Brian Tamaki was arrested on Monday morning for breaching his bail conditions.
Video / David Fisher
Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki, who has found himself in hot water with numerous judges in recent months due to his attendance at Auckland Domain rallies, has announced he will be speaking at another one this weekend.
This time, however, the outcome should be different, his lawyer said.
It will be the first rally by anti-lockdown group The Freedoms & Rights Coalition that Tamaki will have attended since his bail restrictions - including a 24-hour curfew at his home - were significantly reduced earlier this month.
It will also mark the first weekend that New Zealand is back in the orange traffic light setting, which allows for outdoor gatherings of any size. Facemasks are no longer required but encouraged, although workers and volunteers at such gatherings are still required to do so, according to the Ministry of Health.
Tamaki has been in legal trouble multiple times since October when he was first accused of attending and helping to organise an anti-lockdown protest at Auckland Domain in violation of Covid-19 restrictions at the time. Police and prosecutors have accused him of attending rallies there on October 2 and 16, as well as November 20. He's also been accused multiple times of violating his bail conditions by continuing to attend the rallies.
Brian Tamaki speaks at a previous Auckland Domain rally. Photo / Dean Purcell
In January, he spent nine days in jail after authorities said he breached bail conditions by speaking at an anti-vaccine rally in Christchurch attended by more than 100 people, more than was allowed at the time. As a condition of his release, the 24-hour curfew was put in place as an additional bail condition.
However, Tamaki celebrated a legal victory in March after a High Court justice allowed a variation to the curfew so that he could go on holiday. With outdoor gatherings by then allowed again, the chance of him violating bail by attending an illegal gathering while on holiday was no longer an issue, Justice Mathew Downs wrote.
The judge agreed with defence counsel Ron Mansfield, QC, that circumstances in New Zealand had "changed fundamentally" since Tamaki's bail conditions were put in place.
The High Court decision was followed a week later by a district court decision to withdraw the 24-hour curfew altogether, along with a requirement that Tamaki stay away from Auckland Domain on days when rallies are being held.
"I am FREE after 78 days a political prisoner," Tamaki posted on social media on April 5 as he and wife Hannah celebrated the new bail conditions.
"Watch out, we are loose now," he said in a separate post when his wife asked him what it felt like to be a free man.
Mansfield said today that he expects his client will comply with all legal requirements that remain while at the rally this weekend.
The Easter Sunday gathering - dubbed the Faith, Family & Freedoms rally - is set to include an egg hunt and carnival games as well as a speech by the "freshly released political prisoner".
Among other things, Tamaki has said he will advocate in his speech for abolishing the 5 per cent threshold that third parties need to be represented in Parliament. In recent sermons and talks, he has railed against all current parties in Parliament.
"Hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters have marched across this nation, and even protested at Parliament...yet not one of the current sitting MPs bothered to come out and talk with the protesters," he said in an opinion piece published today. "Instead, they just called them names and threw around more labels.
"Call them whatever childish names you like, but this is a sizeable representation of our country that deserves a voice. Every voice should matter, whether you agree with it or not. The freedom community should have representation in Parliament."
Hannah Tamaki launched the Vision NZ party in 2019 but failed to win any seats the following year after receiving 0.1 per cent of the party vote. The Tamakis also helped start the Destiny New Zealand party in 2003, which was deregistered after failing to win seats in the 2005 election.
