Convoy 2022 NZ
Freedom Alliance
New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science
Outdoors & Freedom Movement
The Freedom and Rights Coalition
Voices for Freedom
As Cabinet meets today, the combined protest groups urge the government to take a leaf out of the Australian Government’s book.
With a federal political system, Australia finds itself in a situation where its Prime Minister represents one political party, while the leaders of the various states are aligned with another.
This weekend, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce said to the Sydney Morning Herald:
“….politicians and much of the media had made a mistake by focusing on the more extreme fringes of the protest movement. The worst thing you can do to any substantial group that is isolated is tell them they deserve to be isolated. Labor has taken the political tactic of, like Hillary Clinton, calling these people ‘deplorables’. That misreads these groups entirely, that’s looking at the edges, not the centre…”.
This assessment was echoed by David Seymour over the weekend who noted the New Zealand government: “…appear to believe that if they can shoot the messengers then the message will disappear”.
Meanwhile, broadcaster Heather du Plessis-Allen observed:
“If the Government continues to punch down on those Kiwis by calling them names, they run the risk of becoming the bully.”
Government is focusing on the behaviour of a small minority of the protestors as an excuse to ignore their one core message: end the mandates.
Yesterday New Zealand’s Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt told Wellington’s main newspaper the Government needed to do more to engage in a critical, respectful dialogue if it hoped to restore a feeling of safety and belonging. “Whether we like the communities or not, we need to listen to them.”
Dominion Post reporter Laura Walters went on to reflect on the report from the Royal Commission of enquiry into the Christchurch Mosque shooter attack, which included an entire volume devoted to building social cohesion and focused on listening to all communities.
“But three years on from the March 15 attacks, the protests at Parliament show we are still far from achieving that goal.”
This communication summarises the agreed position of groups representing the majority people at Parliament:
Convoy 2022 NZ
Freedom Alliance
New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science
Outdoors & Freedom Movement
The Freedom and Rights Coalition
Voices for Freedom.
