Changing the law to allow Maori tribes to stop citizens to scrutinise vaccine passports and Covid-19 status is bad governance, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

Section 22 of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Act (No 2) 2021, that became law on November 19, gives the Police Commissioner the power to appoint a Maori warden, a nominated representative of an iwi organisation, a Pasifika warden, or a community patroller to stop motorists to check vaccine compliance.

The police, which is a service made up of people of many races, already has the authority to police roads, Dr Brash said.

“If more staff are needed to police vaccine credentials on New Zealand roads, it should be over to the police to hire more staff to do the work, he said.

“Delegating the role to untrained iwi members is a recipe for disaster,” he said.

More worrying is the appearance that both the police and the Government have caved in to Maori sovereignty radicals who are marking out territory through these roadblocks under the cover of Covid-19, Dr Brash said.

“An effective government would govern in a way that affirms the legal equality of all New Zealanders,” Dr Brash said.

"This latest twist in the iwi-roadblock saga is a glaring example of ineffective government mired in the conflicting interests of preferential treatment", Dr Brash said.

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