Jacinda must be up front with Covid information – Māori Party

19
400

We have a caretaker government in the middle of an election campaign.

Māori Party Co-Leader John Tamihere is calling on Jacinda Ardern to be up front and honest about the latest Covid community outbreak so we can all be part of the team.

Level 3 lockdown must, and will be extended.
That announcement has since created panic and anxiety.

Tamihere said Ardern must allow her health bureaucrats to let the people know exactly what is happening.

“Our communities cannot be treated like mushrooms. We need to know where, how many and how we can be supportive rather than being kept in the dark.

“We must be proactive and Māori organisations, like Waipareira, have enough resources onthe street to deploy – as we did during the level 4 lockdown.

“We cannot deploy without honest information,” Tamihere said.

“As this is now a caretaker government, we need to be careful about the way the information is released and orchestrated.”

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

Ardern’s late night announcement saw ques outside the Waipareira Testing clinic from 6am.Hundreds of vehicles lined the streets filled with whānau waiting to be tested.

Tamihere said the team at the Waipareira Covid testing would work as long as it takes to test and support whanau through uncertain times.

  •   The Māori Party demand this caretaker Government close the borders and lock it down immediately.
  •   Iwi Check Points are now established because the Government cannot protect our whakapapa.

19 COMMENTS

  1. So is Tamihere spreading conspiracy theories as well? Can’t see much difference above to what Judith said yesterday.

    Just saying.

    • Kheala: “What “caretaker” government?”

      Exactly. A caretaker government is what we have after an election, and before a new government is installed.

      Just as well that the Maori party – on current polling – won’t be elected to parliament. Clearly, what Tamihere knows about constitutional matters could be written on the back of a postage stamp.

  2. “The Māori Party demand this caretaker Government close the borders and lock it down immediately.”

    The way that sentence has been constructed, it looks as if the Maori party is demanding that the party itself be locked down. Many of us would agree, of course….

    Setting aside Tamihere’s evident ignorance about constitutional matters, last I looked, the Maori party was polling at 1%. So: a party with the support of 1% of those polled telling the government what to do is the equivalent, not just of the tail attempting to wag the dog, but of the flea on that tail attempting to wag the dog. Desist.

    “Iwi Check Points are now established because the Government cannot protect our whakapapa.”

    Note that such checkpoints are illegal, unless they’ve been set up by the police.

    • Can the Government genuinely claim New Zealander’s safety is a priority while maintaining an open border and placing those in quarantine in main centres?

  3. The Chairman: “Can the Government genuinely claim New Zealander’s safety is a priority while maintaining an open border and placing those in quarantine in main centres?”

    No.

    But the govt is obliged to let in people who do skilled work that can’t be done by NZers, because there aren’t the skills here. That’s a consequence of many years of bringing in migrants to do such work, instead of training locals.

    In fairness all round, though, many skilled people need enough work to maintain expertise. And there just isn’t enough of it here to enable them to do so: this is a very small country, after all. Thus it makes sense to bring in migrants to do that sort of work.

    In my view, quarantining in main centres is for obvious reasons fraught with risk. But the govt’s between the devil and the deep blue sea on this one: the main centres are where there’ll be enough staff for the quarantine facilities.

    • “But the govt is obliged to let in people who do skilled work that can’t be done by NZers, because there aren’t the skills here.”

      To some extent, yes. While there are some sectors that aren’t feasible to train for locally, there are some where local training requires catch up.

      Nevertheless, I don’t buy into the argument re staff. thus the need to place them in main centres.

      Staff can be brought in regardless where they are paced. Moreover, to further mitigate risk, they (staff) should also have to undergo a period of quarantine when finished. For example, staff should stay/live on site while working and say after an 8 hours a day 2 week shift be required to do 2 weeks lock-down while still onsite and on full pay, then given a paid month off while back at home to compensate for the long periods away from home. Effectively, month on month off. This is just a rough guide which of course could be more refined to suit each sector. But it would be a far more safer way to run things.

  4. TVNZ Friday August 14, 2020
    2.53pm: The Māori Party is calling for the country to move to Alert Level 4 and for the border to be shut for two weeks in response to Covid-19’s resurgence in the community.
    Co-leader John Tamihere told RNZ Auckland’s borders should have been shut down immediately after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement of community transmission on Tuesday night.

    What is remarkable and courageous about the Maori Party’s position is that a Level 4 Lockdown goes against Maori Traditional norms relating to Tangihanga which are traditionally large gatherings.
    The Maori Party are following the science. The Government are following the economic imperatives of capitalism.

Comments are closed.