Natural-Hazards-and-Risks/Recent-Events/Canterbury-quake/Darfield-Earthquake">Highfield Road</a> (pictured above).</p>
<p>This site quickly became a geological tourist destination for the public, news media and politicians alike.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people in discussion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356237/original/file-20200903-22-1cx2tgj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The then minister, Amy Adams (left), and prime minister, John Key (centre), and geologist Mark Quigley (right) discuss the Darfield earthquake on the Greendale Fault rupture trace in September 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amy Adams</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many scientific experiments were done there, including the <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Hornblow-et-al-2014.pdf">excavation of large trenches and age-dating of faulted sediments</a>. This revealed an earthquake had occurred at this location, with similar characteristics, some 22,000 to 28,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Evidence for this ancient quake was eroded and buried beneath the gravels of the Canterbury Plains, so the fault system evaded discovery until its rupture in 2010.</p>
<p>But its emergence supported prior assertions that this sparsely studied region was populated with <a href="https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/5122/12585501_pettinga%20jnzsee%202001.pdf">hidden active faults</a> that could generate earthquakes with maximum magnitudes of <a href="https://bulletin.nzsee.org.nz/index.php/bnzsee/article/view/325" title="Seismic hazard of the Canterbury region, New Zealand: New earthquake source model and methodology">7.0</a> to <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/102/4/1514/349800/National-Seismic-Hazard-Model-for-New-Zealand-2010">7.2</a>.</p>
<p>The existence of <a href="https://www.mfe.govt.nz/sites/default/files/media/RMA/planning-development-faults-graphics-dec04%20(1).pdf">planning guidelines at or near active faults</a> before the Darfield earthquake also allowed scientists to rapidly place their preliminary observations into a decision-making context. </p>
<p>Specifically, <a href="https://nhess.copernicus.org/preprints/nhess-2020-83/" title="The utility of earth science information in post-earthquake land-use decision-making: the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence in Aotearoa New Zealand">decisions to allow residents to rebuild</a> in the area after the Darfield earthquake were able to be made before all scientific evidence was acquired.</p>
<p>From this perspective, even though the Darfield earthquake was commonly described as a surprise, it was a scenario that seismic hazard models, building codes and land-use planning guidelines had considered before it occurred. </p>
<p>This reaffirms some important lessons in science: uncertainty and risk are everywhere, but we can create systems and guidelines to allow us to cope with this.</p>
<p>And to best contribute to decision-making, scientists need to be prepared, collaborative, diverse, strategic and very efficient in how we collect and communicate scientific information to decision-makers. This can be quite demanding in the time-compressed environment of a crisis. </p>
<h2>Complex earthquakes</h2>
<p>By combining a range of data <a href="https://www.bulletin.nzsee.org.nz/index.php/bnzsee/article/view/250" title="The Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake: Geodetic observations and preliminary source model">New Zealand scientists were the first to recognise</a> the Darfield earthquake began on a very steep, <a href="https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/80/6A/1580/119391/Rupture-nucleation-on-unfavorably-oriented-faults?redirectedFrom=fulltext">unfavourably oriented</a> fault that theory suggests was too inclined to rupture. </p>
<p>But it did rupture and cascaded from this fault (the Charing Cross Fault) on to its neighbour (<a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Quigley-et-al-Geology-2012-55.full_.pdf">the Greendale Fault</a>) and across the fault network.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the intersection of the Greendale Fault and the Charing Cross Fault" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356466/original/file-20200904-14-2e0wg8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mapbox/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>We remain intrigued by this aspect, and <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Quigley_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Solid_Earth.pdf">have hypothesised</a> that unfavourably oriented faults like Charing Cross may act as keystones that regulate the rupture behaviours of complex fault networks like those responsible for the Darfield earthquake.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/tamarahking/status/1135731943830458368?lang=en">Our modelling</a> also shows complex multi-fault ruptures like the Darfield earthquake (and the <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6334/eaam7194" title="Complex multifault rupture during the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, New Zealand">Kaikoura earthquake</a> in 2016) may be more common than single-fault earthquakes in these types of geologically complex regions.</p>
<p>This requires more careful consideration of how we variably distinguish or amalgamate them into <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/41/E9532" title="Use of scenario ensembles for deriving seismic risk">seismic hazard models</a>.</p>
<h2>Earthquake hazards as harbingers</h2>
<p>Earthquake hazards experienced in the Darfield earthquake such as <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/G36149.1.full_.pdf">falling rocks</a> and <a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=liquefaction">liquefaction</a> were harbingers of future hazards.</p>
<p>For example, the backyard of my house in eastern Christchurch first liquefied in the Darfield earthquake. The ground <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/419.full_.pdf">recurrently liquefied</a> in at least nine more earthquakes over the next 16 months.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/3/114" title="Effects of Earthquakes on Flood Hazards: A Case Study From Christchurch, New Zealand">Subsequent studies</a> revealed that liquefaction of similar severity is expected to recur on timescales of 100 to 300 years. And <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/B31174.1.full_.pdf">geological evidence for all of these hazards</a> existed in our landscape before the earthquake sequence even began. </p>
<p>At the time of the Darfield earthquake, we had yet to understand the origins and significance of many of these hazards. Thus they did not inform <a href="https://nhess.copernicus.org/preprints/nhess-2020-83/" title="The utility of earth science information in post-earthquake land-use decision-making: the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence in Aotearoa New Zealand">land-use planning decisions</a>.</p>
<p>Major programs in earthquake hazards operating across New Zealand continue to help improve our understanding of them and can support future decision-making.</p>
<p>Similarly complex fault systems are found throughout the Canterbury Plains and provide similar sources of hazard. Complex multi-fault earthquakes may be the norm, rather than the exception.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-reveal-melting-of-rocks-under-volcanic-zone-deep-in-earths-mantle-80452">Satellites reveal melting of rocks under volcanic zone, deep in Earth's mantle</a>
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<p>Major <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1193/021413EQS026M">rockfall events</a> analogous to those experienced in the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes have average return periods of 3,000 to 5,000 years. This does not mean future events cannot occur again within a significantly shorter time. </p>
<p>The Darfield earthquake stimulated an intense interest in using multiple geological sources to understand earthquakes. This knowledge is still influencing the trajectory of earthquake science more broadly. </p>
<p>Together with advances in engineering and other disciplines, this work shifts the narrative away from predicting the exact times and locations of earthquakes, which may never be possible, towards reducing the risks and enhancing our resilience to future events. </p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Quigley receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Some of the research discussed in this article was funded by the New Zealand Earthquake Commission.</span></em></p>We might not be able to predict the next big earthquake, but we can make sure we’re ready for it and understand the risks.Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1347802020-03-26T03:43:55Z2020-03-26T03:43:55ZLife in prison looms for Australia’s Christchurch gunman, now NZ’s first convicted terrorist<p>Less than a fortnight after the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nz/topics/christchurch-terror-attacks-anniversary-83907">first anniversary</a> of the Christchurch mosque shootings, and on the first day of New Zealand’s four-week COVID-19 lockdown, the Australian man responsible for the attacks has surprised the nation by <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/412640/christchurch-mosque-attacks-gunman-pleads-guilty-to-all-charges">pleading guilty to all charges</a>. </p>
<p>As well as being guilty of 51 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder, he becomes the first person convicted of terrorism in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Up until now, the accused man – who The Conversation has chosen not to name – had pleaded not guilty to all charges and was due to stand trial from June 2. But the guilty plea means a trial is no longer necessary and the process now moves to the sentencing phase. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jacinda-ardern-let-massive-sigh-relief-christchurch-mosque-gunmans-guilty-plea">said</a> she “let out a massive sigh of relief” when she heard the news of his guilty pleas, and that she expected many New Zealanders would also feel:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a certain sense of relief: that the whole nation, but particularly our Muslim community, are being spared from a trial that could’ve otherwise have acted as a platform. </p>
<p>Nothing will bring their loved ones back. But this is a small reprieve. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But families of victims and the wider New Zealand public look likely to face a long wait before the Australian terrorist is sentenced, as the court processes have been disrupted by the pandemic response. The judge has indicated that sentencing will only take place when all victims who want to attend can be present. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-extremists-still-threaten-new-zealand-a-year-on-from-the-christchurch-attacks-133050">Far-right extremists still threaten New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<h2>Timing of guilty pleas</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/R-v-Tarrant-20200326.pdf">note released by the judge</a>, Justice Mander, records that the defendant intimated earlier this week that he wished to plead guilty to all charges and then confirmed that in writing. </p>
<p>Criminal courts continue operating for urgent matters during the lockdown and the Christchurch High Court used audio-visual links for the defendant and his lawyers at the change of plea hearing. Only a small number of media representatives and senior members of the Christchurch Muslim community were present.</p>
<p>No date has been fixed for the sentencing hearing – and this is sensible. Justice Mander has asked for reports on the defendant prior to sentencing. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323140/original/file-20200326-168912-98zgh5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">jacindaardern/Instagram</span></span>
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<p>Aside from any difficulties for probation officers preparing their advice to the judge, sentencing hearings also provide an opportunity for victims and families of victims to present victim impact statements. </p>
<p>These are usually presented orally in cases of serious crime. Managing this process would have been difficult in normal circumstances and is now even more complex during a pandemic lockdown, but the judge has made clear he hopes this can happen. </p>
<p>Speaking after the news of the guilty pleas, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said some police staff who were working on the prosecution of the mosque attacker would now be freed up to help with New Zealand’s COVID-19 response.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-my-friend-and-why-there-is-no-right-way-to-mourn-the-christchurch-attacks-133239">Remembering my friend, and why there is no right way to mourn the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<h2>Likely sentence and security conditions</h2>
<p>The maximum sentence for attempted murder is 10 years, but for a terrorist act or murder it is life imprisonment. The <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0009/latest/DLM135342.html">Sentencing Act 2002</a> requires a life sentence for murder unless that would be manifestly unjust. In this case, there is no doubt the defendant will be sentenced to life in prison. </p>
<p>Some countries add various determinate sentences together to make long sentences, possibly of hundreds of years, but this practice is not followed in New Zealand.</p>
<p>But there is a real question for the judge. A life sentence has two parts: there is an outer limit (the rest of the defendant’s life) and a minimum term that has to be served as punishment. If the Parole Board concludes that the risk to the public is low enough, a person can be released once they have served the minimum term - so this is important.</p>
<p>The Sentencing Act requires a minimum term of at least 17 years for a terrorist murder or for murder involving two or more victims. But the judge is required to look at accountability for harm to victims, denunciation, deterrence and protection of the public and decide whether these factors require that no minimum term be set. </p>
<p>There has been no such whole life sentence in New Zealand to date. But I expect Justice Mander will give it serious consideration, notwithstanding the guilty plea, which is often given credit at the sentencing stage.</p>
<p>A prisoner is in the custody of the Department of Corrections. The defendant, an Australian self-declared white supremacist, has been in the highest security category and subject to additional restrictions since his arrest. It will be a long time, if ever, before he is managed outside high-security conditions. </p>
<p>There are various treaties relating to the transfer of serving prisoners, but New Zealand is not a party to them. It requires foreign prisoners to serve their sentence and then deports them. New Zealanders who are sentenced abroad cannot serve their sentence here. </p>
<p>When asked today about deportation, Prime Minister Ardern <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jacinda-ardern-let-massive-sigh-relief-christchurch-mosque-gunmans-guilty-plea">said</a> it was too soon to make any decisions about the future, and that it was important to let the sentencing process finish first.</p>
<p>But it is generally accepted that the executive can make arrangements on an individual basis in special circumstances. It remains to be seen if the New Zealand and Australian governments make relevant arrangements.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kris Gledhill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Christchurch gunman’s surprise guilty plea makes him the first person convicted of terrorism in New Zealand. A legal expert explains what will happen next in the sentencing process.Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1332392020-03-12T19:04:34Z2020-03-12T19:04:34ZRemembering my friend, and why there is no right way to mourn the Christchurch attacks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319992/original/file-20200311-116261-hy5zw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C1%2C1219%2C696&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">71-year-old grandfather Haji-Daoud Nabi, who was shot as he welcomed a stranger to his mosque.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: this article was updated on Sunday March 15 to reflect the latest news on event cancellations due to coronavirus.</em></p>
<p>On March 15 last year, I lost a close friend in the Christchurch attacks. When Haji-Daoud Nabi greeted a stranger at the door of the Al Noor mosque with “hello brother”, he was shot dead – one of 51 people killed.</p>
<p>I met Haji-Daoud at a Wellington mosque as a teenager, which led to a lifelong friendship. His stories partly <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111364502/an-ordinary-man-with-extraordinary-values-hajidaoud-a-victim-of-the-christchurch-terror-attacks">inspired my PhD research</a> in Afghanistan. There, I studied the way violent events can shape people’s sense of community. </p>
<p>But I never thought those lessons from Afghanistan would one day also apply in the peaceful country I grew up in.</p>
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<h2>One year on, disagreeing about how to remember</h2>
<p>Over the past year, on my visits home to New Zealand, I’ve spoken with victims’ families, community leaders, people working on the recovery effort, and others working with the royal commission of inquiry into the attacks.</p>
<p>I have watched closely as the community I grew up with has moved forward. I have observed Muslim communities that in many ways are stronger now and better integrated – both with each other, and with the wider public – than before last year’s attacks.</p>
<p>Rather than turning people against Muslims, shared grief and anger has arguably led to a stronger society. </p>
<p>But I have also seen disagreements and differences emerge between Muslims in New Zealand, including around how the attacks should be remembered – particularly this Sunday’s planned <a href="https://ccc.govt.nz/news-and-events/whats-on/show/3674">National Remembrance Service</a> in Christchurch. </p>
<p>Before the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12316677">event was cancelled on Saturday</a> due to coronavirus concerns, Christchurch City Council <a href="https://ccc.govt.nz/news-and-events/whats-on/show/3674">had said</a> the Sunday afternoon service would be jointly led by the local Muslim and Māori communities, along with the council and New Zealand government. Thousands of people had been expected to attend, and it was going to be streamed live online for a global audience.</p>
<p>Some in New Zealand had been unhappy about the service, saying they would rather “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12312378">move on</a>”. Spokespeople from both the Otago and Canterbury Muslim Associations, along with other Muslim groups, had distanced themselves from the commemoration. The general sense has been that celebrating anniversaries is not part of Islamic practice.</p>
<p>But not everyone believes this. </p>
<p>The Al Noor mosque <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/christchurch-mosque-reopens-call-action-islamophobia-190323042942715.html">re-opened</a> eight days after the shootings. Earlier this week, Al Noor’s imam Gamal Houda said the attacks were a “crime against humanity” and should be an <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12315692">exception to normal Islamic rules</a>. And other Muslims, like my friend Aya who lost her brother in the attacks, had been part of ongoing planning and consultation around Sunday’s planned commemorations.</p>
<p>For some, “remembering” is an occasion for silence and moving on. For others, it is a time for protest and a catalyst for change.</p>
<p>One of the recurring themes in my PhD fieldwork in Afghanistan, as well as others who have written on <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=nHjZAAAAIAAJ">violent events</a>, is that the voices of survivors often get subsumed by the “big story” - what the massacre means for a community or national identity.</p>
<p>But what the Christchurch anniversary highlights, yet again, is there is no single, homogeneous group of Muslims, in New Zealand or anywhere else, who all want and believe the same thing.</p>
<p>No one person or community can claim to own an event like the Christchurch attacks, or what it means, or how it is remembered. Each person <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/411650/mixed-feelings-and-emotions-ahead-of-christchurch-attacks-memorial">mourns in their own way</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-extremists-still-threaten-new-zealand-a-year-on-from-the-christchurch-attacks-133050">Far-right extremists still threaten New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<h2>Cultural practices intertwined</h2>
<p>In March last year, I couldn’t get a flight to Christchurch in time to be at Haji-Daoud’s funeral. </p>
<p>Watching his funeral via video instead, I was particularly moved by the haka, led by a Muslim, and the procession of bikies escorting the hearse carrying his body to the burial site. </p>
<p>To me, this spoke to who Haji-Daoud was as a person. He was as Kiwi as he was Afghan. </p>
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<p>Over the past year, we have seen cultural practices intertwine like this in surprising ways. First, through a spiritual cleansing of the two mosques that were attacked, by both Ngāi Tahu (the South Island’s main Māori tribe) and Muslim leaders. </p>
<p>After that, marae (Māori meeting places) opened their doors to Muslim mourners, and mosques opened their doors in turn. <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12316352">Messages of aroha (love)</a> and kia kaha (stay strong) were written outside mosques, and often translated into Arabic.</p>
<p>I do not think this was a momentary reaction. I think it represents a genuine coming together that has reshaped the way Muslims, and other Kiwis, know each other.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurchs-legacy-of-fighting-violent-extremism-online-must-go-further-deep-into-the-dark-web-133159">Christchurch's legacy of fighting violent extremism online must go further – deep into the dark web</a>
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<p>This Sunday morning, in the hours before the much-debated (now cancelled) national remembrance service, the Kilbirnie mosque in Wellington had planned to host its annual <a href="https://fianz.com/umahday/">open day</a>. </p>
<p>Being part of Wellington’s Muslim community, I remember so many open days like it: filled with fun, laughter, henna painting, bouncy castles, barbecues. In the past, they were days of celebration. This year, it would also have been a day of remembrance.</p>
