John MacDonald: No protests outside homes? Yes, but where else?

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has had a gutsful. And I don’t blame him. I’d be the same if I had protesters outside my place and especially if I had a window smashed, which is what happened at his Auckland home last night. And I reckon the time has well and truly come for us to decide where it is appropriate for people to protest, and where it isn’t. Outside people’s homes is a no-no for me, because families don’t deserve to be targeted by protesters. But what about other locations? Remember during Covid how livid we were with all the anti-vaxxers protesting outside schools? So does that mean schools should be no-go zones for protest action? I would say yes. Because protest action outside schools impacts the kids and they don’t deserve that. The same way protesting outside people’s homes impacts their families, and they don’t deserve that. These protesters at Winston’s place have been turning up after he announced that the Government isn’t ready to recognise a Palestinian state. The window was smashed just after 5:30 last night, with a guy handing himself in to police a few hours later. There’s no formal confirmation that he was connected to the pro-Palestine crew, but as Winston said to a reporter last night: “Either 1 and 1 make 4 or 1 and 1 make 2. It’s up to you.” But we know it’s connected. Which is why I support the Government’s plan to ban protesting outside people’s houses, but I also want it to go further than that. Tell that to law expert Graeme Edgeler though, who thinks the draft law —in its current form— would be difficult for the police to enforce in places like Queen Street, in Auckland, where people do live, but it’s also, for all intents and purposes, a public space. And Graeme Edgeler says if this ban on protesting outside people’s homes happens, there are going to be times when the police won’t actually know what to do.  But here's the bottom line for me: however strong you might feel about something, it’s not on targeting people in a way that also affects their families.  And what often happens when you get a groundswell of protest action is you get the people who are genuine and not out to cause any real trouble, but they can very easily lose control and get all sorts of muppets joining in. Just for fun.  Which is why I think people’s homes and schools should be out of bounds for protest action. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.