A boundary checkpoint on State Highway 1, near the Mangawhai-Tomarata intersection, during alert level 3. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A boundary checkpoint on State Highway 1, near the Mangawhai-Tomarata intersection, during alert level 3. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland police have shed light on why they're unable to close the region's borders the moment an alert level shift is announced by the country's leaders.
The reveal followed figures released by National deputy leader Shane Reti that showed 4236 vehicles travelled north between 6pm and 11.59pm on August 17– with only 920 registered to a Northland address in Northland.
It also came a day after Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins reportedly told a select committee meeting the Government was considering a legislation change to prevent those issues.
Whangārei/Kaipara police area commander Inspector Marty Ruth shared the insight at a recent Whangārei District Council meeting. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Whangārei/Kaipara police area commander Inspector Marty Ruth told a Whangārei District Council meeting recently police had fronted border checkpoints as soon as they legally could.
"Unfortunately the powers to stop people and send them home don't exist until that certificate is signed off by the Ministry [of Health]," he said.
The "certificate" is a health order issued under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. It provides police with the legal powers to enforce alert level restrictions.
However, the kicker was those powers only came into play at 11.59pm on August 17.
But Ruth said Northlanders outside of the region needed the time to return home before level 4 set in.
"We've got a really challenging job when you think about it," he said.
When the green light was given by the central Government, 62 local police officers were dispatched daily to man the five checkpoints at Northland's border with Auckland.
But by then Northlanders reported an influx of vehicles bearing the hallmark of holidaymakers entering the region.
Mangakāhia-Maungatapere Ward councillor Simon Reid told Ruth within two hours of media breaking the news of a nationwide lockdown, his workers south of Waipū reported seeing numerous cars with boats, trailers, and caravans.
Ruth said the lag between the decision being made by the country's leaders and the health order coming into effect was what created risk for Northland.
"Those six or seven hours where it becomes public knowledge, the number of cars and boats on the highway is quite remarkable."
Ruth said officers had visited baches in the region after being tipped off by locals, who reported lights on inside the empty homes.
And when they had the powers to, they told them to go home.
But in the hours where lockdown loomed, Ruth said police could only "push the envelope" when it came to enforcement.
"But you don't want to police in that position."
Ruth said the issue "needed to get better" as scenes of traffic headed to Northland's rural communities was in "everyone's minds".
Northland Superintendent Tony Hill says constructive conversations are happening around the issue of boundary checkpoints. Photo / Michael Cunningham
But he commended the region's top cop Superintendent Tony Hill for the "great job" he was doing striving for improvements regarding checkpoints.
Hill told the Advocate he sent feedback to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet during each lockdown, as they shared a goal to be "better" and "more effective".
DPMC provide impartial advice and support services to the country's Governor-General, Prime Minister and Cabinet.
"Every time we go into lockdown we learn from it," Hill said. "Our voices in Northland are very loud and it gets heard very clearly by Government."
National deputy leader Shane Reti provided figures that revealed how many vehicles travelled to Northland in the hours before the nationwide lockdown. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Reti supported Northland police by saying the responsibility at the region's borders during those crucial hours was not with them but with the central Government.
He raised the question of how, 18 months after New Zealand's first lockdown, we still weren't getting it right when it came to securing the regional boundaries during an outbreak.
"The Government told us it's not if but when Delta arrives, so we knew Delta was going to arrive ... so why did they waste all this time – because they're focused on health restructuring, not on protecting."
However, Reti said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins acknowledged Aucklanders fleeing north had heightened Northland's risk of transmitting the virus during a select committee meeting.
He said Hipkins had announced Government was looking at a legislation change as a result.