<p>But only hours before the mosque’s doors were due to open, the mosque <a href="https://www.facebook.com/islaminwellington/posts/2770860883012839">announced</a> its open day had also been regretfully cancelled. </p>
<p>The risk was that, because anyone could just turn up without a ticket, contact tracing would have been too difficult if it later emerged that someone with coronavirus was among the crowd.</p>
<p>In the end, it was the very openness of the Kilbirnie event that meant <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120287235/coronavirus-mosque-open-day-cancelled-due-to-suspected-case-in-wellington">it had to keep its doors closed</a> today.</p>
<p>But beyond today’s anniversary, living with a spirit of openness is one of the best ways to pay tribute to my friend. </p>
<p>If the mosque open day had gone ahead, and if he could have been there, I can just picture Haji-Daoud behind the barbecue flipping sausages – or at the gate, welcoming strangers inside.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shamim Homayun's doctoral research was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) and the ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences.</span></em></p>Haji-Daoud Nabi was a lifelong friend, who helped inspire my research in Afghanistan on how violent events shape people’s sense of community. I never thought my work would one day apply at home in NZ.Shamim Homayun, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1331592020-03-11T19:16:49Z2020-03-11T19:16:49ZChristchurch’s legacy of fighting violent extremism online must go further – deep into the dark web<p>It didn’t take long for a terrorist to show how hard it is to prevent violent extremist content being shared online.</p>
<p>Within six months of the attacks at two Christchurch mosques on March 15 last year, which were live streamed on Facebook, a far-right terrorist’s attack at a German synagogue was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/the-german-synagogue-shooting-was-streamed-on-twitch.html">broadcast live</a> on Amazon’s video-streaming platform Twitch. </p>
<p>In an echo of the Christchurch attack, it was users who <a href="https://twitter.com/Twitch/status/1182036268202381313">reported the video</a> to Twitch, which was up for about half an hour before being removed.</p>
<p>Last year, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was commended for her leadership on the <a href="https://www.christchurchcall.com/">Christchurch Call</a>, bringing together governments and tech companies with the aim of eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online.</p>
<p>A year on, the Christchurch Call is still an important initiative. But one of the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116024493/jacinda-arderns-christchurch-call-has-made-strides-but-is-worth-much-more-than-the-paper-its-written-on">biggest challenges</a> we face is to prevent far-right groups from simply moving to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-dark-web-and-how-does-it-work-63613">the dark web</a>”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-extremists-still-threaten-new-zealand-a-year-on-from-the-christchurch-attacks-133050">Far-right extremists still threaten New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<h2>Three missing nations in the Christchurch Call</h2>
<p>Since <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-vital-we-clamp-down-on-online-terrorism-but-is-arderns-christchurch-call-the-answer-117169">launching</a> at a global summit in Paris last year, the Christchurch Call has generated some momentum – including the relaunch of the <a href="https://www.gifct.org/">Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism</a> as a staffed and funded independent legal entity, with an expanded mandate to counter extremism as well as terrorism. </p>
<p>A new crisis response protocol now encourages quick and effective cooperation between the tech sector and governments in responding to terrorist incidents. </p>
<p>And global support for the Call has grown: as Ardern has <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2002/S00178/jacinda-ardern-speech-at-lautoka-mosque.htm">highlighted</a>, it’s now backed by <a href="https://www.opengovasia.com/significant-progress-against-terrorist-and-extremist-online-content/">48 countries</a>, three international organisations and eight online service providers.</p>
<p>But there’s clearly a long way to go in building a truly inclusive, effective international framework, especially because of the three critical nations that are not involved: the US, Russia and China.</p>
<p>The Trump administration’s refusal to sign the Christchurch Call weakened it from the start. Some major US tech firms signalled their support – including Microsoft, Facebook and Google – but the absence of the world’s leading nation was a major blow.</p>
<p>One might be tempted to blame President Trump himself, but the US approach was founded in concerns about the impact on the first amendment to the US constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech, and a broader historical and cultural reluctance to regulate the private sector. </p>
<p>The decision was also made against a political backdrop in the US, in which right-wing voices complained about being <a href="https://torontosun.com/news/world/big-tech-censors-social-media-companies-continue-to-gag-conservative-voices">shut out of mainstream and new media</a>. In a thinly veiled reference to the Christchurch Call, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-74th-session-united-nations-general-assembly/">President Trump said</a>:</p>
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<p>A free society cannot allow social media giants to silence the voices of the people. And a free people must never, ever be enlisted in the cause of silencing, coercing, cancelling or blacklisting their own neighbours. </p>
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<p>Russia and China are also notably absent. Without some of the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/112284082/how-can-upcoming-social-media-efforts-be-global-if-they-ignore-asia">world’s non-western media companies</a>, such as Weibo and WeChat, the initiative is unlikely to succeed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-vital-we-clamp-down-on-online-terrorism-but-is-arderns-christchurch-call-the-answer-117169">It's vital we clamp down on online terrorism. But is Ardern's 'Christchurch Call' the answer?</a>
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<h2>Algorithms are not up to the task</h2>
<p>A second more technical problem relates to the algorithms used to search for hate speech, violence and terrorist content. </p>
<p>Social media companies rely on these algorithms to funnel content to their users, but they aren’t effective yet in quickly identifying violent extremist content. Facebook <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2019/09/combating-hate-and-extremism/">has indicated</a> that automated processes still struggle to distinguish between real violence and other content, including footage of real military operations and movies that depict violence.</p>
<p>Reports suggest Facebook is using military footage to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/115862252/facebook-announces-extremist-content-policy-changes-ahead-of-christchurch-call-stock-take?rm=a">train its algorithms</a> to identify terrorist violence online. But the technical capacity to <a href="https://parispeaceforum.org/publication/digital-platforms-and-extremism-are-content-controls-effective/">monitor vast amounts</a> of user-generated data is not there yet.</p>
<p>Last year, Facebook’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun said artificial intelligence is years away from being able to moderate this type of content, particularly when it comes to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/20/18632260/facebook-ai-spot-terrorist-content-live-stream-far-from-solved-yann-lecun">screening live video</a>.</p>
<p>A third problem is the ongoing <a href="http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/11/GTI-2019web.pdf">growth of right-wing violence and hatred</a>. If social media is a reflection of society, then it is no surprise that extremism continues to flourish online. </p>
<h2>Dark social media</h2>
<p>The good news is that globally, terrorist incidents have reduced by 52% since 2014, largely due to successes in fighting groups like ISIS and Boko Haram. But far-right violence continues to flourish, with a <a href="http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/11/GTI-2019web.pdf">320% increase over the past five years</a>. </p>
<p>High-profile attacks inspired by extreme far-right ideology have also continued, with one gunman killing 22 people in El Paso in Texas in August 2019, and an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/19/shooting-germany-hanau-dead-several-people-shisha-near-frankfurt">attack in Hanau</a>, Germany, that killed nine people in February this year. </p>
<p>Social media companies are ill-equipped to counter far-right narratives that feed these attacks by distorting perception, sowing division and feeding confirmation bias. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-lessons-we-must-take-away-from-the-christchurch-terror-attack-113716">Four lessons we must take away from the Christchurch terror attack</a>
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<p>The problem is compounded by the growth in “dark social” networks, including applications like WhatsApp and Snapchat, where users share content without any information provided about the source. </p>
<p>Recent research shows that <a href="https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/77-5-of-shares-are-on-dark-social-only-7-5-on-facebook-and-other-trends-publishers-are-in-the-dark-about/">77.5% of shares are on dark social media</a>, as opposed to 7.5% on Facebook. </p>
<p>The dark web continues to proliferate too, with the controversial 8Chan site, which was regularly used by hate groups, moving to a network of <a href="https://theconversation.com/8chans-demise-is-a-win-against-hate-but-could-drive-extremists-to-the-dark-web-121521">inaccessible and encrypted servers</a>.</p>
<p>Countries shouldn’t shy away from advocacy on these issues. Small states can be successful <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0010836702037001689?journalCode=caca">advocates for responsible standards</a> and social behaviours. But we’re only at the beginning of a long and complex process of change. </p>
<p>To measure progress, we need to develop clear metrics based on online patterns and trends to assess and sustain the Christchurch Call. This means including a wider range of tech providers and countries – and, just as importantly, dark social and dark web services.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Burton receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 844129. He is affiliated with Universite libre de Bruxelles.</span></em></p>The US, Russia and China haven’t backed the NZ-led Christchurch Call to crackdown on online extremism. Without them, and key non-western media, the initiative is unlikely to make enough difference.Joe Burton, Senior Lecturer, New Zealand Institute for Security and Crime Science, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1327572020-03-10T18:02:15Z2020-03-10T18:02:15ZIn an election year, gun reform has become political in New Zealand and Jacinda Ardern is losing her support<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319499/original/file-20200310-61084-wlm0r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Alexander/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immediately after the Christchurch massacre in 2019, the New Zealand government pledged dramatic gun law changes. </p>
<p>A year later, amid an ongoing <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12310701">elevated terror level</a>, the government has quietly dropped its promises the laws will <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-21/new-zealand-pm-jacinda-ardern-bans-semi-automatic-weapons/10923760">prevent future mass shootings</a>. It has shifted instead to platitudes about never wanting to see repeats of such horror, and vague assurances about making people “feel safe”.</p>
<p>The government aimed to have <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116047692/aim-for-gun-reform-to-be-law-by-first-anniversary-of-christchurch-shooting">more gun laws</a> in place before the first anniversary of the massacre, but it is unclear whether <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_91272/arms-legislation-bill">its bill</a> – which focuses on creating a national gun register, substantially altering requirements around legal firearm ownership and making numerous other administrative reforms – will pass parliament. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-new-zealand-gun-law-changes-prevent-future-mass-shootings-113838">Will the New Zealand gun law changes prevent future mass shootings?</a>
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<p>The opposition National Party <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/SCR_93759/dc0896032262699f1094f5c39f08df21c2c19a9f">does not support the bill</a>. It has raised serious concerns that many proposals ignore evidence about what does, and does not, work to reduce firearm violence. </p>
<p>Even the NZ First Party, which is in coalition with Labour, is <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119713576/nz-first-has-reservations-about-new-laws">voicing doubts</a> – including about whether police are fit to administer the laws.</p>
<p>This marks a major shift from the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/10/new-zealand-mps-overwhelmingly-back-post-christchurch-gun-ban">almost unanimous</a> passage of laws banning “military style” and many other semi-automatic firearms less than a month after the Christchurch shootings. </p>
<p>Political appetite for extensive gun law change appears to have diminished considerably – but why?</p>
<p>There are three key issues that help to explain this.</p>
<h2>Questionable policy efficacy</h2>
<p>Similar to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-arguments-that-carried-australias-1996-gun-law-reforms-58431">Australia’s response following the Port Arthur massacre in 1996</a>, New Zealand implemented an amnesty period and compensation scheme (“buyback”) to facilitate newly prohibited firearms being handed in to police. </p>
<p>When that program ended in December, <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/12/gun-buyback-56-000-firearms-handed-in-102-million-paid-out.html">about 56,000 firearms and over 190,000 parts had been handed in</a>, with more than NZ$100 million paid out. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114700462/kpmg-report-warned-government-to-be-cautious-over-gun-buyback-scheme-costs">Estimates</a> about the total number of now-prohibited guns in circulation in New Zealand before the buy-back <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6554808/nzs-gun-buyback-ends/?cs=14232">have varied wildly</a>, from a remarkably convenient 56,000 to a far more awkward <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12235230">300,000</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319502/original/file-20200310-61084-1a9e09a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gun buyback scheme initially had bipartisan backing in New Zealand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">New Zealand Police/PR Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The figure <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12295533">commonly bandied about in the media</a> is 170,000, suggesting a compliance rate of under 30% (similar to - or even lower than - <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/526a/200e5586c3feaf984027fed9106ff5941a81.pdf">Australia’s</a> estimated compliance rate).</p>
<p>Challenging government statements that the amnesty and buyback scheme <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1912/S00202/gun-buyback-over-next-phase-underway.htm">have been a success</a>, opponents highlight the prospect the same black market that appeared in Australia following the 1996 laws is now going to occur in New Zealand. They also cite international research showing hand-in programs are <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-national-amnesty-will-not-rid-australia-of-violent-gun-crime-79563">ineffective at tackling crime</a>. </p>
<p>Drawing on Australian and Canadian evidence, the National Party has further </p>
<ul>
<li><p>highlighted the prevalence of gun crime involving unlicensed offenders and unregistered firearms </p></li>
<li><p>challenged the government to back up its claims that gun registration will reduce gun-related crime and </p></li>
<li><p>called for full costings to be released. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>In response, the government says it has “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12295533">got to be a good thing</a>” there are fewer guns in the community. It also cites <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20200219_20200219_32">public opinion polls</a> showing support for strengthening gun laws. </p>
<p>However, it has been unable to provide credible evidence to support its belief the laws will have a direct effect on firearm misuse. </p>
<h2>Perceived lack of transparency</h2>
<p>Police issued the perpetrator of the Christchurch massacre with a gun licence <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12286323">shortly after he arrived in New Zealand</a>, and were seemingly aware of the firearms he owned. </p>
<p>It has been <a href="https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/rnz/ex-cop-gun-licence-obtained-without-proper-checks">suggested</a> he was not properly vetted and if he had been, he would not have been issued a licence. <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/world/christchurch-massacre-nz-police-ok-gave-tarrant-weapons/news-story/fa62097080646a6ce890925c67af38dd">Police deny this</a>, but the allegations have not been independently investigated. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-national-amnesty-will-not-rid-australia-of-violent-gun-crime-79563">A national amnesty will not rid Australia of violent gun crime</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Was there a failure to enforce existing laws prior to the Christchurch shootings? It would be hoped not, but what we know about <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317557695_Australian_Mass_Shootings_An_Analysis_of_Incidents_and_Offenders">Australian mass shootings</a> suggests New Zealand cannot ignore this possibility. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://christchurchattack.royalcommission.nz/about-the-inquiry/">royal commission</a> into the attacks may consider this issue, but its terms of reference are somewhat open to interpretation. </p>
<p>Moreover, its report is not being released until late April. The government has been pressing hard to get its new gun laws passed before then, giving the impression it expects findings that could run counter to its policy positions. Whether or not that turns out to be true, it is not a good look.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319531/original/file-20200310-61076-rmjssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The firearms store in Christchurch where the mosque shooter acquired four of the five guns he used in the attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karen Sweeney/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Irregularities in process</h2>
<p>There were raised eyebrows when, during the first round of gun law reforms, the <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018690621/gun-law-reform-s-speedy-select-committee-followed-typical-process">select committee process was shortened</a> to just one week. </p>
<p>This has been followed by questions about the committee considering the second tranche of proposed laws. The bill was not sent to the <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/justice/">Justice Committee</a>, where firearm matters most logically sit. Rather, it was sent to the <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/finance-and-expenditure/">Finance and Expenditure Committee</a>, which focuses on economic and fiscal policy, taxation and related matters. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-qanda-did-government-gun-buybacks-reduce-the-number-of-gun-deaths-in-australia-85836">FactCheck Q&A: did government gun buybacks reduce the number of gun deaths in Australia?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Sending a bill to that committee greatly improves the chances of findings favouring the government. Unlike other committees, which tend to have an even split of members from opposing sides of the floor, the 13-member Finance and Expenditure Committee has a majority of members from the Labour-NZ First coalition. </p>
<p>The committee recommended a small number of what are essentially “cosmetic” rather than “substantive” changes to the bill. Nevertheless, the overall impression is the government is more focused on a scoring a “political win” than on carefully considered legislative development. </p>
<h2>What else is going on?</h2>
<p>The government and its supporters have tried hard to characterise criticism as nothing more than “gun lobby pressure”. This simplistic response seeks to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-gun-debate-needs-to-move-away-from-simplistic-ideas-of-good-and-bad-92734">deflect and delegitimise</a> reasonable analysis of whether the proposed measures are really going to achieve their stated outcomes. </p>
<p>It also makes the government look fearful of being questioned and unable to provide arguments that withstand serious scrutiny.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117880219/new-poll-has-nationalled-government">Recent polls</a> provide <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12308451">further insight</a>. Labour is <a href="https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/failed-miserably-jacindas-in-trouble/3956250/">facing a battle</a> to retain power in this year’s general election. And critics have cast it as <a href="https://theconversation.com/left-leaning-australians-may-look-to-new-zealand-with-envy-but-ardern-still-has-much-work-to-do-128227">inept and struggling</a> to <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/jacinda-ardern-show-pony-or-stayer/news-story/50062ae173b94270d3445cdaab2ce253">perform</a> on a range of <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116855014/two-years-in-how-is-pm-jacinda-arderns-government-doing">domestic policy issues</a>. </p>
