By ANGELA GREGORY
WHANGAREI - A customs exercise that led to a Kaitaia hospital ward being emptied for a group of fictitious boatpeople has been described as unethical by a number of critics.
Frontline staff from Customs and other Government agencies were led to believe about 60 Chinese refugees were heading here on an ocean trawler.
The Customs-led exercise aimed to test their reactions and assess their ability to cope.
But officials failed to tell Northland Health, which treated the exercise as a real emergency, mobilising staff and discharging eight patients early from Kaitaia Hospital.
Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels said yesterday he had received many complaints from angry Far North constituents. Mr Samuels said the exercise was a cruel hoax and he hoped Northlanders would not be used as guinea pigs again.
The exercise was also criticised by the president of the Refugees Council of New Zealand, Nagalingam Rasalingam, who said it amounted to scaremongering.
Dr Rasalingam said the immigration scare fuelled public paranoia about refugees, adding fears they would arrive full of diseases.
"It places refugees in a bad light because it is making out an alarmist situation, and one of mistrust."
It was not the first time Customs has led staff to believe exercises were real.
Customs Minister Phillida Bunkle had apologised to Northland Health for the inconvenience to patients, but through a spokeswoman confirmed she had no concerns about her department making exercises realistic.
However, the practice has offended the union representing state servants.
A Public Services Association organiser, June Hoddle, said the unethical "real" exercise could not be condoned as employers should not withhold important information from staff.
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