Three priests are protesting at Erica Stanford's electorate office in Browns Bay, Auckland, on Monday, September 29, 2025. Photo / Common Grace
A trio of protesting priests have chained themselves to a Cabinet minister’s electorate office to call out the Government’s decision not to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Two Anglican priests and a Catholic deacon are sitting in at Minister of Education Erica Stanford’s office in Browns Bay, Auckland. It follows similar actions at the offices of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Health.
Five people were trespassed from Simeon Brown’s office in Pakūranga, Auckland, on September 15.
The priests today, along with a layperson, have been warned by police that they too could be trespassed.
A police spokeswoman told the Herald they were aware of the protest and there were “no issues to report at this stage”.
The group tried to get into Stanford’s office to meet with staffers, but were denied entry, Aotearoa Christians for Peace in Palestine said.
The group has refused to leave until they get a timeframe on when the Government will sanction Israel.
“We are deeply grieved at Cabinet’s collective failure to recognise Palestinian statehood and lack of meaningful action via sanctions to end the suffering,” Reverend Philippa Young, who is also a primary school teacher, said.
Stanford told the Herald “this isn’t the ideal way” to protest.
“If these people would like a meeting, they should follow the same process that everyone else does. Everyone has the right to protest; however, this isn’t the ideal way to do it and is disrupting neighbouring businesses.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters on Saturday told the UN General Assembly in New York “we are not ready” to recognise Palestinian statehood. At the same time, he said the New Zealand Government still supports a two-state solution and acknowledged recognition was “inevitable”.
Peters acknowledged the “good intentions” of those countries which had recognised Palestine, such as Australia, Canada and Britain, but warned it could be counterproductive.
He said New Zealand would wait to recognise Palestine until “conditions offer greater prospects for peace and negotiation than at present”.
“That is, Hamas resisting negotiation in the belief that it is winning the propaganda war, while pushing Israel towards even more intransigent military positions,” Peters said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has already designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
For New Zealand to recognise Palestine, Luxon said, it would require Palestinian territory to be removed from Hamas control, a return of the hostages it took on October 7, 2023, and have established governance capacity within the Palestinian Authority.
“Now is not the time,” Luxon said of recognition. “Really, what we need is reasonable leadership on both sides to come together to sit down and resolve this conflict, and irrespective of the position on recognition, that is the main event.”
The Christian leaders, meanwhile, say they are praying for peace and for action from the Government.
“Jesus fed the hungry and healed the sick. That’s why I must act to stop Israel’s deliberate starvation and harming of people by blocking aid and bombing hospitals,” Deacon Chris Sullivan said.
“If the New Zealand Government is looking to see ‘real actions rather than rhetoric’ to help end the slaughter, then they should implement carefully targeted sanctions on Israel, as was done to peacefully help end apartheid in South Africa.”
Young told the Herald the Government’s position was “disappointing”.
“I would pick that probably hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are very disappointed with that decision and with our lack of keeping in with our long-held allies, Australia, the UK, Ireland, France and Canada. New Zealand is really the outlier here.
“Our faith means, for us, that acting in love towards our neighbour demands action of us, and this action is speaking out, because every life is precious. Every life matters.
“And we want to see this genocide stop. The level of loss of life is immense in Gaza, so we strongly believe the best way that New Zealand can exercise its voice internationally is to impose sanctions on the state of Israel as we have done with Russia.”
Young referenced Stanford’s maiden speech to Parliament: “She said, ‘I come to this house believing in freedom, and it is our duty to help those most in need’.
“One other thing Stanford said was that she loves to see the world through the eyes of her children. I would really challenge her to have a go at looking at the world through the eyes of the children in Gaza right now because they are witnessing horror on a daily basis. Our Government needs to stand on the side of justice.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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