<p>Some commentators also speculate Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is less interested in handling domestic matters than in <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12220880">positioning</a> for a <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/09/the-world-has-changed-march-15-dominates-jacinda-ardern-s-united-nations-address.html">future UN role</a>. Others say her party is too quick to embrace symbolic but <a href="https://theconversation.com/nzs-fossil-fuel-investment-ban-for-popular-kiwisaver-funds-is-more-political-than-ethical-132863">poorly thought-out</a> measures. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-year-on-for-arderns-coalition-government-in-new-zealand-105212">One year on for Ardern's coalition government in New Zealand</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Against this background, it would be naive to believe the government is not trying to use gun laws to boost <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/08/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-election/#.XmbwK6gzaHs">its re-election hopes</a>. Again, this mimics Australia, where political parties use gun policy to signal their moral and law and order credentials. </p>
<p>Yet, in one regard, the two countries diverge. In Australia, tactics such as sloganeering, deflecting close examination of policy, <a href="https://www.policyforum.net/australias-gun-laws-leading-by-imperfect-example/">shifting goalposts</a> and discrediting those who ask unwelcome questions have been meekly accepted. </p>
<p>Based on the bipartisanship in New Zealand immediately following the Christchurch shootings, there can be no doubt New Zealand’s government expected an equally smooth run. Instead, it is being held to account and seems affronted by that.</p>
<p>Inevitable political horse-trading may still see the laws pass. But rather than unifying the country, it appears government overreach has instead paved the way for distrust and division. And when it comes to that, sadly, New Zealand and Australia are again in step.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> Dr Samara McPhedran does not does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that might benefit from this article. She has received funding from various Australian and international government grant programs, including the Australian Research Council and Criminology Research Council, for a number of projects relating to homicide and suicide. She has been appointed to a number of advisory panels and committees, including as a member of the Queensland Ministerial Advisory Panel on Firearms, and as a previous member of the Commonwealth Firearms Advisory Council. She does not receive any financial remuneration or other reward for these activities. She has held past memberships with/volunteered for a range of not-for-profit firearm-related organisations and women's advocacy groups. She is currently affiliated with the Queensland Homicide Victims’ Support Group, serving on the Board of Directors. This is an unpaid position. She is not, and has never been, a member of any political party. The views expressed are those of the author alone</span></em></p>Rather than unifying the country, it appears the government’s overreach on gun legislation has paved the way for distrust and division.Samara McPhedran, Director, Homicide Research Unit/Deputy Director, Violence Research and Prevention Program, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1330502020-03-10T18:01:15Z2020-03-10T18:01:15ZFar-right extremists still threaten New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks<p>In the hours after the Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15 last year, <a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-mosque-shootings-must-end-new-zealands-innocence-about-right-wing-terrorism-113655">I wrote</a> that I hoped New Zealand would finally stop believing it was immune to far-right extremist violence. A year on, I’m not sure enough has changed.</p>
<p>I’ve researched far-right extremism for decades – and I would argue it remains a high-level threat in New Zealand, not just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/19/fastest-growing-uk-terrorist-threat-is-from-far-right-say-police">overseas</a>. </p>
<p>My assessment is that there are about 60 to 70 groups and somewhere between 150 and 300 core right-wing activists in New Zealand. </p>
<p>This sounds modest alongside the estimated 12,000 to 13,000 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/world/europe/germany-shooting-terrorism.html">violent far-right activists in Germany</a>. But proportionate to population size, the numbers are similar for both countries. And it only takes one activist to act out his extremism.</p>
<p>In the past year, there has certainly been greater investment by New Zealand’s security agencies in monitoring extremist groups and activists. There has been more media coverage. The government moved quickly to ban assault weapons and further <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/get-involved/topics/all-current-topics/bill-proposes-further-tightening-of-gun-controls/">controls on the use and possession of arms are underway</a>. Other initiatives, including a <a href="https://christchurchattack.royalcommission.nz/">royal commission of inquiry</a>, are pending. </p>
<p>But I also feel there is a tendency to see the Christchurch attacks, which killed 51 people, as a one-off or an aberration – rather than something we still need to guard against. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-mosque-shootings-must-end-new-zealands-innocence-about-right-wing-terrorism-113655">Christchurch mosque shootings must end New Zealand's innocence about right-wing terrorism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>New Zealand’s home-grown extremists</h2>
<p>New Zealanders should now be more aware than a year ago of the presence of local right-wing extremists. There has been plenty to remind them.</p>
<p>In June last year, Philip Arps, who has been involved in white supremacist activities in Christchurch for some time, was sentenced to 21 months in jail for sharing video of the Christchurch shootings. I am puzzled by the limited public awareness that the imagery on the side of his van – a <a href="https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/1488">reference to 14/88</a> and Nazi signage – was a clear indicator of his extremist views. </p>
<p>Arps was <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/01/white-supremacist-philip-arps-released-from-prison-banned-from-contact-with-muslims.html">released early in January this year</a> under strict conditions, including a GPS monitor that alerts authorities if he goes near a mosque. </p>
<p>Even though the white nationalist group Dominion Movement folded after the mosque attacks, one of its leaders, a soldier in the New Zealand defence force, was arrested in December last year for “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/119627639/whats-public-and-whats-secret-in-the-case-of-the-soldier-arrested-for-breaching-national-security?m=m">accessing a computer for a dishonest purpose</a>” and disclosing information that “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118942709/soldier-with-farright-links-accused-of-disclosing-military-information">prejudiced the security and defence of New Zealand</a>”. He had been active since 2011 on the neo-Nazi site Stormfront and attended a free speech rally in Wellington in 2018 along with another extreme-right activist.</p>
<p>He also appears to be a member of Wargus Christi, a group formed in September last year by a self-described neo-Nazi, Daniel Waring. It is a “martial-monastic” group of body builders who are homophobic, anti-Semitic and Islamaphobic.</p>
<p>Another group new to New Zealand’s extreme right is <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/03/09/1072195/action-zealandia-member-planned-terror-cell">Action Zealandia</a>. Their slogan is “building a community for European New Zealanders”. Apart from their online presence, their main public activity is placing stickers in public spaces highlighting their ultra-nationalism.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-overhauling-nzs-gun-and-terrorism-laws-alone-cant-stop-terrorist-attacks-113706">Why overhauling NZ's gun and terrorism laws alone can't stop terrorist attacks</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Confronting NZ’s place in a global web of hate</h2>
<p>Information from agencies such as the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> or the <a href="https://www.adl.org/">Anti-Defamation League</a> in the US shows a significant <a href="https://www.adl.org/blog/white-supremacists-double-down-on-propaganda-in-2019">increase in extremist activity</a> since 2016. </p>
<p>What has been most concerning is that the rise in online hate speech has real-world implications. <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-10-online-speech-crimes-minorities.html">Research</a> shows an increase in online hate speech will be accompanied by hate crimes in a region or locality. Internet outages reduce both.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-from-the-christchurch-terror-attacks-nz-intelligence-records-a-surge-in-reports-131895">A year from the Christchurch terror attacks, NZ intelligence records a surge in reports</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the aftermath of the Christchurch attacks, it was good to see <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-bans-military-style-semi-automatics-and-assault-rifles">rapid action on limiting automatic weapons</a>. And the <a href="https://www.christchurchcall.com/">Christchurch Call</a> – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-christchurch-call-is-just-a-start-now-we-need-to-push-for-systemic-change-117259">initiative</a> to stop people using social media to promote terrorism – certainly helped put pressure on online platforms such as Facebook to monitor and remove objectionable material.</p>
<p>But we could move to ban right-wing organisations and put restrictions on individuals who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/24/uk-ban-neo-nazi-sonnenkrieg-division-terrorist-group">breach agreed thresholds of speech and action</a>. We still do not have clear guidelines for what constitutes hate speech, apart from <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304643.html">s61 of the Human Rights Act</a> and the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0063/latest/whole.html">Harmful Digital Communications Act</a>.</p>
<p>I do worry that we don’t have sufficient resources and skills locally to adequately monitor what is happening, even if agencies have been working together more closely internationally.</p>
<p>It would be good to know more from the agencies that have oversight. The New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service (<a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/">NZSIS</a>) refers to the threat value, but often in relation to international threats. </p>
<p>More openness about their concerns and the extent of local groups and activists would help: for instance, something like <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/">Tell MAMA</a> in the UK or the reports other security agencies provide. </p>
<p>It was refreshing to see the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (<a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/">ASIO</a>) provide its <a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment.html">annual threat assessment</a> in February this year. It assessed the terrorist threat in Australia as probable but the possibility of a right-wing extremist attack as low in terms of capability.</p>
<p>But it acknowledged that advances in technology are “outstripping our technical capabilities”, which must be a concern everywhere.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/asio-chiefs-assessment-shows-the-need-to-do-more-and-better-to-prevent-terrorism-132447">ASIO chief's assessment shows the need to do more, and better, to prevent terrorism</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One thing is certain. The Christchurch mosque attacks have become part of the lexicon whenever white supremacist terrorism is discussed. The events on March 15 have become something of a guide – and, unfortunately, an inspiration to other right-wing terrorists. </p>
<p>It is challenging that many of these extremists, the alleged Christchurch gunman included, are self-radicalised, ideologically motivated, and with a small or no digital footprint. Often there is no prior warning of an attack. </p>
<p>One year on from the attacks, my report card for New Zealand is that we’ve made progress on greater awareness and action. But we still need to do more, including on keeping the public better informed that the problem hasn’t gone away. Just ask those <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/403884/new-register-for-islamophobic-and-racist-incidents-created">who continue to be targeted</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Spoonley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>My assessment is that there are about 150 to 300 core right-wing activists in New Zealand. This might sound modest – but proportionate to population, it’s similar to extremist numbers in Germany.Paul Spoonley, Distinguished Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1318952020-02-26T19:04:27Z2020-02-26T19:04:27ZA year from the Christchurch terror attacks, NZ intelligence records a surge in reports<p>The Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15 last year have prompted a significant rise in tip-offs about people expressing extremist views, according to a <a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/media/NZSIS-Annual-Report-2019.pdf">report</a> by New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (<a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/">NZSIS</a>).</p>
<p>During the three months following the terrorist attacks, NZSIS <a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/news/nzsis-director-general-isc-opening-statement/">received 455 pieces of lead information</a> about people who expressed racist, Nazi or white supremacist views.</p>
<p>The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (<a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/">ASIO</a>) also released its <a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment.html">annual threat assessment</a> this week, warning right-wing groups are more organised than in previous years.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Right-wing extremism has been in ASIO’s sights for some time, but obviously this threat came into sharp, terrible focus last year in New Zealand. In Australia, the extreme right-wing threat is real and it is growing. In suburbs around Australia, small cells regularly meet to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-mosque-shootings-must-end-new-zealands-innocence-about-right-wing-terrorism-113655">Christchurch mosque shootings must end New Zealand's innocence about right-wing terrorism</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Different approaches</h2>
<p>In New Zealand, a <a href="https://christchurchattack.royalcommission.nz/">royal commission of inquiry</a> is expected to report back in April about what intelligence agencies knew about the alleged perpetrator before the Christchurch attack and how they should be reorganised to prevent such incidents in the future.</p>
<p>I believe the mosque attacks represent a serious failure of intelligence services and any reorganisation should involve greater transparency with the public, so that people see the scale of the threat and how intelligence services are responding.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-a-royal-commission-will-investigate-christchurch-shootings-116122">Explainer: how a royal commission will investigate Christchurch shootings</a>
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<p>Terrorism is a risk for most countries, but intelligence agencies differ in the way they present the risks, their understanding of it and how they report on it.</p>
<p>The European Union (EU) does not report a generic threat level, but individual countries do. For example, the UK’s intelligence agency MI5 records the <a href="https://www.mi5.gov.uk/threat-levels">risk of a terror attack</a> in England, Scotland and Wales as substantial (an attack is likely) and in Northern Ireland as severe (an attack is highly likely).</p>
<p>The Australian agency <a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/">ASIO</a> has listed the <a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-19%20Annual%20Report%20WEB2.pdf">national terrorism threat level as probable</a> since 2014. </p>
<p>In New Zealand, the threat level went from low to high following the Christchurch attacks, but is now medium, which means a <a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/media/NZSIS-Annual-Report-2019.pdf">terrorist attack is assessed as feasible</a> and could well occur.</p>
<h2>Reporting terrorism risk</h2>
<p>In 2018, the NZSIS <a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/2018-NZSIS-Annual-Report.pdf">reported</a> around 30 people of “particular interest”. Following the Christchurch attacks, “between 30 and 50 individuals have been <a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/media/NZSIS-Annual-Report-2019.pdf">under active investigation</a> … in relation to violent extremism at any one time”.</p>
<p>Australian intelligence agencies do not report how many people are of particular interest. They report the number of attacks that have been disrupted (three in the past 12 months) and how many (12,478) counter-terrorism leads were resolved or investigated. The EU has a similar approach, recording the <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-2019-te-sat">number of foiled, failed or completed attacks</a> (129 for 2018), and the number of arrests (1,056).</p>
<p>Australian agencies rank their risk groups. Currently Sunni Islamist extremism, primarily from small groups and individuals inspired by extremist groups overseas, is listed as the “<a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-19%20Annual%20Report%20WEB2.pdf">principal source of the terrorist threat</a>”. </p>
<p>In Europe, risk reporting currently shows most attacks come from “<a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-2019-te-sat">ethno-nationalist and seperatist groups</a>” (83), followed by jihadist (24), left-wing (19) and other groups.</p>
<p>Although right-wing terrorism is not a primary risk factor in Australia, intelligence agencies are <a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-19%20Annual%20Report%20WEB2.pdf">more aware</a> of it. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This threat is not something new, but current extreme right‑wing networks are better organised and more sophisticated than those of the past … any future extreme right-wing inspired attack in Australia would most likely be low capability and conducted by a lone actor or small group, although a sophisticated weapons attack is possible. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, in Europe, right-wing groups are not a dominant risk factor, but intelligence agencies <a href="https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-2019-te-sat">note an increase</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The number of arrests linked to right-wing terrorism remained relatively low but increased for the third year in a row. Right-wing extremists prey on fears of perceived attempts to Islamicise society and loss of national identity.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>More transparency needed</h2>
<p>This month’s <a href="https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/media/NZSIS-Annual-Report-2019.pdf">national security report</a> notes the Christchurch attack made it clear that New Zealand is not immune to the threat of right-wing violent extremism. </p>
<p>But intelligence services do not gauge the scale of this domestic risk. Instead they paint the problem as “a growing threat internationally … that will … continue to be a challenge for security agencies around the world for the foreseeable future”. </p>
<p>Other countries’ agencies tell citizens more. Australian agencies reported seven terror attacks and 16 major counter-terrorism disruption operations since 2014, including where these incidents took place, what types of weapons were used and whether the targets were public spaces, military sites or infrastructure. </p>
<p>European agencies follow similar reporting, but provide their citizens with even more information. This covers everything from arrests, convictions and penalties, financing, weapons, use of propaganda and detail about people who travel to and return from war zones. </p>
<p>Australian agencies also map what they consider the most likely terror attacks in the future (low cost, locally financed, using readily acquired weapons and relatively simple tactics). They also note emerging themes, such as the risk of opportunistic violence or civil disobedience through counter protesters. </p>
<p>In contrast, New Zealand intelligence agencies don’t share any of these considerations with the public. Nor do they elaborate on the threat of right wing terrorism to the extent of their counterparts. The failure of the previous ten years <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/385173/no-mention-of-right-wing-extremist-threats-in-10-years-of-gcsb-and-sis-public-docs">not to mention the risk of right-wing terror</a> cannot be repeated. While we now know the risk of extreme right terrorism exists, it is the responsibility of the security agencies to better monitor, analyse, prevent, and report on this risk than ever before.</p>
<p>After last year’s mosque shooting, if the intelligence agencies want to regain the trust of the public, they will have to do much better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Gillespie has recieved funding for the New Zealand Law Foundation for the study of terrorism. </span></em></p>In the wake of last year’s Christchurch mosque attacks, New Zealand’s intelligence agencies must become more transparent in their reporting on the risk of right-wing terrorism.Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1227172019-10-02T20:04:38Z2019-10-02T20:04:38ZAustralia isn’t taking the national security threat from far-right extremism seriously enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295168/original/file-20191002-101512-qyece5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=934%2C0%2C4742%2C3035&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Christchurch attack is a clear signal we need to change our approach to both hateful extremism and toxic political discourse in Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Alexander/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them through legislation and how these measures are impacting society. Read the rest of the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/australias-security-state-77051">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Until the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nz/topics/christchurch-terror-attack-68330">terror attack in Christchurch</a> in March, the threat of far-right terrorism in Australia was one we knew was coming, but believed was well over the horizon. </p>
