Yesterday, a crew of GreenPeace affiliated activists scaled Parliament in order to install solar panels.
Predictably, this annoyed the hell outta the National Party – and not least because it made something of a laughing-stock of Parliamentary security.
Speaker of the House David Carter came out strongly against the action – calling it a “serious risk”, referring to the action as an “attack”, and inviting the Police onto the Parliamentary Precinct in order to deal with the protest.
This stands in marked contravention to the way National has responded to some previous protest actions at Parliament – with luminaries who will no doubt be baying for some book-throwing striking up quite a different tune when it came to their own peers.
Then-Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee insisted that prosecuting National MP Shane Ardern for driving a tractor called Myrtle up the steps of Parliament constituted a “frivolous prosecution” and lamented the “extraordinary expense police [had] gone to”. It didn’t seem to matter that he directly defied Parliament’s manager of security and operations attempting to stop him – and I can’t help but note that in contrast to Carter’s actions, then-Speaker of the House Jonathan Hunt deliberately refused to attempt to influence the Police in their decision as to whether or not to get involved.
Further, I don’t seem to recall even a hint of disquiet from National MPs about future Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith’s actions during the same protest. Not only did he brazenly lead a pair of cows up the steps of Parliament … one even defecated on our national legislature.
National’s protest action quite literally expressed both their contempt for and contribution to our democracy (so very, very much “Bovine Scatology” – as Winston would say) … and nobody batted an eye.
But four peaceful protesters scale Parliament to provide it with free power … and suddenly everyone loses their minds.
So in short: when does National reckon protesting at Parliament is a “serious risk”?
Answer: when it’s not a National MP doing it. Preferably, for a cause that’s anti-sustainability rather than pro-renewables.
[Thanks to Michael Bott for providing the inspiration for this article]
I was trespassed from parliament for standing during the opening prayer. Violently removed when I had had a massive panic attack when I was stopped from leaving the building. Was arrested at a later time when I returned and illegally held overnight in Wellington Police Cells on orders from senior police and political figures. I heard the police who were processing me talking about it. They would have let me go home for protesting about the appauling state of mental health services for abuse victims.
While in there I self-harmed, was refused a doctor, CATT team refused to come, was refused a female officer and needed sanitary items, was refused a Christian Minister and the only bible they could find was a Giddeons. Had to go in front of the judge the next day, was refused hairclips to put my hair up, was humiliated and degraded.
Found out later that protesters had already tested The Speaker in court over enforcing trespass notices at parliament and failed – so police knew I shouldn’t have been arrested and held overnight in the cells. This was the first time in my life I this had happened, and being locked in a concrete cell under Wgtn Police Station isn’t easy for an abuse victim.
The week prior to this arrest I had been told by a police officer I would not be removed under the Bill of Rights, I cried – then they lied.
I suppose one significant difference is that the previous protestors were MPs who had a right to be there (though obviously not the cows or Myrtle), whereas the recent protestors were just members of the public, who didn’t have automatic access. Though their protest hardly qualified as a ‘serious security risk’.
We know that the Nats are utter hypocrites, and our “Speaker” of Parliament is often struggling to contain himself, when sitting during question time, as I notice him fumbling around with his shaky hands, holding his pen. He certainly has little patience with Winston Peters and some in Labour, who dare challenge some of his rulings. I leave it to the readers here to judge him for his “neutrality”.
So I am not surprised that David Carter came with such harsh language, about security and perceived “threats”.
Maybe he prefers a Parliament with machine gun toting security guards standing at the entrances, body searching every person who wishes to go up to the public gallery?
I am sure they already have firm security inside the building, especially when they have their opening hours to the public. These activists did seem to have climbed the building from an adjoining structure, and only went up on the roof or so, in front of Parliament, they did not appear to have made any attempt to enter the building.
That means they did for a start not pose a real risk, and were also very visible.
In the UK they had disabled activists try to enter the House of Commons recently, and some were apparently man-handled by police and security.
I look forward to seeing some real action coming from disabled and those now in large numbers harassed by WINZ to stage a robust protest at our Parliament, that is something overdue, being “peaceful” of course:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/police-clash-with-disabled-protesters-as-they-try-to-storm-house-of-commons-chamber-during-prime-ministers-questions-10342106.html
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16092-work-ability-assessments-done-for-work-and-income-%E2%80%93-partly-following-acc%E2%80%99s-approach-a-revealing-fact-study/
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16685-bill-english-takes-lessons-from-work-will-set-you-free-propagandists/
“Not only did he brazenly lead a pair of cows up the steps of Parliament … one even defecated on our national legislature.”
Well, National have been shitting on our legislature for almost 7 years now, so I hardly think that would upset them.
What does one expect from those who make laws for the breaking of jaws? They can do whatever, whenever, however. The public have to pay the price. I can only hope a revolution comes about, and parliament is over run.
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