There are nine new coronavirus cases in New Zealand and one additional death. The death brings the total toll to 12 and is of a man in Invercargill who died at home and who was linked to the Bluff wedding cluster.
A law-abiding landlord has sent a message to a "nosy dobber" after police investigating coronavirus restriction breaches arrived on her doorstep to ask about the new tenant in her granny flat.
Tanya Watson in Australia pulled her "Happy Cottage" at Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast off the short-term market when the Covid-19 rules around essential travel, holidays and short-term stays were announced.
It had previously been advertised on Airbnb, where she is considered a Superhost, and also has a direct booking website.
"After that I had to think of a new way to obviously get income from the property," she told news.com.au.
"The property was advertised for stays of up to 90 days only, keeping compliant with short-term stay rules."
She received 20 applications within two weeks and chose someone on a contract from interstate who moved in on April 8.
"I made sure that I contacted her employer, I asked for her ID, I got an essential worker's letter from her employer verifying the reason she was coming," Watson said.
The granny flat in NSW where an essential worker is living. Photo / via news.com.au
But a local stickybeak had other ideas and called police who came by on April 10.
"My tenant … is very, very lovely and everything's done right. They had actually gone up to my granny flat, the police, knocked on her door. She opened the door and obviously was really shocked."
Watson said police wouldn't reveal who had made the call.
"They said it's an anonymous report," she said.
NeedToKnow3
"With that, I made my sign, I put it out the front so that the dobbers or whoever it was may really think twice about getting involved in something they're not really sure of.
"We would be very open to having that conversation. I just don't know who it was – I have my suspects."
Her "For Your Information" sign, hung on the front fence, states: "Get your facts straight first!
"Mind your own business and stop wasting police time!" it reads.
The "For Your Information" sign was hung on the front fence. Photo / news.com.au
The popular flat had been a holiday property since March 2018 and had welcomed more than 75 groups.
Watson said her immediate neighbours were informed of the change to the tenancy arrangement but have always been "really supportive".
She said her tenant, who is on a lease through NSW Fair Trading, thanked her for taking a stand.
"The last thing I need is for her to feel unsettled," she said, noting the dobber's "trigger" may have been seeing the woman's interstate car number plates.
"Whoever it is, I hope they've driven past and seen my sign," she said.
When she checked with Woy Woy police on Saturday that she was "off the naughty list", one officer told her they had received 200 calls "on people just dobbing people in".
"In this situation, it has been encouraged; it's not something that we've really heard of before," Watson said, describing it as "out of control".