<p>The sordid story of the Christchurch attacker – “ordinary Australian” turned hateful bigot turned mass-murdering terrorist – contains some uncomfortable truths for our country, not least of which is the fact that the threat of far-right extremism has arrived in the here and now. </p>
<p>Just as troubling, yet even more challenging because it is so insidious, are the clear links between the Christchurch shooter’s motivations and our mainstream political discourse. Facing up to this threat requires us changing our approach both to hateful extremism and toxic political discourse.</p>
<p>Police and counter-terrorism officials have long been warning us of the rising threat of far-right violent extremism. Over the past decade, this has emerged as the <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/right-wing-extremism-linked-to-every-2018-extremist-murder-in-the-us-adl-finds">number one terrorist threat in America</a> and a <a href="https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/181119_RightWingTerrorism_layout_FINAL.pdf">persistent</a> and <a href="https://time.com/5681199/uk-far-right-terrorism/">growing threat</a> in Europe.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-attacks-are-a-stark-warning-of-toxic-political-environment-that-allows-hate-to-flourish-113662">Christchurch attacks are a stark warning of toxic political environment that allows hate to flourish</a>
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<p>It’s tempting to say that had more resources been committed to tracking and monitoring far-right groups and individuals in Australia, the Christchurch terrorist perhaps could have been stopped. </p>
<p>But even in hindsight, things are not so clear. The Christchurch gunman was a lone actor with no previous history of significant violence, although his <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/the-killer-within-brenton-tarrants-online-fantasy-reallife-horror/news-story/295609c73561cb9e8f6a2a31cc66015b">involvement in hateful extremism</a> was well-known to family and friends.</p>
<p>This is the particular threat that keeps counter-terrorism experts awake at night, when so-called “<a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1609777,00.html">cleanskins</a>” (people with ostensibly spotless records) turn into lone-actor terrorists.</p>
<h2>We are flying blind on far-right extremism</h2>
<p>One clear lesson from Christchurch is that we need to pay more attention to hate speech and hate crimes. </p>
<p>It is true that “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/inside-the-shit-posting-subculture-the-christchurch-shooter-belonged-to-20190317-p514xt.html">shit-posting</a>” is a common occurrence on social media, and among all those people spouting off, it is extremely difficult to see who might become a violent extremist. </p>
<p>But clearly, we don’t understand the world of far-right extremism nearly as well as we should. We need a better way of monitoring and tracking far-right forums, social networks and the links between far-right individuals through their histories of travel and extremist communications. </p>
<p>We also have <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/australia-has-no-national-hate-crime-database-but-here-s-how-to-build-one">no centralised, national database of hate incidents</a>. Hate crimes remain under-reported, poorly documented and de-prioritised to low levels of state policing. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/right-wing-extremism-has-a-long-history-in-australia-113842">Right-wing extremism has a long history in Australia</a>
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<p>The result is that we are flying blind. We don’t get to see the patterns between far-right groups and internet “shit-posters” because we are not collecting the data. </p>
<p>If we made it a priority at the state and federal level to document hate incidents, whether crimes or not, we would at least have a sense of when and where the problem is growing and who is most significantly involved.</p>
<p>This wouldn’t eliminate the threat of far-right extremism, but it might help stop the next massacre and it would certainly contribute to making Australian society more healthy, welcoming and just.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295171/original/file-20191002-101512-7tnpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Anti-immigrant protesters at a Reclaim Australia rally in Sydney in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Moir/AAP</span></span>
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<h2>A disproportionate focus on Islamist terror threats</h2>
<p>The September 11 attacks in America, and subsequent attacks by al-Qaeda in Bali, Madrid, London and elsewhere, triggered an enormous investment in counter-terrorism efforts in Australia. </p>
<p>This had barely begun to abate when the formation of the Islamic State (IS) caliphate in mid-2014 alerted us to the high rates of terror recruitment in Australia and prompted the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-12/australia-increases-terrorism-threat-level/5739466">raising of the national terrorism alert</a> to the penultimate level in September 2014. </p>
<p>An intercepted phone call then triggered Australia’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/suspects-in-terror-raids-planned-random-acts-against-members-of-the-public-2014-9">largest-ever counter-terrorism operation</a>. Shortly afterward, the Islamic State issued a call for random lone-actor attacks around the world and, within days, an 18-year-old launched a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/31/numan-haider-inquest-finds-police-had-no-choice-but-to-shoot-radicalised-teenager">knife attack against two police officers in Melbourne</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-enacted-82-anti-terror-laws-since-2001-but-tough-laws-alone-cant-eliminate-terrorism-123521">Australia has enacted 82 anti-terror laws since 2001. But tough laws alone can't eliminate terrorism</a>
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<p>These circumstances have led to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-enacted-82-anti-terror-laws-since-2001-but-tough-laws-alone-cant-eliminate-terrorism-123521">82 counter-terrorism laws being enacted in Australia</a> since 2001, and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/ViolentExtremism">16 counter-terrorism operations since 2014</a>, almost all of which have been responding to the threat posed by violent Islamist groups like al-Qaeda and IS. </p>
<p>This perception of the increased threat posed by these groups has resulted in a disproportionate investment in counter-terrorism compared with <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/terrorism-is-rare-but-intimate-partner-violence-is-an-everyday-event-20190208-p50wki.html">the response to the much greater threat posed by domestic violence</a>. </p>
<p>At the same time, however, very little has been invested in preventative counter-terrorism measures, including countering far-right extremism. </p>
<h2>A national discourse bound up in fear</h2>
<p>We pride ourselves on being <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/Statements/english-multicultural-statement.pdf">the world’s most successful multicultural society</a>, yet we consistently turn a deaf ear to those who come up against hatred. </p>
<p>Just last month, for example, a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/eight-out-of-10-asian-australians-experience-discrimination-survey-20190920-p52tfp.html">new national survey</a> found that 82% of Asian Australians, 81% of Australians of Middle Eastern background and 71% of Indigenous Australians had experienced some form of discrimination.</p>
<p>One reason why we are not yet ready to face up to this problem is that our national political discourse has for decades become bound up with the politics of fear, “othering”, and scapegoating minority communities. </p>
<p>When we demonise “illegal arrivals” and give license to the toxic rhetoric that we are being “swamped by Asians”, as <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pauline-hansons-1996-maiden-speech-to-parliament-full-transcript-20160915-grgjv3.html">Pauline Hanson put it in the late 1990s</a>, or more recently “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2016/sep/14/pauline-hanson-australia-in-danger-of-being-swamped-by-muslims-video">flooded by Muslims</a>”, then we are buying into the core element of the narrative of terrorists like the Christchurch gunman.</p>
<p>In his manifesto, the gunman referenced the far-right extremist trope of “<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/white-replacement-conspiracy-theory">the great replacement</a>” –
the fear that white Christian society is being overrun by brown-skinned, non-Christian people who are changing its culture and society irrevocably. </p>
<p>He picked up this idea from parts of Europe where there is strong antagonism to migrants and Muslims. But he referenced it directly from the writings of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/world/white-extremist-terrorism-christchurch.html">Norwegian far-right terrorist</a> who shot dead 69 people and blew up another eight in July 2011. </p>
<p>This same argument featured in the manifesto of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/us/walmart-el-paso.html">El Paso gunman</a> who murdered 22 people at a Walmart store in Texas last month. In it, he <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/people-killed-shooting-el-paso-wal-mart-custody">praised the Christchurch shooter</a> and warned of a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/05/great-replacement-theory-alt-right-killers-el-paso">Hispanic invasion</a>” of Texas.</p>
<p>These alt-right terrorists are driven in part <a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-attacks-are-a-stark-warning-of-toxic-political-environment-that-allows-hate-to-flourish-113662">by a fantasy</a> of going from “zero to hero” in the alt-right internet world and becoming renowned as “warrior defenders”. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295173/original/file-20191002-101499-1cywn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">White nationalist manifestos are a recurring feature of far-right extremist attacks, like the one in El Paso this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Larry W. Smith/EPA</span></span>
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<h2>Prioritising far-right extremism</h2>
<p>Prior to Christchurch, kicking the can down the road and prioritising other threats to our national security seemed an understandable, if not ideal response. </p>
<p>We now need to face the reality that of 50 terrorism-related deaths in the US last year, <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/right-wing-extremism-linked-to-every-2018-extremist-murder-in-the-us-adl-finds">almost all involved far-right extremism</a>. (Only one was linked to jihadi terrorism.) This is a pattern that’s been established for decades now. In fact, <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/right-wing-extremism-linked-to-every-2018-extremist-murder-in-the-us-adl-finds">nearly three-quarters of all terrorist deaths in the US</a> over the past decade have been linked to far-right extremism. </p>
<p>And while there is reason to hope the problem will never become quite so serious in Australia (despite the fact an Australian far-right extremist has murdered 51 people in another country), we need to do what we can now to counter the rise of hate speech and hate crimes – not later. </p>
<p>There are no quick fixes or guaranteed solutions, but these steps will make society better in ways that go far beyond the immediate threat of another terrorist attack.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Barton is engaged in a range of projects working to understand and counter violent extremism in Australia and in Southeast Asia that are funded by the Australian government.</span></em></p>To understand the threat better, we need to devote more resources to monitoring and tracking far-right forums and social networks and a national database tracking hate crimes.Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1175132019-05-22T01:55:06Z2019-05-22T01:55:06ZCharging the Christchurch mosque attacker with terrorism could be risky – but it’s important<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275794/original/file-20190521-23817-mv128v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The gunman in the mosque attacks had already faced 50 murder charges before a new terrorism charge was brought against him this week.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Tuesday, the gunman in the Christchurch mosque shootings was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-21/christchurch-attacks-accused-brenton-tarrant-facing-new-charges/11134784">charged with committing a terrorist act</a>. The new charge came more than two months after the massacre. </p>
<p>The gunman, who the author and The Conversation have chosen not to name, had already faced 50 charges of murder and 40 charges of attempted murder stemming from the attacks. An additional murder charge was also brought on Tuesday, bringing the total to 51.</p>
<p>So, why was the terrorism charge added at this later stage? And why is it significant? </p>
<h2>Difficulties using the terrorism law</h2>
<p>The terrorism charge is unprecedented because the offence of committing a terrorist act has never been prosecuted successfully in New Zealand. The offence is found in <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0034/43.0/DLM1106564.html">Section 6A</a> of the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 (NZ), which was enacted by the New Zealand parliament in response to the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. </p>
<p>The offence relies on a statutory definition of terrorism, which is found in <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0034/43.0/DLM152702.html">Section 5</a>. To constitute a terrorist act, the conduct must include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>be carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause</li>
<li>be intended to induce terror in a civilian population, or to unduly compel or force a government or international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act</li>
<li>cause one in a list of specified harms, including death, serious bodily injury, a serious risk to health or safety, serious property damage, or serious interference with an infrastructure facility.</li>
</ul>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-mosque-shootings-must-end-new-zealands-innocence-about-right-wing-terrorism-113655">Christchurch mosque shootings must end New Zealand's innocence about right-wing terrorism</a>
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<p>On face value, it is clear the shootings at the two mosques in March, which left 51 people dead, amounted to terrorism. </p>
<p>The delay in bringing the terrorism charge was likely due to the fact New Zealand police and prosecutors needed sufficient time to ensure they could prepare a successful case. The definition of terrorism creates additional hurdles compared to a murder charge, and New Zealand authorities have faced difficulties using the Terrorism Suppression Act in the past. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275800/original/file-20190522-187165-1i4bmzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">There are some concerns about giving the Christchurch a platform to espouse his white supremacist views in court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Hunter/EPA</span></span>
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<p>In 2007, for instance, New Zealand police arrested a group of environmental activists running military-style training camps in the Urewera forest on the eastern side of the North Island. The raids were known as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvsNbaukAVY">Operation Eight</a>.” </p>
<p>No terrorism charges were brought in that case, even though there was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/world/asia/22iht-nz.1.7995448.html">evidence</a> that some members of the group intended to harm innocent people. The possibility of a terrorism charge was explored, but New Zealand’s solicitor-general <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7084734.stm">concluded</a> that the law was “unnecessarily complex, incoherent, and … almost impossible to apply.” Four of the 17 activists were eventually convicted of firearms offences.</p>
<p>More recently, two other cases – one involving <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11414980">letters laced with poison</a> and another involving the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11634785">publication of jihadist material</a> – also could have been plausibly prosecuted as terrorism. However, likely <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610X.2017.1287501">due to the solicitor-general’s previous advice</a>, the offenders were charged instead with criminal blackmail and disseminating objectionable material (a charge commonly used for child pornography).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-trial-of-alleged-perpetrator-of-christchurch-mosque-shootings-115041">Explainer: trial of alleged perpetrator of Christchurch mosque shootings</a>
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<p>It is not clear why the solicitor-general considered the terrorism law so difficult to apply after Operation Eight, as most of the evidence is not publicly available. The definition of terrorism is very similar to that found in Australia, as both laws are based on UK legislation. However, there is a greater focus in the New Zealand law on international terrorism conventions, which may make it <a href="https://www.forbesadvocate.com.au/story/6146640/terror-charge-laid-over-nz-mosque-attack/">harder to apply</a> to domestic acts of terrorism. </p>
<p>More likely, it may have been difficult in that case to fit environmental activism within the definition of a political, religious or ideological motive because there is a presumption against legitimate protest falling within the law. In addition, there were significant <a href="https://putatara.net/2015/10/21/failure-of-command/">concerns around police use of force and racial motives</a> against the mostly Maori offenders.</p>
<p>Prosecutors will not likely face the same difficulties in applying the terrorism laws to the Christchurch massacre, where the intention to cause harm and the attacker’s motivations (as outlined in his manifesto) are obvious.</p>
<p>However, the prosecution may still be risky if it <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018696145/terror-charge-for-christchurch-shooter-legal-analysis">gives the gunman a platform</a> to espouse his extremist views. He would still be able to do this while facing a murder charge alone, but a terrorism trial will carry added weight and the prosecutors will need to admit evidence about his ideological motives.</p>
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<h2>Why is a terrorism charge important?</h2>
<p>There is no added practical benefit to charging the gunman with terrorism in addition to murder. A maximum penalty of life imprisonment was already possible with the murder charges. </p>
<p>However, the choice to bring a terrorism charge is not simply a practical one. The criminal law is said to have two purposes: a practical one (to put dangerous people in prison) and a moral one (to denounce conduct that is morally unacceptable).</p>
<p>Adding this charge signals to the wider community that the massacre was an act terrorism and will be punished as such. This may give victims, too, some degree of closure, if the offender is sent to prison for committing a terrorist act. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-christchurch-call-is-just-a-start-now-we-need-to-push-for-systemic-change-117259">The 'Christchurch Call' is just a start. Now we need to push for systemic change</a>
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<p>Labels are also particularly important in this case given that it was an act of terrorism by a white supremacist against Muslim worshippers. Had prosecutors only pursued the murder charges, they may have been criticised for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hypocritical-media-coverage-of-the-new-zealand-terror-attacks-113713">double standard</a>. Acts of violence by Islamist extremists are commonly treated as terrorism, even if they result in far fewer fatalities.</p>
<p>In other words, bringing a terrorism charge is a trade-off: there’s a risk of giving the gunman a platform, but also a need to denounce the massacre for what it was – an act of terrorism.</p>
<p>This charge sends a clear signal that political or religious violence against innocent people is abhorrent and will be punished as terrorism, no matter its colour or ideology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keiran Hardy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New Zealand’s terrorism law has never been prosecuted successfully since it was enacted nearly 20 years ago. So, why are prosecutors bringing a terrorism charge against the Christchurch shooter?Keiran Hardy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1145482019-04-07T14:58:36Z2019-04-07T14:58:36ZIn Québec, Christian liberalism becomes the religious authority<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269641/original/file-20190416-147505-106d0t7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault on the campaign trail last September before the election that saw his party form a majority government. </span> </figcaption></figure><p>The Québec government is proposing a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-laicity-secularism-bill-1.5075547">secularism law</a> to prohibit any new public servants in a position of authority — including teachers, lawyers and police officers — from wearing religious symbols while at work.</p>
<p>The bill incorporates the language of the law from last year’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/quebecs-niqab-ban-uses-womens-bodies-to-bolster-right-wing-extremism-86055">Bill 62,</a> which prohibits people from wearing face coverings when they receive government services — including health care and day care services and using public transit.</p>
<p>Bill 21, <a href="http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/travaux-parlementaires/projets-loi/projet-loi-21-42-1.html"><em>An Act Respecting the Laicity of the State</em></a>, follows laws previously put forth by Québec’s governments — the Liberal Party in 2010 and 2017 and the Parti Québécois in 2013. But parts of these law were suspended after court challenges.</p>
<p>This time, the provincial government invoked the “notwithstanding clause” to ensure it holds up against <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-judge-stays-controversial-face-cover-law-bill-62/article37169426/">constitutional scrutiny</a>. The clause allows provincial or federal authorities to override sections of Canada’s Charter of Rights.</p>
