A person holds a small gallows with a representation of then-Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern in the noose during 2022's protest at Parliament. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The prime minister will not say yet if he would support a potential law change to keep publicly elected officials safer, and the leader of the opposition says there has been "complacency" around their security.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee told The Post legislative changes are being looked at to ensure people elected to public positions are more protected.
Parliamentary Service and Parliament's internal security services have been working with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet since the end of last year on the issue.
Brownlee said they were looking at "what might be needed, by way of legislative changes, to ensure people are a little bit more protected - not just MPs, anybody elected to any public position, who should be able to carry out that work".
Christopher Luxon does not talk about his own security, but said he was conscious it's a "challenging environment at times".
The conversation comes after New Zealand First's Shane Jones was verbally abused at Auckland Airport at the weekend, and his wife was allegedly assaulted, with someone grabbing her shoulder.
Luxon said that was "unacceptable".
In regards to a potential law change, Luxon said he would look at what the speaker proposed and form a view later, but he agreed the issue should continue to be considered.
"What I'm trying to find is the balance… I would hate to lose the accessibility to our politicians while also trying to keep them safe."
Luxon said as he moved around the country, generally people are "pretty good".
"Yes, we have our moments, and yes there are threats," he said, but he thought "we've got the balance right".
"It's right to continue to look at it, to make sure we have, it is dynamic - we should continue to do that."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins agreed with the prime minister around not wanting to lose accessibility to politicians. But he said the risks posed to public officials and safety concerns around that had gotten "significantly worse".
Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins. Photo: RNZ
"And I think there has been up until now a degree of complacency around the security of public figures in New Zealand, including members of Parliament."
He said it needs to be accepted "the world and society has changed and there is more risk now than there was before".
Hipkins said he did not want New Zealand to become one of those countries where MPs and elected officials were "sequestered away" from the public, "that we lose that ability to interact in the way that we do."
He said despite the increase in risk, he still did his own supermarket shopping.
"I still interact with people on the street - and I would hate to see us lose that."
But he thought "we need to be more eyes wide open to the fact there's more risk associated with that."
Hipkins would not go into detail, but said there had been times he felt unsafe, and there had been some "significant instances" where he has had support from the police or other security agencies "as necessary".
He also acknowledged his and Christopher Luxon's experiences might not be the best to assess in regards to who might be most targeted.
"I think we do need to have a slightly more mature and sophisticated approach to the way we regard members of Parliament security that is based more on risk."
He said there had been "steps toward that" in the past few years, but "we've still got a way to go".
"There's no question when I took over as prime minister from Jacinda Ardern, the level of vileness of abuse headed in the direction of the prime minister went down significantly for no other reason than I was not a young woman."
He said that "speaks volumes", and showed that women, those from ethnic minorities and "those who offer something different to the democratic process" will often find themselves the target of more abuse.
"That's not okay, but it is something we need to be aware of and we need to take steps to put greater protection and security around."
The speaker and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet were approached for comment.
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