“The Government should release what is knows about the mysterious Northland COVID-19 case instead of stonewalling the country. It’s implausible that Police have tracked the person’s movements but don’t know what they were doing or whether they were gang affiliated,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“When a case was on the loose having escaped from MIQ, Jacinda Ardern chose not to tell the public even though they could have helped locate the case or avoid them to aid public safety. Once again, the Government is keeping the public in the dark for its own ends.
“People following the law and making great sacrifices deserve to know what the Government knows. It’s necessary for public safety, and democratic transparency, as well as keeping confidence in the Government’s COVID-19 response.
“It’s implausible that the Government has decided to put a whole province of 120,000 people into Alert Level 3 but doesn't know whether one person has criminal records, what their occupation is, or whether they have gang affiliations.
The Government should answer the questions:
- Was the case gang affiliated?
- Is the case uncooperative because they were involved in criminal activity?
- How did the Government learn that the travel document was false? Was it in relation to another falsified document?
- How did the person get from Kawakawa back down to Auckland despite a checkpoint? Did this happen with Police cooperation?
“The Government has been burning trust in its COVID-19 response all week. It needs to rebuild trust by being fully open about what has happened, and treating citizens like adults by bringing us into its confidence.”