The government needs to front up on when vaccine mandates will be removed, the National Party leader says.
Christopher Luxon speaks to media after being named leader of the National Party Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Christopher Luxon has criticised the government on vaccine mandates again, telling Morning Report New Zealanders want to see a roadmap back to normality after the Omicron outbreak peaks.
There is deep frustration within the country around Covid-19 restrictions, about how the government steps in and when it will step away, he said.
"People feel lost at the moment about where we are going, and what's the next phase, and what are the next steps.
"You sense the frustration, whether you're a business person, a tourism person, someone just trying to navigate the rules. It's got very confusing, very quickly."
While polls suggest a broad level of support for the government's moves to manage the Omicron outbreak, Luxon believes there is a rural/ urban divide with farmers being made to feel they are the villains and small business people facing extra costs.
Luxon repeated his earlier opposition to the protesters whom he labelled "abusive, disrespectful to fellow citizens", while their response to the police was "despicable."
Police and protesters square off outside Parliament early yesterday. Photo: RNZ
"Putting the protesters to one side, there is broad frustration across the country about where we are going and what's happening next...
"There are groups of New Zealanders who actually feel like they are being picked upon, they are being set upon..."
This included rural communities, where the recent Groundswell protests gave a voice to those who did not like what the government was doing.
Luxon said there was an opportunity to do better and let the country know what was happening which did not mean he was siding with the protesters in Wellington.
"Where are we going through this next phase of Covid? It's not unreasonable to say if the government stepped in and put mandates in place, it should be able to clarify when and how it will step out."
He said he has been asking for weeks for the criteria and triggers of when vaccine mandates could be removed.
Areas to look at once the peak of Omicron has been reached include: border workers, hospitality and children playing sport.
There has been no conversation which was causing frustration, Luxon said.
He said it was difficult for many businesses with many hit by staff having to isolate. A lot of them wanted rapid antigen tests so their staff could continue to work and these should be available for workers in non-critical jobs as well.
"What we are doing here is we're moving to a risk management model, right. A case today is very different from what a case was two years ago and the risk is different and you've got to be able to build a risk management system and go up and down on risk management."
PM accused of double standards
The prime minister sent ministers to talk to protesters at the illegal occupation of Ihumātao but is not prepared to show the same courtesy to those occupying the grounds of Parliament, Winston Peters says.
The NZ First leader who visited the protest site yesterday is highly critical of politicians from all parties for not engaging with the protesters early on.
He told Morning Report that during his lengthy political career, he had never seen a situation where politicians have a pact and decide not to talk to them.
The potential for violence could have been eased if there had been dialogue early on.
Politicians seemed to have forgotten that the New Zealand people were their masters.
Peters said there was an illegal protest at Ihumātao and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sent two ministers to meet with the protesters there behind his back.
She had set a precedent with her approach to Ihumātao but had changed tack with the occupation in Wellington.
Those occupying Parliament grounds did not start off acting illegally, Peters said.
Winston Peters visits the protest site at Parliament. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The protesters' actions such as throwing faeces at the police were unacceptable, but they were now being treated unfairly by media.
It was not the fault of the police that the protest had not been brought to an end - it rested with all politicians from the prime minister down.
"So why haven't the police taken earlier action and the answer is, that this was always [needing] a political solution.
"The key part of it was dialogue and there has been none and surely people have got a right to turn up in a democracy and that is what this is all about.
"This is not North Korea, this is not China, this is New Zealand."
He said some of the protesters' lives had been wrecked by the vaccine mandates, the fundamentals of which were collapsing.
Peters said the country probably had three times the number of cases that were being announced each day. Despite that just over 100 people were in hospital and one person was in intensive care.
He defended not wearing a mask to the protest yesterday - most are "worse than useless".
He said a certain level of medical mask is needed to provide proper protection against Covid-19 and the rest are "a placebo".
