Public Places Bylaw victory
Wellington Greens spokesperson Iona Pannett welcomed significant amendments made to the Public Places Bylaw at a Council
meeting on Friday saying that the changes were a result of a positive campaign to protect Wellingtonians' rights of
freedom of speech and association, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights Act.
Ms. Pannett said the Council had listened to the people and has addressed most of the concerns the community had about
the Bylaw. She said "over 400 people made submissions on this Bylaw expressing concern that the Bylaw would
unnecessarily restrict peoples' rights of freedom of expression and speech. It is great to see such a positive result."
The most significant change includes removing a provision that would have required people to seek written permission
before distributing written material, assembling in a public place and undertaking all "other activities". Concerns were
also raised that provisions related to camping could be used against the homeless. This clause has now been amended to
say explicitly that problems with homeless will be dealt with by the Homeless Strategy.