Shane Reti: New Zealanders dobbing in New Zealanders

Is this the type of society we want to live in where we report on each other over how many people are attending a gathering? Photo / NZME

We need to look at ourselves. Is this the type of society we want to live in where we report on each other over how many people are attending a gathering or on businesses and people not wearing masks and the like?

I stood at the National War Memorial alongside the Governor General in Wellington for Armistice Day last Thursday and was privileged to lay a wreath on behalf of the opposition. As I came away from that poignant event I received a written answer to a ministerial question I had asked, namely, how many people have been reported for breaches of the lockdown rules in the current outbreak compared to the last. The answer was 32,630 times, nearly twice last year's outbreak over roughly the same timeframe. That is, New Zealanders are reporting New Zealanders to authorities twice as often than they were last year.

I accept the need to live in a rules-based society but we need to be very careful that citizen reporting to authorities is proportionate, time limited and regularly reviewed. We actively encourage reporting of domestic violence, child abuse and even road traffic offending so how are these behaviours any different than lockdown reporting ?

On one level these three activities have been unacceptable to civil society and unacceptable over a period of many years. In contrast the most reported breach being reported today, social gatherings were a vital part of our social existence no more than two years ago and on short notice were severely curtailed. My point being is that the speed of change has been a challenge which has also meant that New Zealanders have not been able to contribute to and debate the policy development as one can with standard legislative instruments.

Of course in a pandemic one needs to move with haste but there are probably some core principles from the first outbreak that would generically transfer across to the current and future outbreaks. We need to do this work.

We should explore a place for civil society right alongside the science on issues of citizen reporting as a check and balance during a pandemic. We need to explore clear and concise lockdown instructions in culturally competent contexts and consistent messaging that positively encourages our mutual care for each other rather than reporting each other to authorities.

I wonder how many people simply spoke with potential breach makers first before reporting them and has keyboard distance simply made it too easy to report people. This is said without being naive to genuine conflict situations but if a desired outcome is to encourage behaviour change right now, in the moment, then maybe speaking with people before reaching for the keyboard is a good option.

In conclusion I have an abiding sense that there is generally nothing good in New Zealanders reporting on New Zealanders on these issues and that we need to manage and mitigate any excesses and any propensity for this to define what our new normal looks like.