Student journalists cried for blood across the motu last week after Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee revoked the Aotearoa Student Press Association’s (ASPA’s) access to Parliament’s Press Gallery. Critic Te Ārohi joined in with the masses (despite not having been aware of what a press pass was, let alone that we had one to be taken away).
Salient, Victoria Uni’s student magazine, penned an open letter to Brownlee on March 4th in protest of the decision that was signed by all members of ASPA — including yours truly. Two days after the letter was sent, Salient received a reply from Brownlee agreeing to grant Salient swipe card access into Parliament and the Press Gallery which would expire in three months.
Ethan Rogacion, Salient’s News Co-Editor, who was sadly rebuffed by the big boys at the Speaker’s office, explained to Critic what went down.
It started when Ethan attempted to undergo a “pretty routine process” of renewing the ASPA press pass. It had been held by Salient on behalf of the association for ten years. Salient was met with radio silence for over a month before finding out on February 27th that their request had been rejected. Ethan told Critic, “The Speaker of the House had called for the removal, citing security concerns.”
In the open letter penned to Brownlee, Salient’s editor Phoebe Robertson gave voice to some of the consequences of the decision, stating, “You are effectively silencing our voices and limiting our ability to fulfil our role as watchdogs of democracy.” Building on this point, Robertson highlighted that “the timing of the ASPA denying press passes coincides with the news that Newshub is shutting down, greatly reducing the number of journalists permitted in Parliament. This endangers democracy as there will be fewer reporters available to hold politicians accountable.”
Salient were on the warpath — what else would the capital-based student mag report on? Students? Ethan told Critic, “We’re looking to keep applying pressure to make him reverse it […] right now we are classified as press but don’t have the same rights as anyone else. It’s not really a thing that’s happened before.” Salient’s battle cries have been heralded by Chris Bishop, who was allegedly “confused” by the decision upon hearing about the incident at Vic’s clubs day. Chloe Swarbrick has also looked to raise the issue with parliamentary services.
Brownlee’s response cleared things up. He elaborated that the “security concerns” were raised in August last year when the Parliamentary Security Committee reported on areas of concern regarding the “very large number of persons who hold access passes [...] My only concern is access to Parliament. As you’ll be aware, we have screening facilities at Parliament similar to airports. It takes about 40 seconds to go through the screening process. Access cards bypass this and also allow limited access to other parts of the complex.”
He pointed out that for those reasons, the “issuing of cards is currently on hold” which “doesn’t stop Salient coming into the Parliament or attending Post Cab press conferences as that occurs on the same floor as the security screening process.”
In a press release after Brownlee’s response, Salient stated that Brownlee initially told Salient that “staff would be able to access the precinct, but would need to go through security and would not have swipe access restored. However, in another call [...] the Speaker indicated that, because swipe access would be needed to get to certain areas of Parliament where press events may be held, he is granting Salient a swipe card which will expire in three months, pending the outcome of his review.”
“Salient welcomes this decision, which allows us to more easily access politicians, and do the important journalistic work that only student publications are able to.