The Government needs to take responsibility for the escalating protests around the country and demonstrate it has a clear strategy to de-escalate, Opposition Leader Christopher Luxon says.

“The growing occupation of central Wellington includes people showing a flagrant disregard for both the law and other New Zealanders. As the party of law and order, National strongly condemns this behaviour.

“But this is a situation entirely of the Government’s own making.

“Kiwis are rightly frustrated by Labour’s ‘make it up as you go’ approach to Covid which relies far too heavily on controlling all aspects of everyday life, rather than using tools like rapid antigen tests to manage risk and give Kiwis more personal responsibility.

“After two years of daily briefings the Prime Minister is now conspicuously MIA. Instead she has backed Trevor Mallardwho did not take police advice and whose actions only served to embolden the protestors and inflame the situation.

“And now Labour and their associates are trying to put the blame entirely on the Police Commissioner, despite specifically hiring him because of his ‘policing by consent’ approach.

“New Zealanders have lost confidence that the Government has a plan to resolve the protest.

“The Government needs to address the underlying frustration many Kiwis have about their approach to Covid and lack of a plan.

“Labour needs to be clear with the public. They need to front and talk through the next steps for Covid. And they need to tell us what criteria they will use to determine when mandates can be removed.”