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.

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