The leaders of Destiny Church are under fire from the Covid-19 Response Minister and the Maori Party after fleeing Auckland to hold a church service in Rotorua in a bid to avoid the city's alert level 3 lockdown.
Chris Hipkins described the move as completely irresponsible and Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi says Hannah and Brian Tamaki would be answerable if there was a community outbreak outside Auckland as a result of their actions.
The couple left Auckland on Saturday night as the Prime Minister was announcing the city would go into lockdown at 6am on Sunday.
Hannah Tamaki said the service observed social distancing and an attendance register was kept.
But as Matthew Theunissen reports, the Minister was not impressed.
