From Speaking Up For Women

Cover image: Counter protest signs at the Let Women Speak event, Albert Park, March 2023 with Rhona Stace who was in charge of police operations on the day. Stace is transgender and also sat on the board of Auckland Pride at the time of the transactivist violence.

“In a major report released today, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has called for new standalone legislation directed at protecting the rights of protestors while, at the same time, ensuring public order and safety.”

“We have made findings that some Police actions were unlawful and unduly constrained the right to protest, but ascribe many of what might otherwise be regarded as Police failings to the uncertainty of the current law.”

These are two important statements in the release from the IPCA announcing their Thematic Review: The Policing of Public Protests in New Zealand. It is a damning report that highlights woeful inadequacies in police systems in relation to public protests in general, and to the Let Women Speak event at Albert Park in March 2023 in particular.

While the report’s even tone while discussing Police failings may not satisfy women’s need for recognition of the trauma they experienced attending the Albert Park event, we believe that the conclusion and recommendations have produced the right outcome for the complaints process. 

If a lack of procedural regulations led to the events of that day, such regulations must be created, and that is exactly what has been recommended. And this is what will prevent something similar from happening again.

The statement reveals that,

New Zealand legislation provides no effective process for determining in advance what restrictions there should be on freedoms of assembly, movement and expression. … The current legal framework is therefore inadequate and not fit for purpose”.

This is a surprising revelation which goes some way towards explaining what happened at Albert Park. The IPCA considers improved police training alone would be “insufficient to address the problem”, and they recommend new legislation to standardise notification of events and help police set appropriate conditions. 

We believe this should apply to both event holders and counter-protestors equally as clearly insufficient limits were put on the actions of the counter-protesters at Albert Park.

The second half of the report includes an analysis of police failures at Albert Park focussing on issues raised in the 168 complaints received.

Complainants say that, even though the risk of injury and threats from hostile counterprotestors and the international dimension of the event were communicated to Police at an early stage, the Police deployment at the event was grossly inadequate. … The complaints alleged that Police failed in their duty to both give effect to Let Women Speak’s right to speak under section 14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (Bill of Rights Act); and maintain public order, prevent crime, and prevent breaches of the peace.”

In their review, IPCA identified and described three issues that expose major flaws in police processes (our emphasis added in the ‘findings’):

Issue 1: Was the Police risk assessment and initial response to the proposed Let Women Speak event adequate?

IPCA finding: “In undertaking the initial risk assessment, individual officers complied with existing Police practice and procedure. 

“However, the initial risk assessment was flawed because it was based on inconsistent and incomplete information, and not supported by appropriate guidance as to how identified levels of risk should inform deployment decisions.”

Issue 2: Was the operation planning and resourcing adequate?

IPCA finding: “Inadequacies in the planning for this event resulted primarily from systemic inadequacies in the risk assessment process rather than any fault of individual officers. 

“While the Commander’s Intent was consistent with the overarching Police philosophy for policing protests, its appropriateness suffered from the same flawed risk assessment process as highlighted in Issue 1. 

“The number of staff rostered to the operation was limited by staff availability. Sourcing extra officers from other Police Areas or Districts or redeploying officers already on duty in Tāmaki Makaurau to the operation was not justified based on the information available at the time.”

Issue 3: Did Police appropriately respond to events as they unfolded on the day?

IPCA finding: “The Operation Commander and the Forward Commander did not properly respond to unfolding events by deploying additional staff to protect LWS supporters. 

“There was no obligation on Police under the Bill of Rights Act to take positive steps to ensure that the LWS speakers were able to be heard, and Police had no power to control noise levels unless the noise reached the threshold of an offence. 

“The Police response after protestors surrounded the rotunda was inadequate and did not have sufficient regard to public safety.”

This report may be cold comfort to those who attended and endured the hostility and violence that day. We acknowledge all 168 of those who submitted complaints, especially those 35 who attended the event. It is your voices that have made these recommendations possible. We will be following developments to hold our police and government accountable to ensure such a breach of human rights doesn’t happen again.