New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, ss 14, 16, 17

Yes. Your right to protest is protected under New Zealand law. You have the right

• to meet and organise with others – “Freedom of association”,
• to gather and protest with others – “Freedom of peaceful assembly”, and
• to speak out and say what you think – “Freedom of expression”.

We discuss these different rights below.

So long as you’re not breaking the law, government organisations and the police should recognise and protect your right to protest.

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, s 17Case: [2010] NZHC 1964

Your right to freedom of association includes the right to join with other to form any type of organisation, including those established for a common purpose or for collective action. Churches, clubs, unions, and political parties are all examples of ways that people exercise this right. In combination with the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of association also include to advertise your organisation’s activities.

The right to freedom of association is broad, but it is not absolute, meaning that there are some limitations. One of these is a requirement to respect for the rights of others, including their right not to join an organisation.

Whilst you have the freedom to associate with others or form organisations for a common purpose, this does not mean that  activity you do in an organisation is protected. For example, you have the right to associate with organisations who are fighting to legalise cannabis use in New Zealand. However, it is currently illegal to use cannabis recreationally in New Zealand, so using cannabis recreationally within your organisation is not protected under the right to freedom of association and may still result in criminal prosecution.

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, s 16 Case: Minto (1991) 7 CRNZ 38

Your right to freedom of peaceful assembly means you can gather in a group, so long as this isn’t for a violent purpose, like rioting, and you’re not disturbing the peace. It includes the right to plan and to invite people to the gathering (see: “Behaviour and language”). An example of peaceful assembly is people gathering in a public place to protest.

The right to peaceful assembly is broad, but is subject to some limitations. It may be restricted in order to protect public order, public safety or the rights and freedoms of others.

If you are planning to exercise your right of peaceful assembly by organising a public protest, you may wish to consider the following matters:

• Notifying the authorities in advance – If your protest will disrupt a public space (for example, disrupting traffic by marching along a road) local councils may require you to give them notice in advance. If you simply blocked the road without notice, you could be considered to be infringing on other people’s freedom of movement. The amount of advance notice a council requires must be reasonable. In overseas cases the courts said that 15 days was an unreasonable requirement, while six hours was found to be reasonable. (see: “Organising a protest”, and “Different types of protests”).
• Number of people – There are no legal limits on the size of your protest, but different size gatherings may require different health and safety issues to be dealt with. For example, if it’s just a small march you may have to walk on the footpath.
• The length of time – There are no legal limits specifically on how long your protest can go for, but the police will consider the rights of others when deciding whether to shut down a gathering. For example, in one case involving Occupy Auckland and Auckland’s Aotea Square, the judge decided the protest wasn’t protected by the right to peaceful assembly because it was interfering with public use of the space and the protestors had indicated they intended to be there indefinitely.

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, s 3

Your right to freedom of expression means you have the right to seek, receive, and provide (“impart”) information and opinions of any kind, in any form. “Expression” covers a wide range of things, including for example picketing, striking, flag-burning, pornography, non-political expressions, how you dress, and parking a car. The right doesn’t protect violent behaviour, hate speech or defamation.

These are some of the ways your right to freedom of expression can be limited:

• Interfering with activities you’re opposed to – If you physically interfere with the activity you’re protesting against (for example, tying yourself to a tree about to be cut down), your right to express yourself could be limited by laws relating to trespass (see: “Trespass”).
• Swearing and offensive language – Offensive language is a minor criminal offence in New Zealand and in some cases swearing at a protest could result in a conviction for this offence. Whether swearing is “offensive” is dealt with on a case-by-case basis (see: “Behaviour and language”).