<p>The bill also proposes to permanently amend the <a href="http://legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/C-12">Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms</a> to accommodate state <em>laïcité</em>, the French principle of strict separation between church and state.</p>
<h2>Christian culture as the norm</h2>
<p>In my research at Carleton University, I have been tracking what I call “Christian liberalism.” I look at the role of religion within the liberal democratic state — and how Christian frameworks, norms and values are embedded into the history of law and public policy in the United States and Canada. </p>
<p>At first glance, the strict secularism (or <em>laïcité</em>) of Bill 21 appears intolerant of religion in all its public forms. But the neutral and secular language of the bill presumes an invisible Christian default when outlining the rules around public expressions of religiosity. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C8%2C2937%2C2187&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266916/original/file-20190401-177196-gtlf01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Quebec Premier Francois Legault last week as his government voted on Bill 21. The crucifix behind him would likely disappear if the legislation is passed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot</span></span>
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<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/charter-of-quebec-values-would-ban-religious-symbols-for-public-workers-1.1699315">Charter of Values</a> put forth by the Parti Québécois in 2013 proposed banning “conspicuous” religious symbols from the public service sector. But it drew a line between “subtle” religious expressions (like a crucifix necklace) and “overt” ones (like the Islamic headscarf). </p>
<p>The language of <em>conspicuousness</em> reveals that what is determined to be permissible religious expression is a “familiar” and historically embedded Christian understanding. </p>
<h2>Constitutional threats</h2>
<p>The use of the notwithstanding clause and the proposal to amend the province’s <a href="http://legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/C-12">Human Rights Charter</a> pose real constitutional threats. Given the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-rise-in-hate-crimes-calls-for-a-unified-response">rise in hate crimes targeting racialized and religious minority groups in Canada</a>, the 2017 terrorist attack on a <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-what-we-know-so-far/article33826078/">Québec City mosque</a> and the recent attack in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hypocritical-media-coverage-of-the-new-zealand-terror-attacks-113713">Christchurch, New Zealand</a>, the suspension of religious freedom rights should raise alarms. </p>
<p>Bill 21, like the previous secularism bills, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/religious-symbols-civil-liberties-muslim-groups-vow-to-fight-bill-21">disproportionately targets religious minorities.</a> </p>
<p>According to the non-profit human rights group the National Council of Canadian Muslims, <a href="https://www.nccm.ca/nccm-says-caq-governments-so-called-secularism-bill-creates-second-class-citizens/">the bill amplifies anti-Muslim sentiment</a>. Many news <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/allison-hanes-secularism-and-the-city">op-eds express the same view</a>: that the bill could intensify <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/04/01/proposed-secularism-law-exposes-divisions-in-quebec.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=500pm&utm_campaign_id=Opinion&utm_content=HebertProposedSecularismDivisions">polarizing attitudes</a> in Québec. </p>
<h2>Liberal tolerance</h2>
<p>The western liberal notion of “tolerance” comes from the 17th-century English philosopher John Locke, who considered religious pluralism beneficial to a healthy democracy. Locke’s ideas, grounded in Christian moral reasoning, became the basis for religious freedom protections embedded in liberal democratic constitutions.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Letter-Concerning-Toleration"><em>A Letter Concerning Toleration</em></a> published in 1689, Locke argued that the state should stay out of the business of regulating religious expressions. He advocated for the inclusion of religion in public, so long as it did not contradict state laws. He extended religious tolerance to Christian churches, and also Pagans, Muslims and Jewish people.</p>
<p>But Locke’s understanding of tolerance was rooted in Christian logic and informed by his Calvinist upbringing. He held to the idea of “the true religion” and did not believe atheists should receive the same tolerance. </p>
<p><a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8306.html">Wendy Brown, professor of political science at the University of California Berkeley,</a> argues that Locke’s premise is culturally condescending: it reproduces a hierarchical relationship between those who do the tolerating and those who must be tolerated. </p>
<p>The use of terms like “neutrality” and “secularism” along with Bill 21’s “laicity” employ the same rhetoric of tolerance espoused by Locke. </p>
<h2>Religious and cultural heritage</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quiet-revolution">the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s</a>, when the role of the Catholic Church was considerably diminished, <a href="https://theconversation.com/islamophobia-in-quebec-an-ideology-rooted-in-20th-century-imperialism-88245">Québec society retains the cultural residue of Catholicism.</a></p>
<p>The proposed religious symbols bans make special exemptions for expressions that affirm “elements of Québec’s cultural heritage, in particular, its religious cultural heritage.” This wording allows Catholic symbols, like the crucifix hanging in the National Assembly, to remain. Although the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/national-assembly-votes-to-remove-crucifix-1.4355860">agreed to move the crucifix</a>, Bill 21 retains this language of exemption. </p>
<p>By putting forward this proposed law, the CAQ positions the state as arbiters of religious authority. They determine which symbols are interpreted as “religious” — and therefore in violation of the law — and which are merely “cultural” expressions of Catholic heritage. </p>
<p>In this way, Christianity remains the invisible cultural default. Unless that default is made visible, Canadian laws will not be able to get beyond the condescending premise of tolerance and move towards genuine inclusion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Dick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The language of the neutral and secular state in Bill 21, like its precursors, presumes an invisible Christian default for the rules around public expressions of religiosity.Hannah Dick, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1140722019-03-22T04:11:41Z2019-03-22T04:11:41ZFinding dignity and grace in the aftermath of the Christchurch attack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265226/original/file-20190321-93024-17z4r8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C5568%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Victims are responding to the Christchurch mosque shooting with bravery and compassion, not anger and hate. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the tragic attack in Christchurch that killed 50 people as they prayed, I felt compelled to visit the injured in hospital, and meet their family and friends. </p>
<p>I also visited others in their homes, alongside an elder and pioneer of the New Zealand Islamic community, the man who helped establish Al Noor Mosque where most of the victims were killed.</p>
<p>Their stories of survival are moving, sometimes remarkable and often deeply sad.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-mental-health-after-the-christchurch-attacks-113733">How to take care of your mental health after the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<p>But the common thread in their response to the horrific events of March 15 is profound bravery, deep consideration and thoughtfulness, and a complete lack of desire for vengeance.</p>
<p>At the hospital, I met Ahmad, a middle-aged man from an Afghani background. He said he survived because he was buried under the dead bodies that piled up in the mosque. Although he was shot twice in the back and was lucky to survive, he was not angry or resentful.</p>
<p>When asked about his abiding thoughts now he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>terrorism must not scare us. Racism must not divide us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I then visited Fuad, another middle-aged man originally from Afghanistan who also escaped death. He had been struck by a bullet in the back and another just missing the back of his head.</p>
<p>His wounds were visible. He told me, with four children, he was just grateful to be alive. Not resentful or vengeful, he was full of praise for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her deep expression of humanity.</p>
<p>Mustafa, a young university student of Turkish heritage, was shot in the legs. One of the bullets exploded in his leg and it is difficult to know the long-term impacts – but he smiles and is cheerful, kind and respectful to the nurses who care for him.</p>
<p>Like the other two, he was not hateful. He said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We trust in God. Don’t be scared to go to Mosques and schools. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He was quick to point out terrorism would serve its purpose if it made people afraid – our fear is their victory.</p>
<p>Still in shock from seeing the events at Al Noor mosque unfold, Burhan, a Sudanese man in his 60s, stood in the hospital corridor. That Friday at the mosque, he heard the shooting but was not sure if it was real.</p>
<p>He then saw two men shot dead, one on his right and the other behind him.</p>
<p>He ran outside and hid behind a car but could see the shoes of the terrorist as he continued to fire. He watched as a father ran out with his three-year-old daughter in his arms calling out “my daughter!”.</p>
<p>Both had been shot multiple times and both remain in critical care.</p>
<p>A young man in his 20s whom I had met when we completed the hajj pilgrimage last year, witnessed the gunman as he shot that young father and child.</p>
<p>Not unscathed, he too was shot in the hip and shoulder and his father only survived by pretending to be dead.</p>
<p>Without anger and strong in his faith he said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the Prophets of God were tested more severely.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Down every corridor the message was the same – the survivors urged unity and the strength to resist hatred, racism and vengeance.</p>
<p>At the community centre later that day I met Adnan Ibrahim the father of the youngest of the 50 victims killed at the two mosques. His son, Mucad Ibrahim, was only three years old. </p>
<p>Before he was killed, he had run toward the gunman thinking it was a game.</p>
<p>As Adnan retold the events, everyone became very silent. In deep pain and sorrow, he showed grace and dignity.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Verily we belong to God and to Him we shall return.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>His most present thoughts were about the sad condition of humanity, that such things could happen.</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-psychology-of-fear-and-hate-and-what-each-of-us-can-do-to-stop-it-113710">The psychology of fear and hate, and what each of us can do to stop it</a>
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<p>On my way to the carpark, I met Matiullah, a young man under 20 years old. I greeted him and asked if he lost anyone. He told me his father was killed while standing in prayer at the mosque. I embraced him and was struck by his gentleness and calmness.</p>
<p>The community elder Dr Hanif Quazi took me to see Ambreen Nadeem, who lost both her husband and her 21-year-old son, Talha.</p>
<p>Talha was completing an engineering degree. The entire family were planning to visit Pakistan in June and the tickets were booked.</p>
<p>As I met her with her two remaining sons, 17 and seven years old, I was filled with sadness.</p>
<p>Grief lined her dignified face.</p>
<p>And she said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I pity the killer because his heart was filled with hate, not love.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“Pray for us,” she added quietly. I did.</p>
<p>At a time when we could expect that anger, vengeance and resentment could take hold in a community so demolished by violence, I found the exact opposite.</p>
<p>They were compassionate. They were forgiving. They were humane. And this is what we need right now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohamad Abdalla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At a time when we could expect anger, vengeance and resentment to take hold in a community so demolished by violence, Professor Mohamad Abdalla visited victims and found compassion and forgiveness.Mohamad Abdalla, Founding Director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1136552019-03-15T08:58:23Z2019-03-15T08:58:23ZChristchurch mosque shootings must end New Zealand’s innocence about right-wing terrorism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264081/original/file-20190315-28512-1c5h6c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C2946%2C2038&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Armed Offenders Squad push back members of the public following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Martin Hunter</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mosques across New Zealand remain closed and police presence is strong, following a terrorist attack at two mosques in central Christchurch on Friday. </p>
<p>Fifty people have been killed at Masjid Al Noor and a second mosque nearby. </p>
<p>Three people have been taken into custody in connection with the shootings. One man in his late 20s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/live-blog-christchurch-shooting-multiple-fatalities-new-zealand/10904416">has been charged with murder</a>.</p>
<p>In the hours after the attacks, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern made it clear this was a terrorist attack of “extraordinary and unprecedented violence” that had no place in New Zealand. </p>
<p>She said extremist views were not welcome and contrary to New Zealand values, and did not reflect New Zealand as a nation.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is one of New Zealand’s darkest days. Many of the people affected by this act of extreme violence will be from our refugee and migrant communities. New Zealand is their home. They are us.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-news-outlets-should-think-twice-about-republishing-the-new-zealand-mosque-shooters-livestream-113651">Why news outlets should think twice about republishing the New Zealand mosque shooter's livestream</a>
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<p>She is right. Public opinion surveys such as the <a href="https://www.asianz.org.nz/">Asia New Zealand Foundation</a> annual surveys of attitudes tend to show that a majority of New Zealanders are in favour of diversity and see immigration, in this case from Asia, as providing various benefits for the country. </p>
<p>But extremist politics, including the extreme nationalist and white supremacist politics that appear to be at the core of this attack on Muslims, have been part of our community for a long time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264087/original/file-20190315-28496-1e104i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The scene of the mass shooting, Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue, in Christchurch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Martin Hunter</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>History of white supremacy</h2>
<p>I completed research in the UK on the National Front and British National Party in the late 1970s. When I returned to New Zealand, I was told explicitly, including by authorities that were charged with monitoring extremism, that we did not have similar groups here. But it did not take me long to discover quite the opposite. </p>
<p>Through the 1980s, I looked at more than 70 <a href="http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_library-catalogq40-29437">local groups that met the definition of being extreme right wing</a>. The city that hosted many of these groups was Christchurch. </p>
<p>They were a mixture of skinhead, neo-nazi and extreme nationalist groups. Some were traditional in their ideology, with a strong underpinning of anti-Semitism and a belief in the supremacy of the “British race”. Others inverted the arguments of Māori nationalism to argue for separatism to keep the “white race pure”.</p>
<p>And yes, there was violence. The <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/109979270/teen-killed-in-crash-named-after-uncle-who-shot-dead-nz-cricketing-greats-son">1989 shooting of an innocent bystander, Wayne Motz</a>, in Christchurch by a skinhead who then walked to a local police kiosk and shot himself. The pictures of the internment showed his friends giving nazi salutes. In separate incidents, a <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10518087">Korean backpacker and a gay man</a> were killed for ideological reasons.</p>
<p>Things have changed. The 1990s provided the internet and then social media. And events such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/world-politics-explainer-the-twin-tower-bombings-9-11-101443">September 11 terror attacks</a> shifted the focus – anti-Semitism was now supplemented by Islamophobia. </p>
<h2>Hate speech online</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/christchurch-and-canterbury-earthquakes/">earthquakes</a> and subsequent rebuild have significantly transformed the ethnic demography of Christchurch and made it much more multicultural – and more positive about that diversity. It is ironic that this terrorism should take place in this city, despite its history of earlier far right extremism. </p>
<p>We tend not to think too much about the presence of racist and white supremacist groups, until there is some public incident like the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10841595">desecration of Jewish graves</a> or a march of black-shirted men (they are mostly men) asserting their “right to be white”. Perhaps, we are comfortable in thinking, as the prime minister has said, they are not part of our nation.</p>
<p>Last year, as part of a project to look at hate speech, I looked at what some New Zealanders were saying online. It did not take long to discover the presence of hateful and anti-Muslim comments. It would be wrong to characterise these views and comments as widespread, but New Zealand was certainly not exempt from Islamophobia. </p>
<p>Every so often, it surfaced, such as in the <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/watch-you-dont-have-right-here-muslim-womans-disgusting-racist-attack-women-wearing-hijabs-in-huntly">attack on a Muslim woman in a Huntly carpark</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=107%2C62%2C2887%2C1823&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264080/original/file-20190315-28492-4n3h1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Families outside following a shooting at mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Martin Hunter</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An end to collective innocence</h2>
<p>It became even more obvious during 2018. The Canadian YouTuber, Stefan Molyneux, sparked a <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/362770/heated-debate-continues-as-southern-molyneux-event-goes-ahead">public debate</a> (along with Lauren Southern) about his right to free speech. Much of the public comment seemed to either overlook or condone his extreme views on what he regards as the threat posed by Islam.</p>
<p>And then there was the public protest in <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/06/free-tommy-robinson-far-right-protesters-demand.html">favour of free speech</a> that occurred at the same time, and the signs warning us about the arrival of Sharia law or “Free Tommy” signs. The latter refers to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-44577573/who-is-tommy-robinson-and-why-is-he-in-jail">Tommy Robinson</a>, a long-time activist (cf English Defence League leader) who was sentenced to prison - and then released on appeal - for contempt of court, essentially by targeting Muslims before the courts.</p>
<p>There is plenty of evidence of local Islamophobic views, especially online. There are, and have been for a long time, individuals and groups who hold white supremacist views. They tend to threaten violence; seldom have they acted on those views. There is also a naivety amongst New Zealanders, including the media, about the need to be tolerant towards the intolerant.</p>
<p>There is not necessarily a direct causation between the presence of Islamophobia and what has happened in Christchurch. But this attack must end our collective innocence.</p>
<p>No matter the size of these extremist communities, they always represent a threat to our collective well-being. Social cohesion and mutual respect need to be asserted and continually worked on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Spoonley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most New Zealanders see immigration as beneficial for their country, but extreme nationalist politics have been part of communities for a long time.Paul Spoonley, Pro Vice-Chancellor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1136512019-03-15T07:33:43Z2019-03-15T07:33:43ZWhy news outlets should think twice about republishing the New Zealand mosque shooter’s livestream<p>Like so many times before with acts of mass violence in different parts of the world, news of shootings at two Christchurch mosques on Friday instantly ricocheted around the world via social media. </p>
<p>When these incidents occur, online activity follows a predictable pattern as journalists and others try to learn the name of the perpetrator and any reason behind the killings. </p>
<p>This time they did not have to wait long. In an appalling example of the latest technology, the gunman reportedly livestreamed his killings on Facebook. According to <a href="https://10daily.com.au/news/a190315uge/gunman-opens-fire-in-new-zealand-mosque-20190315">reports</a>, the footage apparently showed a man moving through the interior of a mosque and shooting at his victims indiscriminately. </p>
<p>Amplifying the spread of this kind of material can be harmful. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/since-boston-bombing-terrorists-are-using-new-social-media-to-inspire-potential-attackers-94944">Since Boston bombing, terrorists are using new social media to inspire potential attackers</a>
</strong>
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<h2>Mainstream media outlets posted raw footage from gunman</h2>
