The Deputy Prime Minister says that our country has been changed by the terror attack in Christchurch. 

Forty people have been killed and 20 people hurt after four gunmen stormed two Christchurch mosques in the worst terror attack on New Zealand soil.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has labelled the incident a terror attack. 

The calls were echoed by Winston Peters, who told Chris Lynch of his shocl. 

"Like many New Zealanders, I think this is an appalling evil we never expected to see on our shores, and we need to collectively deal with it. 

Peters says we have to get to the bottom of the case, and gain as much knowledge as we can from the situation in order to recover. 

"It's not our fault, but it's something we have to live with." 

He says we have to ensure that this does not happen in the future.

Peters says we were taking matters seriously. 

"We don't know how or why this happened. Until we get to the bottom of it, it would be wrong of me to try and speculate."

He credits the police for acting quickly and promptly to the attack.