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David Seymour
ACT Party Leader
The petty and vindictive trespass orders issued to people who simply visited the Parliament protest shouldn’t stand.
The orders will only result in lengthy and costly legal battles and taxpayers will lose.
Similar cases have been through the courts and the Speaker lost.
A 1997 protest led to ten years of legal action from 1999 until it was resolved in 2009. The Speaker and Police lost in each case because trespassing protesters was an unjustified restriction on their rights.
The courts are likely to throw out a trespass order issued to someone who simply visited the Parliament protest and walked around because it would be an unjustified restriction on their freedom of expression.
Do we really want to be tied up in court for another ten years with the taxpayer paying the legal bills? ACT says no.
The focus should be on those who were violent or there is reason to believe will cause trouble in the future.
Sleeping dogs should have been left to lie instead of inflaming a situation that has already cost taxpayers millions.
New Zealanders are suffering through a cost of living crisis. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay to fight futile legal battles.
Trevor Mallard should take some responsibility and rescind the trespass orders.
