New Zealand: Freedoms at risk with protests arrests and suspension of indigenous Māori parliamentarians

The state of civic space in New Zealand is rated as ‘open’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Civil society groups are able to form and operate without restrictions, freedom of expression is respected and protected and there are rarely restrictions on protests. However, there have been some incidents of arrest and prosecution of protesters.

In January 2025, it was reported that there will be amendments to the Education and Training Act driven by the “growing trend of universities de-platforming speakers”. Universities will have to issue a “freedom of speech” statement and will be prevented from “adopting positions on issues that do not directly relate to their core role or functions” under the new legislation. The government expects it to be enacted by the end of 2025.

In May 2025, the government said it will launch a review into the Waitangi Tribunal that was established in 1975 to investigate breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. The treaty is New Zealand’s founding document signed in 1840 and is an agreement that was made between the British Crown and about 540 Māori chiefs. Critics, including from the opposition Green Party, fear this is an attempt to further to weaken Treaty obligations and limit the accountability of the government

In recent months, there have been an increases in arrests linked to protests including against the human rights violations in Gaza, by environmental and climate protesters, as well as by indigenous communities against a sewerage pipeline. Three Indigenous Māori MPs were suspended after performing a haka on the chamber floor.

Peaceful Assembly

Two arrested after scaling weapons company

On 3rd March 2025, two protesters were arrested after they climbed onto the Rolleston building south of Christchurch of NIOA, an international weapons company (pictured above).

About 15 protesters from the group Peace Action Ōtautahi held banners with messages such as “Arrest NIOA CEO for war crimes”, “No war profiteers in our city”, and “No weapons in the peace city”. The two occupied the roof of the NIOA building, hanging large banners across it, while others barricaded the entrances, using cement blocks superglued to the ground to block access.

A police spokesperson said two people arrested will appear in court charged with burglary. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. As part of the bail conditions, the two protesters were subject to an order of “non-association” and therefore cannot interact with each other. On 1st April 2025, the two were taken into custody after police requested CCTV footage from the University of Canterbury allegedly showing them briefly interacting on 19th March 2025, as they were both setting up chairs at a public meeting.

Peace Action Ōtautahi, known for its strong opposition to arms manufacturers, said in a press release that the protest was in response to NIOA’s involvement in supplying weapons used in conflicts overseas, including to the Israeli Defence Forces.

Four arrested for protests against palm kernel at Port Taranaki

In April 2025, four Greenpeace activists were arrested at Port Taranaki after they occupied a storage facility and disrupted a shipment of palm kernel. Two activists were locked onto pillars, while another two unveiled a banner labelling Fonterra butter brand Anchor as a "rainforest killer".

Greenpeace wants Fonterra to cut its ties with palm kernel supplier Agrifeeds because of what it says are links to destruction of forests and habitats in South East Asia.

The group stopped a ship from Indonesia carrying 30,000 tonnes of palm kernel expeller from unloading. The police said several people had trespassed and four will face charges.

Arrests made at West Coast coal mine protest

At least ten arrests were made at demonstrations at a West Coast coal mine after a group of protesters tried to shut the operation down.

The mining company Bathurst Resources is seeking fast-track approval to extend its Stockton mine and extract 20-million tonnes of coal from the Denniston and Stockton Plateaux over the next 25 years.

In April 2025, about 70 people camped on Denniston Plateau, before several protesters climbed into cable cars used to transport coal, in order to halt operations.

Seven people were charged with trespassing on 22nd April 2025, while another three protesters were arrested the following day.

Climate activist Adam Currie said protesters would continue to fight the mine. He added: "We've stalled at least two days of coal extraction, sent a clear message to Bathurst and the government, and shown that people are ready to resist the Fast Track Act and the climate-wrecking projects it enables."

Seven arrested at Lake Rotokākahi sewerage pipeline protests

Seven people were arrested for trespass on 25th February 2025 after refusing to leave the Tarawera Sewerage pipeline.

Protect Rotokākahi spokesperson Te Whatanui Leka Taumalolo Skipwith said they were attempting to protect what was sacred. The pipeline's proximity to Lake Rotokākahi saw some people from Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tūmatawera occupy a portion of the lake, claiming it is a wāhi tapū (sacred site) where many of their tīpuna (ancestors) were killed and buried following the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886.

The seven arrested people were given trespass notices and formal warnings, and were released without charge, after refusing to leave the worksite related to a Rotorua Lakes Council project, police said.

Opposition to the project, including from the group that oversees the iwi-owned lake, has forced work to pause several times.

Activist John Minto unlawfully pepper-sprayed and arrested at protest

In May 2025, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found that the police had unlawfully pepper-sprayed and arrested veteran activist John Minto at a pro-Palestinian protest in Christchurch in February 2024.

The 70-year-old was charged with obstructing and resisting police during a Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa protest in Lyttelton on Waitangi Day, though charges were later dropped.

A police investigation concluded their actions were lawful, but that the officer had failed in his duty "to provide aftercare" after pepper-spraying Minto. But the IPCA has found both the pepper-spraying and the arrest itself were unlawful.

Expression

Māori Party MPs receive bans from parliament over haka protest

On 6th June 2025, three Indigenous Māori MPs received record suspensions from New Zealand's parliament after performing a haka on the chamber floor in 2024.

Māori Party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer were banned from parliament for 21 days, the longest-ever suspension, while New Zealand's youngest MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke was suspended for seven days.

The three performed the haka in November 2024 ahead of a vote on a bill that would have reinterpreted the 185-year-old Treaty of Waitangi between the British and Indigenous Māori that still guides the country's policy and legislation. The proposal – introduced by the coalition’s minor libertarian Act Party – prompted widespread alarm over its potential to wind back decades of progress for Māori people, sparking off the largest ever protest over Māori rights.

The trio were hauled before parliament's Privileges Committee but refused to take part in the hearing. They were temporarily suspended in mid-May 2025, in what is believed to be the harshest ever penalty issued to parliamentarians.

They responded to the bans by saying Māori would not be silenced and that the suspension was an effort to stop Māori from making themselves heard in parliament.

One of the MPs, Maipi-Clarke said: "Are our voices too loud for this house? Is that the reason why we are being silenced? Are our voices shaking the core foundation of this house? We will never be silenced and we will never be lost."

The Labour opposition called the suspensions "inconsistent with the fundamental nature" of New Zealand's democracy.