Police officer who provided security for Helen Clark warns against common political practice amid 'considerable' risks

  • 21/09/2022

A police officer who provided security for former Prime Minister Helen Clark says growing abuse and vitriol against politicians isn't unique to New Zealand as Labour considers axing its public walkabouts during next year's election.

Lance Burdett's comments come after Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson revealed he needed to engage diplomatic security during a recent public meeting in Northland because of intense abuse. Such security was usually reserved only for the Prime Minister.

Burdett, who's worked in assessing risks for VIPs, told Newshub Late the risk has grown in the past few years.

"Particularly since COVID arrived, people have been locked down, there are money issues… there are mental health problems, lots of distress in the community and, because of that, there's a reaction to it," he said on Tuesday.

"I think people are just biting back a little bit now and the risk has got considerable for our politicians."  

Burdett said most countries which used lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19 were experiencing the same backlash against politicians. 

Now New Zealand has moved on from lockdowns, people's emotions were coming to the fore, he said.

Burdett said people remained anxious and angry.

"Really, it's just a melting pot of this," he told Newshub.

"If you study it around the world, it's happening in all countries where lockdown has been used to a greater or lesser degree."

Burdett said, in the current environment, he would advise politicians against public walkabouts.

"It's better off to hold those meetings in a hall," he said. "It's a difficult thing for a protection officer… to be out and about and walking - your head's on a swivel and it's extremely hard to do.

"If it's inside a fixed facility, it's a lot easier. Then you can have, perhaps, a few more police around, uniformed security - some other means of controlling that."

National Party leader Christopher Luxon, meanwhile, said he felt safe when out and public and didn't think election walkabouts should be scrapped.

"I think it's really important," Luxon told AM. "It's a real special feature of New Zealand politics that our MPs are very accessible to the public."

Watch the video for the full interview with Lance Burdett.