<p>The video was later taken down but not before many had called out the social media company. The ABC’s online technology reporter, Ariel Bogle, blamed the platforms for allowing the video to be shared.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1106402168674746368"}"></div></p>
<p>ABC investigative reporter Sophie McNeil asked people on Twitter not to share the video, since the perpetrator clearly wanted it to be widely disseminated. New Zealand police similarly <a href="https://twitter.com/nzpolice/status/1106402006183219203">urged people</a> not to share the link and said they were working to have the footage removed.</p>
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<p>Following a spate of killings in France in 2015 and 2016, French mainstream media proprietors decided to adopt a policy of not recycling pictures of atrocities. </p>
<p>The editor of Le Monde, Jérôme Fenoglio, <a href="https://qz.com/744406/in-a-massive-attempt-to-stop-the-spread-of-terror-french-media-are-no-longer-publishing-photos-of-terrorists/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Following the attack in Nice, we will no longer publish photographs of the perpetrators of killings, to avoid possible effects of posthumous glorification. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Today, information about the name of the Christchurch gunman, his photograph and his Twitter account, were easy to find. Later, it was possible to see that his Twitter account had been suspended. On Facebook, it was easy to source pictures, and even a selfie, that the alleged perpetrator had shared on social media before entering the mosque.</p>
<p>But it was not just social media that shared the pictures. Six minutes of raw video was <a href="https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/gunman-who-opened-fire-on-christchurch-mosque-addresses-attack-in-manifesto/news-story/70372a39f720697813607a9ec426a734">posted by news.com.au</a>, which, after a warning at the front of the clip, showed video from the gunman’s helmet camera as he drove through the streets on his way to the mosque.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mainstream-media-outlets-are-dropping-the-ball-with-terrorism-coverage-78442">Mainstream media outlets are dropping the ball with terrorism coverage</a>
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</p>
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<h2>The risks of sharing information about terrorism</h2>
<p>Sharing this material can be highly problematic. In some past incidences of terrorism and hate crime, pictures of the wrong people have been published around the world on social and in mainstream media.</p>
<p>After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, the wrong man was fingered as a culprit by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-22214511">a crowd-sourced detective hunt</a> on various social media sites. </p>
<p>There is also the real fear that publishing such material could lead to copycat crimes. Along with the photographs and 17 minutes of film, the alleged perpetrator has penned a 73-page manifesto, in which he <a href="https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/gunman-who-opened-fire-on-christchurch-mosque-addresses-attack-in-manifesto/news-story/70372a39f720697813607a9ec426a734">describes himself</a> as “just a regular white man”.</p>
<p>A Norwegian extremist who killed 69 people on the island of Utøya in 2011, took a similar approach to justifying his acts. Before his killing spree, he wrote a 1,518 page manifesto called “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-14267007">2083: A European Declaration of Independence</a>”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-ways-social-media-companies-and-security-agencies-can-tackle-terrorism-78903">Four ways social media companies and security agencies can tackle terrorism</a>
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<h2>The public’s right to know</h2>
<p>Those who believe in media freedom and the public’s right to know are likely to complain if information and pictures are not available in full view on the internet. Conspiracies fester when people believe they are not being told the truth.</p>
<p>Instant global access to news can also pose problems to subsequent trials of perpetrators,<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2019/feb/27/pells-trial-shows-courts-cant-keep-secrets-in-the-internet-age"> as was shown </a>in the recent case involving Cardinal George Pell.</p>
<p>While some large media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, are under increasing pressure to clean up their acts in terms of publishing hate crime material, it is nigh on impossible to stop the material popping up in multiple places elsewhere.</p>
<p>Members of the public, and some media organisations, will not stop speculating, playing detective or “rubber necking” at horror, despite what well-meaning social media citizens may desire. For the media, it’s all about clicks, and unfortunately horror drives clicks.</p>
<hr>
<p>Update from the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/christchurch-shooting-live-stream-think-twice-about-watching-it/10907258">ABC</a>: Facebook says it has taken down a video of the shootings at a New Zealand mosque and removed the identified shooter’s accounts from its platforms after being alerted by police.</p>
<p>Facebook New Zealand spokeswoman Mia Garlick said in a statement the company was “also removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters as soon as we’re aware.”</p>
<p>Both YouTube owner Google and Twitter also said they were working to remove video of the shootings from their sites.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colleen Murrell is on the executive board of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA). </span></em></p>People are sharing the gruesome video posted by the Christchurch mosque gunman. What is the responsibility of news agencies in such a situation?Colleen Murrell, Associate Professor, Journalism, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662592016-10-05T06:50:33Z2016-10-05T06:50:33ZFive cities that could change the future of Antarctica<p>Antarctica is at a crossroads. This frozen continent at the bottom of our planet has the potential to either become one of the most fiercely contested zones in the world, or the most collaborative.</p>
<p>Antarctica is one of four internationally recognised <a href="http://www.unep.org/delc/GlobalCommons/tabid/54404/">global commons</a> along with the atmosphere, the high seas and outer space. These are all areas that have historically been guided by the principle of the common heritage of humankind. </p>
<p>The continent is governed by the <a href="http://www.ats.aq/e/ats_keydocs.htm_">Antarctic Treaty System</a>, a complex set of arrangements developed to regulate relations between states with interests and territorial claims in the region. As of today, 29 states are “<a href="http://www.ats.aq/devAS/ats_parties.aspx?lang=e">consultative parties</a>” to the treaty. They demonstrate their interest in Antarctica by carrying out substantial scientific activity there. </p>
<p>Several states have very specific and long-standing interests in Antarctica, which not only determine national policies about engaging with the continent, but can also complicate those engagements. Seven have <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27910375">territorial claims</a> including the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile. </p>
<p>In 2007, the UK made a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/oct/17/antarctica.sciencenews">submission to the United Nations</a> to claim more than a million square kilometre of seabeds, and in 2012 it renamed an area as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/shortcuts/2012/dec/19/antarctica-renamed-queen-elizabeth-land">Queen Elizabeth Land</a>. Both instances led to diplomatic tension with Argentina. </p>
<p>Despite ongoing competing claims over the Antarctic and increasing interest in its resources, this is also a moment of remarkable opportunity for collaboration. </p>
<p>One example of such collaboration is the possibility of creating a large <a href="http://www.asoc.org/advocacy/marine-protected-areas/ross-sea-preservation">marine protected area in the Ross Sea</a> in East Antarctica.</p>
<h2>Meet the five gateway cities</h2>
<p>Which path will Antarctica take? The answer may lie with five cities in the planet’s deep south: Cape Town (South Africa), Christchurch (New Zealand), Hobart (Australia), Punta Arenas (Chile), and Ushuaia (Argentina).</p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=19HZEaGwaa6XlVbYuJp0AWLLBf2s&hl=en" width="100%" height="480"></iframe>
<p>These cities are the most connected to the Antarctic in the world. They are formally recognised international gateways through which most travel to the region flows. All significant engagement with the Southern Polar Region is co-ordinated through them, but the ensuing competition for economic advantage that this traffic offers is not always constructive.</p>
<p>We rarely consider the role that urban centres play in humanity’s relationship with the world’s most desolate, extreme continent. But in these cities, Antarctica has exercised a powerful hold on the urban imagination since the late 19th century. </p>
<p>All five cities are small in size and population and, with the exception of Cape Town, do not fit the profile of a global city. But that might change if we consider their influence over an entire region; the high percentage of residents employed in the scientific research and logistics sector; and the fact that they host some of the best educational, tourism, and entertainment facilities in relation to the Antarctic region.</p>
<h2>Ushuaia</h2>
<p>Ushuaia (<a href="http://population.city/argentina/ushuaia/">population 67,600</a>) is the capital of the Argentinean province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctic and South Atlantic Islands. It is commonly referred to as the <a href="http://www.journal-topics.com/travel/article_6a7ea60c-75d9-11e6-88f7-83ab2f59beb5.html">southernmost city in the world</a>. </p>
<p>The city is located on the <a href="https://www.google.fr/maps?q=beagle+channel&ion=1&espv=2&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.134495766,d.d24&biw=1366&bih=600&dpr=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzpJCAu77PAhWE7BQKHauPC54Q_AUIBygC">Beagle Channel</a>, in an area that had been occupied by Yamana – or <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.5822/978-1-61091-551-9_24#page-1">Yaghan</a> – Indigenous people for more than 10,000 years.</p>
<p>Due to its proximity to Antarctica – around 1000 kilometres – Ushuaia is today by far the most popular gateway for Antarctic tourism, capturing close to 90% of the more than <a href="http://iaato.org/tourism-overview">35,000 tourists</a> who travel each year to the Antarctic. But it has yet to act as a base for any national Antarctic science programmes. </p>
<p>Since 2007, Ushuaia has hosted the <a href="http://www.bienaldelfindelmundo.org/">Biennial of Contemporary Art at the End of the World</a> an international arts forum with the motto “Think at the end of the world, another world is possible”.</p>
<h2>Punta Arenas</h2>
<p>Punta Arenas (<a href="https://www.google.it/publicdata/explore?ds=z5567oe244g0ot_&met_y=population&idim=city_proper:005960&hl=en&dl=en">population 125,000</a>) was founded in 1848 as a penal colony by the Chilean government, and later served as destination for the settlement of European immigrants. Until the construction of the Panama Canal in 1910, its port was key in the commercial route linking the Atlantic and the Pacific. </p>
<p>Punta Arenas was a key site and principal point of reference for many of the early Antarctic scientific expeditions. The city is dotted with these stories. Among the most important is the 1916 failed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition">Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition</a> by Sir Ernest Shackleton. This year Punta Arenas celebrated the centenary of the rescue by the Chilean Navy officer Piloto Pardo of Shackleton’s stranded crew in Antarctica.</p>
<p>Most important, the national Antarctic programmes of more than 20 countries use Punta Arenas as a gateway to the continent – a higher number than any other gateway city. </p>
<p>This is partly due to logistical advantages and the geographical proximity to the <a href="http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/antarctica/antarctic-peninsula-2/">Antarctic Peninsula</a> (about 1,300 kilometres), the area of Antarctica that hosts the largest concentration of scientific research stations on the continent, and arguably the world. </p>
<p>Punta Arenas is at the centre of a new ambitious development plan seeking to improve its infrastructure and generate new forms of Antarctic culture and identity in the <a href="https://www.google.fr/maps?q=Magallanes+region&ion=1&espv=2&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.134495766,d.d24&biw=1366&bih=560&dpr=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3_OLsvr7PAhVNsBQKHSNXAgAQ_AUIBygC">Magallanes region</a>. These include a School Antarctic Fair, a unique initiative in which school students compete for a coveted trip to the frozen continent to work with scientists.</p>
<h2>Christchurch</h2>
<p>Christchurch (<a href="https://www.google.it/publicdata/explore?ds=z5567oe244g0ot_&met_y=population&idim=city_proper:031420:031520:005280&hl=en&dl=en">population 360,000</a>) is a key <a href="http://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/about-us/christchurch-gateway-to-antarctica/">gateway</a> to the Antarctic as the logistics centre for a number of national programmes (most importantly, for the United States, Italy and South Korea). </p>
<p>Christchurch’s historic links with Antarctica and tributes to early explorers – such as Captain Robert Falcon Scott – are evident, and made accessible through central city walking trails. While it has yet to attract significant Antarctic tourism operations, Christchurch has arguably the most developed cultural sector of all Antarctic cities – perhaps only comparable to Hobart. </p>
<p>In 1992, the <a href="http://www.iceberg.co.nz/">International Antarctic Centre</a> – an education and outreach facility – was opened in a precinct that includes the passenger terminals of Christchurch Airport and the New Zealand Antarctic programme offices. The city also hosts the <a href="http://nzicefest.co.nz/">NZ IceFest</a> – a public festival celebrating all things Antarctica. And since 2016, it houses a new <a href="https://cccgovtnz.cwp.govt.nz/the-council/news-search/show/647">Antarctic Office</a> tasked with developing plans to become a world-leading research hub. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140258/original/image-20161004-20213-1qn41jg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christchurch has a long history of Antarctic exploration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christchurch_City.jpg">P. Stalder</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hobart</h2>
<p>Hobart (<a href="https://www.google.it/publicdata/explore?ds=z5567oe244g0ot_&met_y=population&idim=city_proper:001020:000960:000980&hl=en&dl=en#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=population&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=area&idim=city_proper:001020&ifdim=area&hl=en_US&dl=en&ind=false">population 225,000</a>) was founded in 1803, also as a penal colony. It’s Australia’s second-oldest capital city after Sydney. </p>
<p>It has the most complete infrastructure of any gateway city, hosting the largest <a href="http://www.antarctictasmania.com/">critical mass</a> of Antarctic scientists and scholars anywhere in the world with world-class research and education institutions. This is the result of a decision made in 1981 to move the Australian Antarctic Program to Hobart from Canberra, which in hindsight marked an economic and cultural turning point for both the city and the state of Tasmania. </p>
<p>In the early 1990s, the local government created the <a href="http://www.tasmanianpolarnetwork.com.au/">Tasmanian Polar Network</a>, which represents the considerable Antarctic and Southern Ocean business and science sector. Hobart’s claim to its <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point-keeping-the-keys-to-the-gateway/news-story/0135346f43d19fcb36a05f08225af779">gateway status</a> is logistical, economic and scientific (primarily for the French and Chinese Antarctic programmes). </p>
<p>In the Southern Hemisphere summer of 2011/12, Hobart hosted a range of big cultural events celebrating the centenary of Antarctic expeditions by Sir Douglas Mawson and Roald Amundsen. Today, the city’s gateway status is also increasingly shored up by heritage tourism: a growing list of polar tourist attractions including <a href="http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/whats_on/exhibitions/permanent/islands_to_ice">permanent museum exhibitions</a> and a new <a href="http://www.antarcticfestival.com.au/">Australian Antarctic Festival</a> launched in 2016.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140256/original/image-20161004-20223-yjta15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hobart, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cape Town</h2>
<p>Cape Town (<a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/stats/Documents/City_Statistics_2012.pdf">population 3.75 million</a>) has a completely different history to the other four gateway cities. Founded in 1652 as a key site in the commercial route between Europe and the East Indies, Cape Town is an order of magnitude bigger than the next largest gateway and is one of <a href="https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/SmartCape/Government/Pages/smartcapestd.aspx?pid=551">the most multicultural</a> cities in the world. </p>
<p>Situated further from Antarctica than the other cities, Cape Town sees its potential in building up research and logistics services, and in being closer to both European tourist-generating regions and key national Antarctic programmes, such as those of Russia, Germany, Belgium, Norway and Japan.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140252/original/image-20161004-20235-1l760vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cape Town from above.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Town_City_Aerial.jpg">AerialcamSA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>International co-operation</h2>
<p>Each of these cities has a complex relationship with the Antarctic that goes back hundreds of years. But they have only recently acquired international relevance as entry points for tourists and workers travelling to Antarctica. </p>
<p>A formal <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/15540/antarctica-agreement-signed">statement of intent</a> between the five cities was signed in 2009, binding them to explore the benefits of exchanging expertise about the continent. Nonetheless, a substantive relationship between them remains tenuous.</p>
<p>It is time we rethink both the outlook of these cities – not as five far-flung ports competing for the same northern hemisphere capital and investments, but as members of a network that can learn from and benefit each other. </p>
<p>The future of the Antarctic hangs in the balance and these cities have a key role to play in securing the future of this fragile continent. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.circlesofsustainability.org/projects/antarctic-cities/">new approach</a> is crucial. The cities should not just act as thoroughfares, but also as urban centres that embody the cosmopolitan values associated with Antarctic custodianship: international cooperation, scientific innovation, and ecological protection. </p>
<p>Through ecological stewardship, political cooperation, cultural vibrancy and economic prosperity – benefits that can be mutually reinforcing – these cities could change their future relationship with Antarctica, and each other.</p>
<p><em>This piece was updated at the author’s request. The words “memorandum of understnading” were replaced with “statement of intent”, which is a more accurate description of the agreement signed between the five cities.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juan Francisco Salazar receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Leane receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Magee receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul James receives funding from the Australia Research Council. He is a Director of Global Reconciliation and an Editor of Arena.</span></em></p>Antarctica hangs in the balance. Five cities have the chance of securing the future of this fragile continent.Juan Francisco Salazar, Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Western Sydney UniversityElizabeth Leane, Assoc. Professor of English and ARC Future Fellow, University of TasmaniaLiam Magee, Senior Research Fellow, Digital Media, Western Sydney UniversityPaul James, Professor of Globalization and Cultural Diversity, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537272016-02-19T22:18:31Z2016-02-19T22:18:31ZChristchurch five years on: have politicians helped or hindered the earthquake recovery?<p>The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-11 required a momentous recovery undertaking by the City of Christchurch in New Zealand. <a href="http://www.canterburyquakelive.co.nz/">Thousands of tremors</a> have been recorded since the <a href="http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/historic-earthquakes/page-13">February 22 earthquake</a> that killed 185 people, injured thousands, destroyed more than 50% of the CBD and damaged tens of thousands of homes. </p>
<p>Five years on, what insight can we glean from the fallout?</p>
<p>The city faced enormous challenges. Many remain unresolved. The political approach of the national government to response and recovery has raised important issues for understanding the politics of disasters. </p>
<p>These issues are relevant elsewhere too as climate-related disasters <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-are-natural-disasters-on-the-rise-39232">become more frequent</a>. This applies particularly in Australia, which has experienced <a href="https://theconversation.com/fires-are-increasing-in-warming-world-but-a-new-model-could-help-us-predict-them-54466">widespread bushfires</a> from <a href="https://theconversation.com/expectations-and-harsh-reality-why-bushfire-warnings-fail-53050">Western Australia</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/fighting-fire-in-the-wilderness-learning-from-tasmania-53948">Tasmania</a>.</p>
<p>Christchurch is finally starting to enter a phase of sustained construction. The keenly awaited <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/largest-southern-hemisphere-playground-opens-in-christchurch">Margaret Mahy children’s playground</a> has opened. Work has begun on government-led precincts and anchor projects in the central city.</p>
