Court Overrules ‘Rainbow’ Appeal to Block Women’s Rights Activist Posie Parker From Entering NZ

Posie Parker (Kelly Jay Keen) speaks during a Standing for Women protest in Glasgow, Scotland, on Feb. 5, 2023. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The New Zealand High Court has dismissed calls to block British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker) from entering the country.

Earlier this week, the country’s immigration department reviewed the requirements for allowing Keen into New Zealand after her “Let Women Speak” rallies across Australia were met with fierce counter-protests from LGBT+ advocates.

On March 22, Immigration New Zealand confirmed Keen could enter New Zealand.

In response, trans-activist groups like Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT, and Auckland Pride took the immigration minister, Michael Wood, to court over the decision while appealing for an interim order to bar Keen from entering.

They claimed Keen posed a threat to transgenders.

“The minister’s failure to act is putting our communities in danger. We are not opposing freedom of speech, we are opposing the measurable threat to public order and the safety of transgender people,” said spokesperson Ahi Wi-Hongi in a statement.

Under Section 16 of New Zealand’s Immigration Act, the minister has discretionary power to ban non-citizens from entering the country if they pose a reasonable threat or risk to security.

However, Wood said that while he personally preferred Keen “never set foot in New Zealand” because of her “repugnant views,” he was advised that her case did not meet the threshold for the powers under Section 16.

Rejected for Technical Reasons

Justice David Gendall said he was sympathetic to the activist group’s arguments but that for largely technical and procedural reasons the application should fail.

He was also troubled at the fact that Keen did not have the opportunity to be represented for the case.

The groups said they were “extremely disappointed” that their application had been dismissed.

“Tomorrow, we counter-protest Posie Parker to demonstrate our values and fight transphobia,” they said.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Free Speech Union, which had been granted permission to act as a third-party intervener during the hearing, welcomed the court’s decision.

“This was the only right result for a nation that values tolerance, the ability to debate, and free speech,” Free Speech Union CEO Jonathan Ayling said.

“The Free Speech Union joined as an intervener in this application as there was a clear interest in the speech rights of Kellie-Jay and those who wished to have her in New Zealand. Had we not joined, we firmly believe that the free speech rights of Kellie-Jay would not have been properly heard out.

“The applicants in their submissions argued that Kellie-Jay was a threat to public order, but all they could point to were expressions of her opinions. Clearly there was no actual basis for the minister of immigration to deny her entry into New Zealand and his decision was correctly upheld.”

Ayling added that Keen is able to keep her right to her speech, and those who oppose her views also keep their chance to contest her ideas.

“Not with censorship but with counter-protest, as should be expected in a tolerant, democratic society,” he said.

Women’s Rights Sidelined By Counter-Protests

Hours before Keen left Australia to board her plane to New Zealand, she revealed the security firm hired for her protection had pulled out last minute because of “lies spread in Australia.”

Keen was referring to claims that her supporters were aligned with neo-Nazis who in fact, gate-crashed her event in Melbourne and had nothing to do with women’s rights activists.

“I don’t think men who believe in the far-right, who call themselves Nazis, give an absolute stuff for women’s rights. That’s a preposterous thing to say,” she told Radio New Zealand.

“That’s what happens when women stand up for our rights—that women and men will say the most disgusting things about us.

“I just don’t want men in women’s spaces. I want my daughter to be safe when she plays sports. Is really that such a terrible thing?”

Keen’s “Let Women Speak” rallies in Australia have been met with resistance from counter-protests in Hobart, Melbourne, and Canberra.

On the latter, former Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe (now an independent) was pulled to the ground by police after she attempted to interfere with a speech by Keen.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe (formerly of the Greens) crawls away after attempting to disrupt British women's rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, at a “Let Woman Speak” rally against transgenders entering women's spaces outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on March 23, 2023. AAP Image/Michelle Haywood

The senator repeatedly shouted “you are not welcome” before being blocked by two men.

Afterwards, a police officer pulled her to the ground, before she crawled away and walked towards the counter-protest group.

Following the incident, Thorpe claimed she was “pulverised” by police for “simply telling that person that they are not allowed to be here.”

Thorpe told reporters that people should be “ashamed” for letting Keen into the country, referring to her as “that thing.”

“They are racist, they are homophobic, they are destroying people’s lives,” Thorpe claimed.

Several speakers withdrew from the event citing fear for their safety.

Nina Nguyen contributed to this article.