Former broadcaster turned anti-vax campaigner Liz Gunn fails to appear in court, citing illness

Former TV presenter turned anti-vaccination campaigner Liz Gunn was set to reappear in court on Wednesday after she and a cameraman allegedly got into a scuffle with Auckland Airport security over filming without a permit on February 25.

But she and co-accused Jonathan Clark both reported they were ill and unable to attend the hearing, Manukau District Court registry staff told the Herald.

No information was available on the nature of the illness and no date has been set for a rescheduled case review hearing.

Gunn and Clark, who was with her trying to film inside the international terminal, were charged with wilfully trespassing and resisting arrest. Gunn was also charged with assault.

She and Clark had been trying to film the arrival of members of a family who had been kept in lockdown in Tokelau after refusing the Covid vaccine.

But Gunn characterised it as “simply filming friends arriving” and claimed she was not verbally trespassed by Auckland Airport staff before police became involved.

They pleaded not guilty to all charges at their first appearance in the Manukau District Court on March 23.

At the abortive case review hearing, scheduled for 2.15pm, it was expected the Judge would deal with a request from Gunn for access to security camera footage.

Gunn had spoken to Judge Richard McIlraith at her first appearance about getting access to the footage, saying it was important for transparency and justice.

Former broadcaster Liz Gunn first appeared at Auckland's Manukau District Court on March 23. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“I would never be violent towards another person,” she said.

As part of her bail conditions, Gunn was ordered not to go near the woman she is alleged to have assaulted.

After her first court appearance, Gunn told media: “I am nothing and nobody.

“I just want to do my gardening.”

She then urged people to be self-sufficient and grow their own vegetables and put money into gold and silver.

Gunn was the first newsreader on Breakfast and became a co-host of the TVNZ programme in 2001, quitting that year. Her name is listed on court documents as Elizabeth Jane Cooney.

In recent years she become a fringe media identity with a special focus on anti-vaccination causes.

Her prominence was bolstered by her support for the family in the Baby W case, where two parents who objected to the use of vaccinated blood in transfusions unsuccessfully opposed court action by health authorities seeking temporary guardianship to allow life-saving surgery to go ahead.