<h2>Signs of progress and public discontent</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110546/original/image-20160208-18289-1shp18q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Christchurch Cathedral remains in a state of disrepair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Raven Cretney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the signs of progress, the government’s approach has caused simmering discontent in the local community.</p>
<p>My current research reveals this dissatisfaction is particularly with the actions of central government. Many people expressed displeasure at the treatment of residents in official processes. They say they felt dismissed and excluded – even deliberately left out of consultation and engagement.</p>
<p><a href="http:/allright.org.nz/media/uploads/AllRightResearchSummary_2_2.pdf">Other studies</a> have found that more than 75% of respondents disagreed with the government’s recovery priorities. And 59% believed the recovery to be a convenient excuse to push the government’s own agendas. </p>
<p>To understand these perspectives and why people are dissatisfied, it is necessary to explore what the government did. Almost immediately after the first big, but non-fatal, earthquake in September 2010, the government introduced legislation that gave a newly appointed earthquake recovery minister the power to amend almost any statute to support the recovery.</p>
<p>This move was met with concern. In particular, <a href="http://pundit.co.nz/content/an-open-letter-to-new-zealands-people-and-their-parliament">legal academics</a> highlighted the unprecedented nature of the legislation and the truncated democratic process.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110547/original/image-20160208-18277-ppinzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street art protests the powers of the minister for earthquake recovery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Raven Cretney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under further legislation introduced after the February 2011 earthquake, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (<a href="http://cera.govt.nz/">CERA</a>) gained wide-ranging control of the recovery. In some cases, it took over projects managed by local authorities. The most prominent example is the creation of a unit within the CERA to manage the city centre rebuild, removing the task from the locally elected city council.</p>
<p>Other agencies also felt the effects of this approach. In early 2010, the government had removed the democratically elected officials of the regional council Environment Canterbury. The government later extended this arrangement until 2016, <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7631962/ECan-commissioners-staying-until-2016">citing the earthquakes</a> as one justification.</p>
<h2>Community feels excluded by centralised powers</h2>
<p>The removal of elected officials, along with the CERA legislation, are indicative of an approach to post-disaster politics that favours central government intervention and control. </p>
<p>While this upset many in the community, <a href="http://www.resorgs.org.nz/images/stories/pdfs/james%20rotimi%20final%20thesis.pdf">research</a> conducted just before the earthquakes found existing legislation may not have been sufficient to manage some aspects of recovery from such a large disaster. </p>
<p>However, it must be asked why the earthquake recovery legislation did not adopt extensive parts of the New Zealand civil defence plan and strategy. These are <a href="http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/students/envs_5100/mitchell.pdf">highly regarded</a> for their community-driven approach. </p>
<p>The primary provision for community engagement in the act is a 20-person committee appointed by the minister. The stories I have collected suggest that establishing such a powerful government department created a hierarchy which has emphasised a top-down, command-and-control approach. </p>
<p>That approach has excluded many individuals and community organisations. This, in turn, has contributed to feelings of disenfranchisement and disillusion. Unfortunately, this was exactly the situation <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/4919892/Cera-labelled-militaristic">some academics</a> feared the creation of the CERA would create.</p>
<h2>Grassroots-driven recovery gives hope</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110544/original/image-20160208-18264-1vy2n0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Commons, a Gap Filler project providing public space and activities in the central city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Raven Cretney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Existing alongside these higher-level politics during the disaster recovery period is a thriving network of community and grassroots groups. Initiatives such as Greening the Rubble, Gap Filler and Agropolis have demonstrated the possibilities for citizen-led recovery.</p>
<p>Many residents, when interviewed, mentioned the importance of these organisations and their projects. Their successes had brought joy to their lives and restored hope for the future of the city.</p>
<p>The question then is: why can’t Christchurch lead its own recovery? A strong feeling exists in the city that the community can undertake this task. The community organisations that sprang up from the rubble have provided hope, social services and public spaces for those living through their own personal recovery alongside that of the city. </p>
<p>In my research, many people said they would have preferred to see a locally led recovery supported and resourced by central government, but with a more “hands-off” approach. Recent submissions from the public on the plan to replace CERA with another agency also demonstrate the community’s desire for <a href="http://cera.govt.nz/recovery-strategy/leadership-and-integration/transition-recovery-plan">more powers at the local level</a>. </p>
<p>The lessons from Christchurch show the importance of social and political dynamics in shaping the experience of cities and their citizens in long-term disaster recovery. To carry out more democratic and community-focused recovery, authorities need to actively appreciate and collaborate with residents, organisations and communities.</p>
<p>Looking towards a future that seems destined to bring more bushfires, floods and cyclones, it is vital to understand how exceptional post-disaster political tools influence recovery. Of particular concern are those that challenge the democratic right to local participation and representation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raven Marie Cretney receives funding through the Australian Government APA scholarship scheme.</span></em></p>By removing elected officials and installing a powerful command-and-control agency, the government’s approach to recovery has left many of the city’s people feeling disenfranchised and excluded.Raven Cretney, PhD Candidate, Disaster Studies and Urban Geography, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/548042016-02-16T22:28:22Z2016-02-16T22:28:22ZThe earthquakes keep on coming for Christchurch<p>At risk of being accused of being some sort of sinister harbinger of earthquakes, I must confess I happened to be en route to Christchurch, in New Zealand, when the latest <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/59-magnitude-earthquake-hits-near-christchurch-new-zealand-20160214-gmtlia.html">magnitude 5.7 earthquake</a> occurred on Sunday beneath the Pacific ocean.</p>
<p>I’d just finished a week hunting active faults in deep native bush in the South Island with my friend and colleague <a href="http://learnz.org.nz/geohazards152/meet-rob-langridge">Rob Langridge</a>. We were driving along Highway 73 through the centre of the island, searching the airwaves for the NZ-Australia cricket score. </p>
<p>Alas, when I heard of a strong damaging earthquake in Christchurch on the radio, the old feelings of anxiety and sadness came surging back. I had a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040195116000962">major scientific role</a> as an Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury in the 2010-2011 earthquakes and lived in Christchurch for eight years. We were badly affected by the earthquakes and lost our house in eastern Christchurch.</p>
<p>I was surprised at how persistently these feelings must reside simmering in my psyche, even from my <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/67799508/Face-of-Christchurch-earthquakes-Dr-Mark-Quigley-leaving-town">new position</a> at Melbourne University across the ditch. It is obviously important to consider what this recent earthquake means for Christchurch’s seismic future.</p>
<h2>The magnitude</h2>
<p>First, the details. The magnitude 5.7 earthquake was centred approximately eight kilometres offshore on a moderately dipping <a href="http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deform/gfaults.html">reverse fault</a>. Earthquakes of this size typically result from fault ruptures about five to seven kilometres long, with up to about a meter of seismic slip. </p>
<p>The type of faulting and resultant shaking pattern was similar in some ways to the magnitude 5.8 and 5.9 earthquakes to hit Christchurch on December 23, 2011. Some of the aftershocks from the most recent event are also <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=strike-slip">strike-slip</a> where rocks on opposing sides of the fault slide laterally past one another, like the magnitude 7.1 <a href="http://www.britannica.com/event/Christchurch-earthquakes-of-2010-2011">Darfield earthquake</a> that occurred about 40 km west of Christchurch in 2010. </p>
<p>An instrumental measure of earthquake shaking intensity, termed “<a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=acceleration">peak ground acceleration</a>” – now known well by many residents around Christchurch – reached up to 30-40% of gravity. </p>
<p>In vulnerable sediments, the threshold for triggering <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=liquefaction">liquefaction</a> is about <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/419.full_.pdf">10-20% of gravity</a>. As a consequence, liquefaction occurred in the places we expected it to, with the severity we would have expected for an earthquake of this size in this location. </p>
<p>Liquefaction didn’t occur in many places in central and southern Christchurch, where it had during the February earthquake, because the shaking wasn’t strong enough. </p>
<p>In case you were wondering, no liquefaction occurred in the land formerly occupied by my house, now owned by the Crown. I would have predicted no sand volcanoes would erupt given the measured ground accelerations and distance from the earthquake, but I couldn’t resist checking.</p>
<p>The shaking in this most recent earthquake was strong enough to cause loose rock to tumble from cliff faces around the coast. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KOKRU9Fd5f8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The aftermath of the cliff collapse following the earthquake.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of these areas had already been well designated by the the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (<a href="http://cera.govt.nz/">CERA</a>) and <a href="http://www.ccc.govt.nz/">Christchurch City Council</a> as high hazard <a href="http://cera.govt.nz/land-information/land-zones">Red Zones</a>, which are areas of widespread land and infrastructure damage where repair or remediation are considered to be prohibitively difficult. </p>
<p>This certainly provided some validation for the power of science and technology to assist with land use zoning decisions. The tumbling of rock off of coastal cliffs continues to remind us (particularly the kayakers, boaters and surfers) that keeping a 30 to 50 metre separation from steep bedrock cliffs when out in the ocean reduces the risk of being hit by falling rocks. </p>
<p>This applies even to cliffs where prior earthquakes didn’t cause rockfall, because the rock mass has been <a href="http://www.drquigs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/G36149.1.full_.pdf">seismically weakened</a> in most cases throughout the region, and continues to pose an ongoing hazard. Of course we can’t (and shouldn’t) Red Zone these marine environs, but we can keep them in our minds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111576/original/image-20160215-22570-1krmdyb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of Sunday’s Christchurch earthquake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USGS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is there a pattern?</h2>
<p>The published annual statistical likelihood of Sunday’s earthquake prior to it occurring was 49%. And because this event has occurred, there is now a 63% chance another quake between magnitude 5 and 5.9 will occur in the region in the next year. </p>
<p>Even prior to Sunday’s earthquake, the annual rate of magnitude 4 earthquakes through this part of Canterbury in 2015 – a seemingly quiet year for earthquakes – was still more than ten times greater than the pre-Darfield annual rate. </p>
<p>We expect several magnitude 4 aftershocks over the coming weeks from Sunday’s earthquake, which will be most strongly felt along the eastern Canterbury coast. For each of these magnitude 4s, we would expect ten magnitude 3 earthquakes and a hundred magnitude 2s.</p>
<p>A research paper by <a href="https://www.niwa.co.nz/people/philip-barnes">Philip Barnes</a> and his colleagues published just last week showed new maps of active faults they identified in Pegasus Bay, just north of Christchurch, including some in the approximate area of Sunday’s earthquake. </p>
<p>The recurrence interval of earthquakes on these faults may be 10,000 years or longer. However, the effect of stress redistributions in the crust resulting from prior earthquakes in this area, particularly the magnitude 5.8 and 5.9 earthquakes in December 2011 and magnitude 6 earthquake in June 2011, means that these structures are continuously being pushed and prodded closer to rupture. </p>
<p>While a few years may seem long on a human timescale, the occurrence of these strong Canterbury earthquakes years apart is equivalent to a blink of the eye over geological timescales. The coarse resolution in which we can study these faults using geology and geophysics prohibits us from knowing whether they have ruptured in short succession in the past (within years or decades), or whether their past ruptures were separated by centuries. </p>
<p>The point is: the Canterbury earthquake sequence has periods of relative quiescence and resurgence, is still ongoing, and is affecting crustal stress in an area where we know there are active faults, some of which Barnes and colleagues show in their recent paper are large enough to generate magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes.</p>
<h2>Preparing for the future</h2>
<p>So what next? And what can we do about it? While the Canterbury earthquake has generally migrated eastward through time since 2010, there are clearly still portions of smaller faults throughout the region that are capable of generating large earthquakes. </p>
<p>These include faults southwest of Christchurch and offshore faults to the northeast like the source of the most recent event. No scientist would dismiss the possibility that a larger magnitude earthquake could occur offshore, even though the statistical probabilities of a magnitude 7 of more occurring in the region remain below 1% over the next year. </p>
<p>I maintain that the 1992 <a href="http://scedc.caltech.edu/significant/landers1992.html">Landers earthquakes</a> (magnitude 7.3, 6.2 and 6.3 earthquakes) followed by the 1999 <a href="http://scedc.caltech.edu/significant/hectormine1999.html">Hector Mine earthquake</a> (magnitude 7.1) in eastern California provides us with a useful analogue for Canterbury.</p>
<p>The fault orientations and likely ocean floor displacements predicted from future Pegasus Bay earthquakes suggest low potential for a large, locally sourced tsunami. Nonetheless, a brush up on tsunami evacuation routes and awareness of local areas of high ground like parts of Bottle Lake, on the coast of Christchurch, and the sand dunes along New Brighton a little further to the south provide avenues for continued discussion with scientists and authorities for coastal dwellers. </p>
<p>Clearly, we cannot rule out any geological scenario with complete confidence. So we must continue the conversations and New Zealand must maintain its collective reputation as one of the world’s most scientifically literate general publics in the field of earthquakes. Kia kaha Christchurch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54804/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Quigley receives funding from the New Zealand Earthquake Commission</span></em></p>Christchurch is still reeling from the 2011 earthquake, but there may be more on their way.Mark Quigley, Senior Lecturer in Active Tectonics and Geomorphology, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/504032015-11-10T22:58:35Z2015-11-10T22:58:35ZCrisis communication: saving time and lives in disasters through smarter social media<p>As the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-17/remembering-the-blue-mountains-bushfires-one-year-on/5819100">worst bushfires</a> seen for generations in New South Wales raged across the Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands and the Central Coast two years ago, people urgently needed fast, reliable information – and many turned to their phones to get it. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/">NSW Rural Fire Service</a> was prepared with a smartphone app, <a href="http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me">Fires Near Me</a>, which was downloaded almost 200,000 times. At the height of the fires, its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nswrfs/?fref=ts">Facebook page</a> was recording more than a million views an hour.</p>
<p>A social media campaign also helped the NSW Rural Fire Service Facebook community more than double from 120,000 to 280,000, while its Twitter reach jumped from 20,000 to 37,000 followers. Crucially, this helped to alert people to danger areas and places to avoid driving near. </p>
<p>If every emergency in Australia was handled in that way, Australians would be better able to cope with disasters we face, including fires, floods and storms.</p>
<p>But our <a href="http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/crisiscommsreport.pdf">new policy report</a>, released today, shows that there’s still much more to do to consistently match the 2013 response to the NSW fires across the nation.</p>
<p>We found that while Australia is a leader in uses of social media for crisis communication within emergency management organisations, much activity is still relatively <em>ad hoc</em>, rather than being systematically embedded within, or effectively coordinated across, agencies. </p>
<p>Australia also lacks frameworks to enable agencies in one place to learn from the experiences in other parts of the country. That might not sound important – but in times of acute crisis, such disconnects between emergency agencies can cost lives. </p>
<p>Based on a three-year study on how improve social media for crisis communication, our <a href="http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/crisiscommsreport.pdf">Support Frameworks for the Use of Social Media by Emergency Management Organisations</a> report makes four key recommendations for Australia, to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Develop a national framework for best practices for social media use in crises</li>
<li>Create a national network of Australian emergency management organisations’ social media practitioners</li>
<li>Improve coordination of federal, state and local government agencies</li>
<li>Develop a federal government social media task force. </li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"393569555219755008"}"></div></p>
<h2>Disaster-ready social media</h2>
<p>The NSW Rural Fire Service is just one of a growing number of emergency management organisations around the world using social media to provide emergency warnings, promote community meetings, and use photographs shared by the public on social media to identify and act on crisis hot-spots. </p>
<p>Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have played a crucial role in many other recent disasters, including the Christchurch earthquakes, <a href="http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf">the 2011 Queensland floods</a>, <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2012/11/06/hurricane-sandy-and-twitter/">Hurricane Sandy in the US</a>, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the <a href="http://social-media-for-development.org/nepal-earthquake-how-social-media-has-been-used-in-the-aftermath/">2015 Nepalese earthquake</a>. </p>
<p>Individuals, community groups and emergency management organisations have all recognised the value of sharing information and advice about rapidly unfolding disasters. Content mined from social media platforms is now being <a href="http://www.digital-humanitarians.com/">incorporated into the overall event picture</a> by emergency management organisations.</p>
<p>But Australian authorities could do better, as our report shows. </p>
<p>Institutional support for the use of social media by emergency management organisations in Australia is still variable, and often depends on the personal enthusiasm of leaders within those organisations. That’s why we need to instead establish a national framework for the use of social media in crisis communication, so that everyone learns from those leading the way, such as the NSW Rural Fire Service and the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/qps-media-win-the-social-media-game-back-to-the-future/6872090">Queensland Police Service</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101343/original/image-20151110-29292-1j8mrv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Twitter users can activate emergency alerts from the Queensland Police Service and others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/QPSmedia/alerts">https://twitter.com/QPSmedia/alerts</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also an urgent need for better knowledge sharing across the many local, state, and federal organisations involved with crisis communication. So we recommend the creation of a national network of social media units within emergency management organisations, which could also oversee the development of accredited professional training options.</p>
