AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CU)_As said by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacintha Ardern, there are certain measures in order to prosecute persons who do not adhere to and break the COIVD-19 rules and that these decisions should be left to the police and not the politicians.
It comes as National’s COVID-19 response spokesperson Chris Bishop said yesterday that rule-breakers should be punished “so others don’t do it as well”. According to Bishop, citizens are failing to obey the COVID-19 rules only because there are no punishments and even resulted in persons going out to work and gyms when they were required to carry out self-isolation.
But Ardern today said “the provisions exist” in the law to punish people who don’t follow COVID-19 guidelines.
“No minister, no politician, none of us that I have spoken to think that this is tolerable. What has happened here has been a clear breach and everyone is frustrated by it… The distinction we’ve simply made is that politicians aren’t the ones that determine enforcement and that’s rightly so.”
Police told 1 NEWS in cases where people have failed to comply with health officials’ orders to self-isolate, police “may investigate when referred relevant information by the Ministry of Health”.
“At this stage, we have not received referrals and we continue to focus on working with individuals, whānau and communities to support them to isolate and be tested… Police will continue to work with Public Health as we have to date, including to assist finding people who should be isolating and who prove difficult to find.”
834 persons were subject to actions taken against them for not adhering to the rules and regulations laid out during the lock down. Apparently 5500 warnings were issued without persecution.
Labour-aligned South Auckland councilor Fa’anana Efeso Collins told Local Democracy Reporting talk of a tough crackdown won’t help his community. “I can see we’re slowly moving into the post-kindness phase, where instead of being a team of five million, we are hearing that people just need to be compliant,” he said. “But the danger I see is that if we are forcing people to be compliant, then what does that look like when the vaccine rollout happens and half the community refuse, because it’s being forced on them… So, we’ve got to be careful how we communicate things.”
Collins also went on to saying that assessments need to be made by the authorities as to whether they are doing enough to enlighten people on the need on self-isolation.
Prime Minister Ardern stressed that anyone who needs support will be getting it while in self-isolation. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said community-based services also support the Ministry of Health’s efforts to reach the community.
