New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern shrugs off car chase by anti-vaccination protesters

The incident comes amid a small but notable rise in threats against politicians and public figures involved in the pandemic response in New Zealand. According to police data released under the official information act to 1News this week, threats towards MPs reached a three-year high in one month last year. Threats to politicians serious enough to trigger a report to police are still relatively rare in New Zealand, reaching an average of about five a month toward the end of 2021, but sometimes spiking to 16 a month.

NZ Police told 1 News the incidents included threats to injure, harm and assassinate politicians, including one person who had threatened to send a bomb to parliament.

Covid response minister and leader of the house Chris Hipkins told the Guardian in November that one of his electoral offices had been subject to repeated attacks from anti-vaxxers, and that he had stepped up security. Having to adopt additional security measures ran counter to the highly accessible government that New Zealand valued, he said.