Dr Lance O'Sullivan expressed his frustration at the amount of people driving around Kaitāia on Wednesday at lunchtime, saying it was "a joke".
Dr Lance O'Sullivan expressed his frustration at the amount of people driving around Kaitāia on Wednesday at lunchtime, saying it was "a joke".
Lance O'Sullivan says people caught driving around for no reason during New Zealand's four-week lockdown should have their cars clamped - and impounded for a week if they're caught twice.
The Northland doctor yesterday expressed anger at the amount of people driving up and down Kaitāia's main street at lunchtime, despite the level 4 lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
"This is not a lockdown, this is a joke!" the prominent doctor said in a video he posted online.
The Far North town's nearest supermarket was not in the town centre meaning apart from visiting one of two pharmacies, many people probably didn't need to be there, said O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan told NZME this morning he had thought the lockdown was going well based on what he was seeing in his family circle. But the scenes yesterday in Kaitāia's - where he was setting up a clinic - told a different story. "The whole bloody town was out."
He was concerned some people who did not closely follow the news may not understand the seriousness of the virus or how strict the new rules were.
There were six dairies open within 1km of Kaitāia's supermarket - shutting some of them would help, he said.
"People actually don't know the severity, the seriousness of the situation. The stories of people going down to the dairy to get a pie and an icecream is crazy."
He also wanted more enforcement of the lockdown.
"Just before I did my post two police cars drove past, one after the other. We've got the [police] visibility but it's pointless and it has no teeth."
In response to O'Sullivan's online video Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she would like specific examples of breaches and she was sure local police would deal with them.
"If he contacted [police] directly, they might not have been watching his Facebook Live, that would probably be a more efficient way of dealing with the complaint," she said during her daily press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The police approach was to educate, warn then enforce, Ardern said. So far in Northland no one had been arrested for breaching lockdown.
