Maven is unable to load dependencies from Central repository

Question

I am trying to create Spring Boot application with Netbeans Wizard. However, I get an error right after creation.

  Downloading: http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-parent/2.2.4.RELEASE/spring-boot-starter-parent-2.2.4.RELEASE.pom

 The build could not read 1 project -> [Help 1]

 The project com.example:demo:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT (C:\Users\me\application\pom.xml) has 1 error
 Non-resolvable parent POM: Could not transfer artifact 
org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-parent:pom:2.2.4.RELEASE from/to central 
  (http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2): Failed to transfer file: 
  http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter- 
  parent/2.2.4.RELEASE/spring-boot-starter-parent-2.2.4.RELEASE.pom. Return code is: 
501 , ReasonPhrase:HTTPS Required. and 'parent.relativePath' points at wrong local POM @ line 5, column 10 -> [Help 2]

    To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
     Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.

   For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the 
  following articles:
  [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/ProjectBuildingException

So, Maven is not getting to the central repository, but can anyone tell me why this is?