A Government proposal to ban aspects of protesting at sea is being described as "a sledgehammer designed to attack peaceful protest" by a group of well-known New Zealanders.
The proposal by Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges is an amendment to the Crown Minerals Act which would create new penalties for people protesting against oil and gas exploration in the exclusive economic zone, up to 200 nautical miles from New Zealand's coast, and is due to be debated in Parliament today.
Protest action which includes interfering with or damaging structures, ships, equipment, operations or activities in the zone could incur fines of up to $100,000 and up to two years' imprisonment under the bill.
Former Prime Minister and lawyer Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Williams QC, New Zealander of the year Dame Anne Salmond, actress Lucy Lawless and a number of organisations including Greenpeace, Forest & Bird and Amnesty International have slammed the amendment in a joint statement.
"Simon Bridges' new law is a sledgehammer designed to attack peaceful protest at sea. It is being bundled through Parliament without proper scrutiny," the statement reads.
Labour's energy and resources spokeswoman Moana Mackey agrees it has been rushed, and has "serious concerns" about whether the bill complies with crucial law.
"There has been no opportunity to check their consistency with our international obligations and the Bill of Rights," she says. "As the bill was only reported back on the 18th of March, we can only assume that this was done deliberately to avoid scrutiny."
Greenpeace executive director Bunny McDiarmid says the bill would violate people's right to hold peaceful protests at sea.
"This would affect the very same people who took their boats to seas to confront nuclear ships in our harbours and sailed against French nuclear testing in the Pacific."
Ms McDiarmid says sea protesting has achieved a lot over the years, including moratoriums on commercial whaling and drift-netting, and now she is worried about deep-sea oil drilling.
3 News
source: newshub archive
