Following publication of the IPCA report recommending restrictions on protest rights, the Otago Daily Times published an editorial on the issue on 26 February 2025. You can read the editorial if you have a subscription to the ODT, or by opening this screenshot of it.

The Council responded, with a letter to the Editor of the ODT, which was published today (3 March 2025). We’ve reproduced it below.

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Editorial a warning of vital protest right

The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties is glad the ODT‘s editorial (26.2.25) has drawn its readers’ attention to the recent Independent Police Conduct Authority report on policing protests.

IPCA has gone beyond its powers by producing the report, as it makes recommendations for changing the law when it is restricted by law to commenting on police practice, policy, and procedure.

The report also undermines the independence of the IPCA, because it states that it was “conducted jointly with police” and that IPCA “collaborated with the Ministry of Justice and Department of Internal Affairs”.

The report proposes a regime where people have to notify authorities of protests in advance, where the police can set conditions on the protest that participants have to comply with, which the police can then vary during the protest; and where a judge should be able to require organisers to pay for the cost of developing and implementing a traffic management plan — all in the name of safety.

Despite clear legal guidance IPCA has gone on to propose limits on our rights which their own report declares are unlikely to be justifiable under the Bill of Rights Act.

Everyone’s right to protest is the cornerstone of democracy. Most of what we have today, from weekends, to women’s suffrage, to non-white people having any rights, through to democracy itself were gained by protest.

People in Dunedin and Otago should be concerned that any future protests about their hospital might be constrained for “safety reasons”.

Authoritarianism is on the rise globally, and we all need to defend our rights to protest if our children are to have any hope of living in a democracy.

Thomas Beagle
Chairman,
New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties