Five trespass orders relating to parliamentary occupation withdrawn

Five trespass orders have been withdrawn in relation to the occupation of Parliament’s grounds during February and March this year.

To date, 151 trespass notices have been issued in relation to the occupation. Of this number, 144 were for people arrested by Police during the occupation.

An additional seven notices were issued to persons of interest. Of these, five trespass notices have since been withdrawn as the persons are now thought unlikely to seriously offend or incite others to commit serious offences. The other two notices will remain in force.

“I have been working with Police and Parliamentary Security to constantly assess threats to Parliament, and the advice I have received is that it is no longer necessary to retain trespass notices for these five people,” the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt Hon Trevor Mallard said.

“As has been reported, a meeting last night of the Parliamentary Service Commission established a general consensus that former Members of Parliament should be treated on the same basis as other members of the public.

“Having dealt with that issue, the question then is what is a proportionate response in light of the time since the occupation and serious criminal offending. The behaviour of some individuals was clearly more egregious than others, and on that basis it has been relatively easy to identify those persons issued with trespass notices who no longer are regarded as being a risk to the safety and security of others at Parliament.

“Further trespass notices may be issued for persons arrested as part of the ongoing Police investigation, or if they are deemed by Parliamentary Security as likely to reoffend in a serious manner in future.”

Any arrests for arson or other serious offences arising from the occupation are likely to lead to the issue of further trespass notices.

The law relating to trespass applies to the Parliament grounds. Section 26 of the Parliamentary Services Act 2000 grants the Speaker all the powers of an occupier under the Trespass Act 1980. This allows the Speaker to require persons to leave the grounds or delegate this power to other people such as members of parliamentary security staff”.

Trespass notices are not generally issued by the Speaker personally, they are issued by parliamentary security staff under powers delegated to them by the Speaker.

While Parliament grounds are now open to the public, there are some restrictions placed on their use for the safety and security of the public and the protection of property.

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