Both Jacinda Ardern and Christopher Luxon have condemned David Seymour’s decision to meet with Parliament protesters.
The ACT leader met with anti-mandate protesters camped out at Parliament on Tuesday, becoming the first MPs to do so. After the meeting, Seymour said there was a "will to get rid of the worst elements" of the protest and open dialogue with preconditions.
He said he had met with an intermediary representing the “emergent leadership” of the protest.
Seymour said he asked for dialogue with certain pre-conditions.
“There is no chance of me, and I suspect any other MP, being out on those steps talking to that protest… while the streets around Wellington and Parliament are blockaded and while there is any chance of the kind of abuse that an MP reported just last night.”
He added as a pre-condition that Speaker Trevor Mallard would need to avoid returning to actions like playing loud music or activating Parliament's sprinkler system.
Seymour said the protesters were “people who are human, part of New Zealand” and that “we will need a way to glue this country back together when this is all over.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister on Wednesday said it was an “irresponsible” move to make on Seymour's part.
“No, I don't think it was a responsible thing to do,” Ardern said.
“For a party that purports to be a champion of law and order, or indeed businesses, to meet with those who are obstructing Wellingtonians from going about their everyday lives, bullying and harassing people who are trying to go to school or work.”
Luxon also disagreed with the meeting, and told reporters National wouldn’t be opening dialogue with protesters.
“As I’ve said before, it's a group that’s impinging on others' freedoms. I respect people's right to protest but they need to be able to do that within the law."
He said ultimately it was down to the Government and the police to do so.
It comes as National has lodged a motion of no confidence in Speaker Trevor Mallard over his handling of the anti-mandate protest outside Parliament, which is now in its ninth day.
Attempts by the Speaker to deter protesters by playing music and the Parliamentary debate over the loudspeakers has been dubbed in the motion as “unedifying, embarrassing and childish”.
In response to the motion, Ardern said MPs should be: “working hard to look after New Zealanders at this stage of the pandemic, rather than dismantling the protections that we need at this very moment.”
Seymour’s meeting with protesters comes after a number of reports of abuse levelled at local businesses, members of the public, and even members of Parliament
Labour MP for Whanganui, Steph Lewis said protesters had been waiting at the doors of Parliament, threatening they will be "lynched, hung or kidnapped".
The protest is now in it’s second week at Parliament.
SHARE ME