Protest at Winston Peters’ home shows how far debate has fallen – Bruce Cotterill

Bruce Cotterill says the Greens’ Gaza stance goes too far.

THE FACTS:

• US President Donald Trump has announced a deal has been reached over the first phase in a peace plan for Gaza.
• It includes all hostages to be released and Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza.
• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called the deal a “watershed moment in a conflict that has killed too many”.

I should start with an apology.

I’m sorry that I am finding it really difficult to get too exercised about what’s happening in Gaza or Israel at present, or for that matter, what’s going on in Ukraine or Russia.

Don’t get me wrong. Those wars are brutal and the television images are horrifying to people like us. There is plenty of blame on all sides. It’s not limited to Gaza or Ukraine either. You can add South Sudan and Nigeria to the list if you like, among others.

But my lack of engagement centres around one fact. I can’t do anything about that stuff. It’s not in my backyard, and I’ve always figured that I’m best to focus my efforts on the things that I can influence.

So I’m not particularly exercised about Greta’s flotilla or Winston’s speech.

What I’m really, deeply concerned about is what is going on in this country. This is where I live. The place where I earn my living, raise my family and pay my taxes. The place I call home.

So when a group of protesters, caught up in the hysteria about the Palestinian cause, target the home of a member of our Parliament, supposedly in the name of the Gaza conflict, I become concerned. When that property is damaged, it is not okay. When one of those protesters subsequently appears alongside and apparently as a guest of two current MPs, co-leaders of one of our parliamentary political parties, no less, at a press conference, I suggest that we have an urgent need to do something about the state of political debate and behaviour in this country.

My parents’ generation would say that you should never tell others who you voted for. For many years I never knew their preferences. You couldn’t tell by their comments or actions, even in private. What I did see, no matter who was in power in those early days, be it Labour or National, Kirk or Muldoon, was that they were treated with respect.

That time has now passed. And that respect has now gone. Instead we have protest boiling over into the suburbs, the very areas where our political representatives and their families live. None of us should be accepting of that. I for one don’t like it.

I don’t like it because of where it may lead. I’m concerned that a broken window today becomes an accident tomorrow, and an accident tomorrow becomes injury or worse the next time. No politician, nor even the family dog, should be exposed to such a risk.

NZ First leader Winston Peters and his dog Kobe, posted two years ago on X @winstonpeters. Kobe was hit by shattered glass when a protester smashed a window in the family home this week, says Peters.

There is some irony here in the fact that the party at the centre of both the protest call and the above-mentioned press conference was recently quite outspoken on the topic of their own safety concerns for their own MPs. Sometimes memories are too short.

There is no question that our parliamentary standards are slipping, and double standards have become mainstream. On Saturday evening, I attended a friend’s birthday party. The venue was a restaurant. It seemed unusual that a resident’s complaint about the noise at 11pm attracted a “knock on the door”. However, on the other side of the bridge, the police were happy to stand aside and observe a political protest within metres of an MP’s home, in a residential street.

The protester who appeared alongside the party co-leaders was unrepentant, telling Newstalk NZ that it is the legal right of New Zealanders to protest. In that statement she is correct. However, there’s a time and place for doing so. And surely any such right should not outweigh the rights of our politicians and their families to a safe living environment.

She also claimed that her group was peaceful. But as we all know, every protest that has ever gone wrong started off peacefully.

The press conference was supposedly in support of the three New Zealanders detained in Israel as a result of their participation in a protest flotilla travelling to Gaza. That flotilla travelled to the area despite well-documented and publicised travel bans. They travelled there despite Israel’s blockade in international waters. What happened to them was entirely predictable.

Despite the emotional rhetoric from their supporters, including those in this country, members of the flotilla were not arrested, nor were they abducted. They were merely intercepted, detained and deported.

I liken these people to those who traffic illegal drugs to countries with tough penalties for doing so. What did they think would happen? Did they really believe that Israel would simply wave them through?

Despite this outlandish display of stupidity, a small group of our own MPs saw fit to go to great lengths to support both the flotilla and the protesters. The New Zealand media, including the Herald’s Ryan Bridge in particular, have called out their behaviour for what it is. But when questioned on their own actions, the protesters immediately divert the conversation to everything being the fault of our leaders, Luxon, Peters and Seymour, before turning to their own pile of overhyped misinformation and drivel about Gaza.

I sometimes wonder whether these people really do care about the causes they claim to represent, or is it the headlines that they are after? At least they seem to be making progress with the latter.

There’s a fine line between protest and intimidation. This protest outside Winston Peters’ home crossed that line, and those who participated or endorsed it should be held to account.

In almost any circumstance, to assemble a protest group targeting a single MP is wrong. Perhaps, if that MP had misbehaved in a personal capacity, calling them out may be appropriate. But in this case, our Foreign Minister was targeted because he is the spokesman for the policy of our Government.

Winston Peters is part of a Government. Part of a team. That team makes collective decisions and accepts collective responsibility. Blaming an individual for a team decision is like attacking Ardie Savea’s house because someone missed a tackle! Attacking the individual, not to mention his house, partner, and dog, is unacceptable.

Most of us view the Hamas attack on Israel just two years ago as abhorrent. If you haven’t watched the videos, you should. In fact, the brutality is such that this writer struggled to watch the entire 40 minutes. You can understand Israel’s pain and its reaction. But equally, most of us find it difficult to accept that Israel’s approach to its own defence is anything other than heavy-handed.

And so there is fault on both sides. Our reaction, via the Foreign Minister’s speech at the United Nations a couple of weeks ago, was balanced, and appeared to recognise the gravity of the situation while acknowledging that there is fault on both sides.

It’s easy to feel sympathy for the people of Gaza. Like Syria, Iraq and Iran before them, and as is so often the case, it is the people who pay the price for the sins of the despots who control them.

But here in New Zealand, we need to be sensible about the role we can play and the impact we can have. We are a long way away, and we don’t fully understand the history or the tensions. I maintain that a combination of statesman-like neutrality and common sense is the right place for us to land.

But it is difficult to rise above the noise and distraction of international affairs when our political participants at home seem so intent on degrading and abusing our political institutions. The very institutions that they were elected to represent.

I used to care about what the Green Party thought. Its members used to contribute to the political debate. You were never in doubt that they cared about the important things that otherwise received little attention. They had agendas that were consistent with their branding. The environment, the oceans and our national parks were all a part of their focus.

But they attracted the wrong crowd. Instead of environmentalists, they attracted activists looking for a political home. As a result, their environmental credentials are now in tatters and our Parliament is less functional, more divided and less respected than it ever has been.

Sadly, as their behaviour continues to deteriorate, the greater the platform provided by the media and the more normalised that behaviour becomes. Surprisingly, the polls suggest that some 12% of New Zealanders continue to support them.

But when you’re elevated to become a member of Parliament, it’s time to start taking responsibility to uphold the values we expect of our highest institution. It’s time to stop playing victim. It’s time to put down the loud-hailer and speak to people with respect, work together with others to solve problems, and represent the needs of the people you represent. One party, at least, is failing to meet those simple obligations.

The problem with our electoral system is that it relies on political parties acting responsibly when appointing members to their party list. But if a party fails to act responsibly, or if it appoints the wrong people, we are stuck with them.

Their business cards may say member of Parliament. But they have become merely lunatic activists.

We would be better off without them.

Bruce Cotterill is a professional director, speaker and adviser to business leaders. He is the author of the book The Best Leaders Don’t Shout and host of the podcast Leaders Getting Coffee. www.brucecotterill.com

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