MANA founder and former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira has defended his 640km round trip from Kaitaia to Auckland on Sunday as essential, and has accused the "racist media" of concocting a story where there was no story to be told.
Mr Harawira said he had spoken to George Ngatai (who runs the Whānau Ora Community Clinic in South Auckland, and Kaeo's GP services), about the possibility of opening Covid-19 clinics in the Far North. Mr Ngatai had insisted that Mr Harawira should "walk through the process" rather than try to understand it via a phone/zoom call, so he and a colleague had driven to Auckland.
"We work for an organisation that is registered as an essential service so we can continue to assist high-needs whānau across the Tai Tokerau. And we understand the need for minimum workforce and maximum hygiene protocols," Mr Harawira said.
We arrived at 9am, and drove straight to my sister's home, where she'd cooked breakfast for us out on her deck. She's a registered nurse, so she had washing facilities and sanitisers available, and we talked to her through the window of her home. Is some twit bitching about us having a kai after a four-hour journey?"
(Some of those who objected did so on the basis that Mr Harawira, who had led the move to set up checkpoints around Northland to deter unnecessary travel, had displayed a blatant double standard).