Trevor Mallard. Photo: VNP / Johnny Blades

A cross-party committee of MPs last night decided former politicians should not be treated differently compared to the general public on the issue – but the five orders withdrawn all apply to former MPs.

Former ACT leader Rodney Hide, former Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox, and former NZ First list MP Darroch Ball – who is now a co-leader of the Sensible Sentencing Trust – have been confirmed as the other three to have their notices withdrawn.

To date, 151 trespass notices have been issued in relation to the illegal occupation at Parliament in February and March. Of those, 144 were for people arrested during the occupation.

Seven notices have been issued to persons of interest – five of those have since been withdrawn as the persons are now thought unlikely to seriously offend or incite others to commit serious offences.

“The advice I have received is that it is no longer necessary to retain trespass notices for these five people,” he said in a statement this afternoon,” Mallard said in a statement this afternoon.

The other two notices issued to people not arrested remain in force, Mallard said.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters said in a statement his trespass notice had been withdrawn.

“It should not have taken the threat of a judicial review for the Speaker to come to his senses and an understanding of the law that he wanted to enforce,” he said.

“This whole issue from the start to finish has been an absolute shambles, and has caused a number of people unnecessary anguish and expense.”

It was not and should not be a matter of special treatment for former MPs, he said, rather a matter of fairness and standing up for freedoms and democracy.

Democracy NZ leader Matt King, a former National MP, told RNZ his notice was also withdrawn, and said the letter he received offered no justification or explanation as to why.

“I’m relieved I guess but I’m also massively disappointed that they even considered this, I know that Trevor Mallard will know about these trespass notices … I can’t understand what his thinking would have been in issuing them to us, you know, the non-aggressive, non-violent, passive protesters that were there,” he said.

“I think it’s only been dropped because of the backlash … I don’t think he’s followed any reasonable process at all, anyone who thinks he did is misinformed I think.

“I think that no one should be trespassed, even the people that were arrested at that grounds.”

“The people that committed actually true acts of violence and rioting, absolutely they should be trespassed and they should face the full extent of the law … those people who were arrested for – I’d say – wilful trespass and obstruction, that sort of thing, those charges should be dropped.”

Peters said given the five withdrawn notices applied to former MPs showed the notices were “always political”.

Mallard confirmed further trespass notices could be issued for people arrested or “deemed by Parliamentary Security as likely to reoffend in a serious manner”.

He said he had been working with police and Parliamentary Security to constantly assess threats to Parliament, and the meeting of the Parliamentary Service Commission last night established a general consensus that former MPs should be treated the same as other members of the public.

“The question then is what is a proportionate response in light of the time since the occupation and serious criminal offending.

“The behaviour of some individuals was clearly more egregious than others, and on that basis it has been relatively easy to identify those persons issued with trespass notices who no longer are regarded as being a risk to the safety and security of others at Parliament.”

The Speaker would not make further comment on the trespass notices.