<p>The rich experience that exists within the network could then be pooled and documented in a national resource centre. We recommend the establishment of a central coordinating office to operate the network, placed at the <a href="https://www.coag.gov.au/">COAG</a> level, within the already established <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/EmergencyManagement/About-us-emergency-management/Pages/Committees-and-councils.aspx">Australia-New Zealand Emergency Management Committee</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101361/original/image-20151110-29337-1s375lz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Find out more about the best way to stay up to day on warnings and forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://media.bom.gov.au/social-media/">http://media.bom.gov.au/social-media/</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lessons learnt from the increasing use of social media as a key channel for crisis communication are valuable for many other forms of government communication. </p>
<p>Our report also recommends the establishment of a federal government Social Media Task Force, to explore, encourage, and develop more innovative approaches to using social media across all relevant government functions.</p>
<p>Promotion of other social media services, such as the Bureau of Meteorology’s <a href="http://media.bom.gov.au/social-media/">BOM alerts</a>, would boost the community’s capacity to respond to extreme weather warnings, helping save lives and better protecting homes, businesses and belongings. </p>
<h2>Working with the public on social media</h2>
<p>Worldwide, emergency organisations’ use of social media in crisis situations is still at a relatively early stage. In that time, important advances have been made in Australia. But there is considerable scope to do even better in future.</p>
<p>As the US Federal Emergency Management Agency’s director Craig Fugate has observed, successful emergency management requires working with the public as part of a team. Reflecting on the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/news/2011/10/25/written-testimony-fema-house-homeland-security-subcommittee-emergency-preparedness">Fugate said</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if you wait until you know how bad something is to begin a response, you have lost time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/october-blew-away-heat-records-for-any-month-of-any-year-bureau-of-meteorology-20151102-gkoo51.html">hottest October on record</a> in many parts of Australia, and with an El Niño event now occurring in the Pacific Rim, it is likely that we will once again see a summer of bushfires, storms, floods and cyclones.</p>
<p>Social media is not a panacea; other ways of <a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/AustraliasEmergencyWarningArrangements/Australias-Emergency-Warning-Arrangements.pdf">sharing emergency warnings</a> including radio broadcasts are still crucial. </p>
<p>But social media has become another essential way for authorities to share and discover potentially life-saving information in a disaster. If emergency organisations work together more effectively, and are better engaged with their local communities through social media before, during and after a crisis, it could prove the difference in times when every second counts.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Terry will be online for a Twitter Q&A between 4 and 5pm AEDT on Wednesday, November 11, 2015. Head over to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ConversationEDU">Twitter</a> and join in using #AskAnExpert.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50403/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Flew receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Axel Bruns receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>When disaster strikes, more people than ever are turning to social media to find out if they’re in danger. But Australian emergency services need to work together more to learn what works to save lives.Terry Flew, Professor of Media and Communications, Queensland University of TechnologyAxel Bruns, Professor, Creative Industries, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/349182014-12-11T19:33:06Z2014-12-11T19:33:06ZPutting culture at the core of the Christchurch rebuild<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66277/original/image-20141204-3651-1v1tw8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A ballerina is painted on the back of the Theatre Royal in Christchurch by Tauranga artist Owen Dippie and his team.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jocelyn Kinghorn</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Three recent events in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, almost four years on from the magnitude 6.3 earthquake in February 2011, suggest that arts and culture are playing a central role in the recovery of the city’s social fabric. </p>
<p>In the popular memory, Christchurch suffered just two earthquakes. The first on September 4 2010 and the lethal monster of February 22 2011 that killed 185 residents and visitors. </p>
<p>But 2011 was a year of many major <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake#Main_aftershocks_since_22_February_2011">aftershocks</a> for Christchurch. One triggered liquefaction under the <a href="http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/">Christchurch Arts Gallery</a>, requiring a major re-levelling of the building, and another, on December 23, ended the hopes of a relative modest repairs to the <a href="http://isaactheatreroyal.co.nz/">Isaac Theatre Royal</a> in the former CBD.</p>
<h2>A bull and a piano</h2>
<p>One of the early signs of cultural renewal was a bull and a piano. Or more correctly, a massive bronze sculpture of a bull on a piano. It is one of two similar works first exhibited in the New Zealand Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale: <a href="http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/on-first-looking-into-chapmans-homer-michael-parek/">On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer</a> by <a href="http://www.thearts.co.nz/artist_page.php&aid=70">Michael Parekowhai</a>. </p>
<p>Chapman’s Homer stood in the garden of <em>Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore</em> in Venice, while its companion piece, <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10721090">A Peak in Darien</a>, stood at the french doors at the Grand Canal end of the ground floor ballroom. Between them a pianist played on an intricately-carved Steinway concert grand, painted red for the Venice Republic, while in the garden shrubbery a bronze security guard stood watch.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66289/original/image-20141204-7283-4d67ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michael Parekowhai’s Venice Biennale installation ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ moves to Christchurch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">kebabette</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the winter of 2012, the director of the Christchurch Art Gallery <a href="http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/about/">Jenny Harper</a>, brought the two sculptures to Christchurch and exhibited them just outside the CBD <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_City_Red_Zone">Red Zone</a> barrier. Their bronze-dark formal lines contrasted with the rubble strewn landscape, dotted with derelict buildings, in a chilling and affecting manner.</p>
<p>Within days, the sculptures had been adopted by the citizens of Christchurch as symbols of resistance. By October 2013, NZ$200,000 in public donations had secured Chapman’s Homer for the city. For many it symbolised order and disorder, man and nature, Christchurch and its seismic adversary, and citizens <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/9215593/Bronze-bull-back-for-good">dug deep</a> for this cultural acquisition. </p>
<p>Chapman’s Homer is presently <a href="http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/blog/bunker-notes/2014/11/03/michael-parekowhai-chapmans-homer-now-at-placemake/">quite at home</a> in New Zealand’s equivalent of Bunnings – PlaceMakers – in suburban Riccarton, its bronze-dark formal lines contrast with the retail clutter of hardware and building materials.</p>
<h2>A new audience is found</h2>
<p>While donations were accumulating for Chapman’s Homer, the 2013 <a href="http://www.artsfestival.co.nz/">Christchurch Arts Festival</a> was in progress, a biennial affair. </p>
<p>Deprived of its former city venues, and with only <a href="http://www.courttheatre.org.nz/">The Court Theatre</a> (the city’s professional theatre company) in its new digs, organisers looked outwards to the suburbs. Suburban high school halls were pressed into service and even that great bastion of rugby, the Christchurch Football Club, opened to the arts hosting <a href="https://www.facebook.com/partywiththeauntiesnz">Party with the Aunties</a>, a play by director Erina Daniels.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66297/original/image-20141204-7277-qetlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Party with the Aunties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facebook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While a <a href="http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/news/arts-in-christchurch-being-valued-more-than-ever">study</a> for the Christchurch Arts Audience Development Steering Group in 2013, found that cultural activity since the earthquakes had fallen to 85% (compared with a national average of 95%), something remarkable was happening at the festival. Some 32% of the audiences were first time attendees: one in three had never attended the Christchurch Arts Festival before.</p>
<p>Some contributing factors were easy to identify: performances were focused on weekends, many performances were in residential areas and the ticket prices were low. But this reality remains. Of the over 86,000 festival attendees for ticketed and free events, 27,000 had never previously attended. </p>
<p>Cultural activities were creating new communities in the damaged city. And, perhaps reflecting a shift of audience demographics, the festival’s Facebook following increased by 70%.</p>
<h2>The return of the Grand Old Lady</h2>
<p>Churches and theatres own special places in the cultural and physical landscape of a city, so the re-opening of Christchurch’s <a href="http://isaactheatreroyal.co.nz/our-history/2011-earthquake/other-earthquake-stories/itr-earthquake-update-june-2014/">Isaac Theatre Royal</a> last month on November 17, which I attended, was a landmark event.</p>
<p>Some attending had not been to the city centre since September 2010 and, for most, there was a sense of personal ownership and pride in the renewed theatre. That sense of ownership was palpable on the night. </p>
<p>The theatre is owned by the Theatre Royal Foundation, a local not-for-profit that bought the theatre from J.C. Williamson in 1979, its owner of 50 years, in a rundown condition. The Trust gradually returned the theatre to a central place in Christchurch’s community, though theatre manager Neil Cox told me that in recent years, the fabric of the theatre had become tired and no longer offered its once grand theatrical experience to patrons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66298/original/image-20141204-7262-199x2t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Isaac Theatre Royal, September 28 2014, Christchurch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jenny Scott</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The after shocks of 2011 destroyed the auditorium and foyer, but the Gloucester Street facade and the backstage and fly tower were repairable. From the rubble of the building a new modern theatre, behind the old fabric, has emerged.</p>
<p>While government and institutional sources provided much of the NZ$40 million for the rebuild, of no lesser importance have been the efforts of individuals such as Sir Ian McKellen (whose 15 sold-out performances of <a href="http://www.mckellen.com/stage/ian-mckellen-on-stage/">Shakespeare, Tolkien and You</a> in 2012 raised over NZ$350,000), The Rocky Horror Show creator Richard O’Brien, Sir Peter Jackson, Dame Malvina Major, Hayley Westenra and Christchurch performers Amelia Guild, Emma Newborn and Mel Parsons.</p>
<p>Their work has engaged a whole national community in the recovery of the Isaac Theatre Royal, engendering that sense of shared ownership of a cultural asset. </p>
<p>That engagement binds the local community for the long recovery of the urban material assets that nature has so completely destroyed in central Christchurch.</p>
<p><br>
<em>See also: <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-years-on-getting-creative-in-post-quake-christchurch-23319">Three years on: getting creative in post-quake Christchurch</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34918/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent O'Donnell is a correspondent for the radio program Upbeat on Radio New Zealand. He reported the opening of the Issac Theatre Royal for Upbeat in New Zealand and Arts Alive in Australia and reported from the Christchurch Arts Festival in 2013.</span></em></p>Three recent events in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, almost four years on from the magnitude 6.3 earthquake in February 2011, suggest that arts and culture are playing a central role in the recovery…Vincent O'Donnell, Honorary Research Associate of the School of Media and Communication , RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/233192014-02-19T19:30:09Z2014-02-19T19:30:09ZThree years on: getting creative in post-quake Christchurch<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41903/original/t2r6swhn-1392776007.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Transitional architecture such as The Arcades Project is just one of many adaptive creative projects in Christchurch.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barnaby Bennett</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>February 22 is the third anniversary of the powerful earthquake that <a href="http://www.police.govt.nz/major-events/previous-major-events/christchurch-earthquake/list-deceased">killed 185 people</a> and radically altered the New Zealand city of Christchurch. The city centre is flattened and empty, with thousands still waiting for houses and roads to be repaired. The adrenaline and anger that characterised the first two years is gone, only to be replaced by a strange sort of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/9558967/Another-year-another-confused-blur">collective bewilderment</a>. </p>
<p>There is enormous complexity in significantly altering the infrastructure of a city after a disaster while at the same time trying to keep its various cultural, physical and environmental networks alive. But there is a strong artistic community adapting to this new post-quake world …</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41859/original/qpscnm4v-1392760665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Central Christchurch 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barnaby Bennett</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Central city demolition zone</h2>
<p>The total cost of the rebuild is around <a href="http://www.insurancenews.com.au/analysis/the-ups-and-downs-of-premiums">$NZ40 billion</a>, funded by insurance, new investment, and national and local governments. In 2011 the government created a large new authority ministry called the <a href="http://cera.govt.nz/">Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority</a> (CERA) to lead the recovery process, including the master planning of the central city. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41858/original/gk2rxp2k-1392758900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image part of social media campaign All Right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.allright.org.nz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is sad and strange to walk through the city now, and to see how <a href="https://ccdu.govt.nz/the-plan">a plan</a> that was initially designed to provide certainty, speed up processes, and avoid red tape, has become so confused and delayed. </p>
<p>Flowers are placed on the tops of the city’s many traffic cones as a prominent gesture to commemorate the anniversary. It is a symbolic act that also neatly reflects the state of the city at the moment. </p>
<p>Former Cabinet Minister Philip Burdon <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/perspective/9732947/Doughnut-represents-Ceras-failings">recently wrote</a> in The Press about the failings of CERA: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Its primary mandate was to streamline bureaucracy and accelerate decision-making. Three years later it has become the antithesis of exactly that. Its most conspicuous failure has been its well-intended ambition to kick-start and accelerate the revival of the CBD.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41860/original/pg793wf6-1392761036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High Street, central Christchurch, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barnaby Bennett</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The central city has had around 1,200 – or 80% – of its buildings demolished, including more than 200 heritage buildings. The large-scale interventions being led by the government are still two to five years away from completion. </p>
<p>Much of what made up the CBD before the earthquake has survived by relocating outside of the centre: sports facilities, businesses, education institutions and manufacturing areas are all doing relatively well. </p>
<p>Even with the destruction of the central city the <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11179912">economy is bustling</a>, and despite the demolition of more than 10,000 houses, Christchurch’s population has only shrunk by <a href="http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/changing-face-christchurch-rebuild-continues-bd-152068">around 2%</a>.</p>
<h2>Adaptive cultural ecology</h2>
<p>Christchurch’s cultural amenities, which were almost entirely based in the central city, have not fared well. Theatres, galleries, music venues, residencies, studios, rehearsal spaces, and bars for live music are now rare and have had to either move or close. </p>
<p>The smaller organisations used to occupy lower-grade spaces that have been demolished. Institutional spaces such as the <a href="http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/">Christchurch Art Gallery</a> are undergoing extensive repairs that will take years to complete. Some existing organisations such as <a href="http://www.courttheatre.org.nz/">The Court Theatre</a>, New Zealand’s first professional theatre company founded in 1971, have bucked this trend and flourished in new temporary spaces on the outskirts of the centre. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41862/original/ngpx48yr-1392761936.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Christchurch Town Hall, Pallet Pavilion, Arcades and other projects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barnaby Bennett</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given the radical shifts in the cultural ecology of the city, it is surprising (or perhaps not) that what remains of the arts community has become a highly visible part of the rebuild narrative.</p>
<p>Hundreds of temporary and transitional projects continue to pop up in the city. International interest in forms of adaptive urbanism and temporary architecture have led to media outlets such as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/10/travel/2014-places-to-go.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/new-zealand/christchurch-and-canterbury/christchurch">Lonely Planet</a> hailing the vibrant and innovative nature of this projects as a symbol of recovery. </p>
<p>And, in some ways, they are. Many diverse projects have been developed by visual artists, musicians, architectural historians, designers, performers, project managers and the public in its many forms and shades. </p>
<p>Prominent among these is urban regeneration initiative <a href="http://www.gapfiller.org.nz/">Gap Filler</a>, which has now led more than 100 projects including their flagship <a href="http://palletpavilion.com/">pallet pavilion</a>, and their popular washing-machine powered <a href="http://www.gapfiller.org.nz/dance-o-mat/">dance-o-mat</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://livs.org.nz/">Life in Vacant Spaces</a>, a council funded brokerage loosely based on the <a href="http://renewnewcastle.org/">Renew Newcastle</a> model, matches ideas with empty sites. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41864/original/j2d4x4qd-1392762175.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agropolis urban farming project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barnaby Bennett</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://chchsocial.tumblr.com/">The Social</a> is an arts collective creating small and frugal interventions into the strange cityscape. One favourite among these is the careful landscaping of weeds on empty sites by a group called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/plantgang">Plant Gang</a>.</p>
<p>Each October since the 2012, the <a href="http://festa.org.nz/">Festival of Transitional Architecture</a> has brought tens of thousands into the broken city and has helped shepherd major works such as the large-scale work of transitional architecture <a href="http://festa.org.nz/arcades/">The Arcades Project</a> and urban farming project <a href="http://www.gardencity.org.nz/agropolis/">Agropolis</a>. </p>
<p>Despite losing their funding and theatre space, performers <a href="http://www.freetheatre.org.nz/">Free Theatre</a> continue to have strong presence in the city. </p>
<p>These projects are novel, interesting, fun, visually effective and – to my mind – even important. </p>
<p>Will they make a meaningful and lasting impact on the re-imagining of the city? At the end of 2013, local journalist John McCrone <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/9558967/Another-year-another-confused-blur">summed it all up</a> well by saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, another year, another confused blur, most likely. Come back for a clearer analysis some time around 2024.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23319/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barnaby Bennett is the founder and a director of the cooperative publishing company Freerange Press that published the book Christchurch: The Transitional City. He is living in Christchurch and completing a P.hD on temporary architecture with an Australia Post-Graduate Award via University of Technology, Sydney. He is the current chair of the Christchurch Transitional Architecture Trust that runs the annual Festival of Transitional Architecture. He is co-editing a major review and critique of the government led recovery plan which will feature over 40 essays and be released in the second half of 2014. </span></em></p>February 22 is the third anniversary of the powerful earthquake that killed 185 people and radically altered the New Zealand city of Christchurch. The city centre is flattened and empty, with thousands…Barnaby Bennett, Ph.D candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.