Winston Peters has received an apology from the Speaker for a trespass notice he was issued earlier this year, banning him from Parliament's precinct.
Legal action launched by Peters in June has resulted in the Speaker admitting to the Wellington High Court that the decision to trespass the former deputy Prime Minister was "unreasonable and irrational".
While Adrian Rurawhe is now the Speaker of the House, the trespass notice was issued while Trevor Mallard was in the role. Mallard resigned on Wednesday after five years in the role, during which he faced scrutiny for many of his actions.
Peters said on Thursday afternoon that the trespass notice, which was eventually withdrawn, was "clearly unjustified and a direct attack on every New Zealander’s freedoms which are protected under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act".
The New Zealand First leader, and six other "persons of interest", were issued trespass notices in May after attending the occupation at Parliament in February. Peters was only at the protest for several hours and said the notice was "dictatorical behaviour".
Mallard said he had delegated authority to parliamentary security to make decisions over trespass notices. But the Prime Minister at the time said the decision was ultimately one for the Speaker.
A day later, Mallard shared a press release saying five of the notices had been withdrawn "as the persons are now thought unlikely to seriously offend or incite others to commit serious offences".
But Peters took issue with what he said was an implication in the statement that those who had formerly been trespassed "were originally considered likely to 'seriously offend or incite others to' and to be a 'risk to the safety and security of Parliament'". He called for a vote of no condience in Mallard as Speaker.
A statement released by the Speaker's Office on Thursday afternoon said the Speaker has apologised for the trespass notice, while also retracting and apologising for comments in his press release.
"The Speaker has admitted to the High Court at Wellington that the exercise of power under section 26(2) of the Parliamentary Service Act 2000 to issue Mr Peters a warning under section 4 of the Trespass Act 1980 was unreasonable and irrational," the Thursday statement says.
"He has further admitted to the High Court that issuing the warning was an unjustified limitation on Mr Peters’ right to freedom of movement under section 18 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, and that Mr Peters had not acted in any way which justified him being issued with the warning. The High Court's decision is pending."
Peters has responded by saying his court action "was taken not for myself, but on behalf of the people of New Zealand to make a stand and fight for our fundamental freedoms, rights, and to protect our democracy".
He also hit out at Mallard being appointed New Zealand's next Ambassador to Ireland.
"To think that this behaviour is now rewarded with an overseas diplomatic post representing New Zealand on the world stage is a staggering insult to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to every New Zealander," said Peters, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
But the move's been defended by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
"Trevor Mallard has had a more than 30-year career in politics. You don't spend that amount of time in this place without having a huge depth of understanding about New Zealand's priorities."
Mallard was criticised during the parliamentary protest earlier this year for turning on sprinklers and playing loud music. He has also previously faced scrutiny for comments he made about a parliamentary staffer.
The anti-vaccine mandate protest took over Parliament's grounds and surrounding streets throughout February and early March. They stayed for weeks despite police, the Speaker and MPs telling them to leave.
A 1News poll in June found just 17 percent of people approved of Mallard's handling of his job as Speaker, almost half disapproved, and the rest didn't know.
