In 2011 the protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street spread from New York around the world including to New Zealand.
People taking part in the Occupy Movement are evicted from Wellington's Civic Square in 2012. Photo: RNZ
It was a mass sit-in aimed at drawing attention to social and economic inequality and known for the slogan “we are the 99 percent”.
But in many cases what was thought to be a week long protest turned into months and councils and police were stuck for clear legal means to clear the protesters from public land.
National MP Jonathan Young hopes the Local Government (Freedom of Access) Bill will solve this issue.
"In Wellington the people who were organising that protest were planning to do a five day live in or maybe a fraction longer, about a week down the center of Wellington and they stayed for 108," he said.
National MP Jonathan Young says he expects a strong debate around the Local Government (Freedom of Access) Bill. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
"Then there became issues around people getting access to council space and property, there were certainly issues around safety of members of the public and there were certainly issues around remediation of the property once people who were in that live in situation left."
Councils issued trespass orders but the police were unable to enforce them because the law was not clear and created a grey area he said.
"When it comes to people protesting there needs to be an element of reasonableness in allowing people to do that...protest action seems to be a very important part of the fundamental social changes that happen in societies."
The bill would limit live-in protests to five days within a year he said.
"At the same time, we want to ensure that ability to speak people's minds is protected."
The Local Government (Freedom of Access) Bill a member’s bill which means the person behind it isn’t a Minister and it must be drawn from a ballot in order to get to the house. It's awaiting its first reading.
