Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Northern iwi leaders condemn Auckland border call - 'you may as well send up body bags'

Originally published by Māori Television

Iwi leaders in the North say they have "grave concerns" over the announcement that December 15 will be the day Aucklanders who are vaccinated or can provide a negative Covid-19 test will be able to travel beyond the border.

Northland is a popular destination in the summer months. The race is on to get the vaccination rate up in Te Tai Tokerau.

As of Thursday, 58 per cent of the eligible Māori population in Northland was fully vaccinated, with more than 16,000 Māori yet to be fully vaccinated to reach the 90 per cent target.

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Aperahama Edwards urges northern relations who reside in Auckland to hold off heading home. Screenshot / Māori Television

The Māori leaders' forum in the North, Te Kahu o Taonui, raised its concerns in a statement.

Ngāti Kahu chair Professor Mākere Mutu says it's not the responsibility of Te Kahu o Taonui to check vaccination statuses.

"Te Tai Tokerau will not be the collateral damage - you might as well send body bags," she said.

Aperahama Edwards says the risk is too great to soften the border. He urges northern relations who reside in Auckland to hold off heading home.

'Don't come home'

"We at home here are saying to wait. We're doing our best to get vaccination numbers up for Māori as a means of protection."

After months of lobbying and conveying their concerns to the Government, Edwards says the Government is hearing them but isn't listening.

"It isn't right to merely open the borders for Northland to be flooded with people from Auckland who may bring the virus," he says.

Ngāti Hine Health Trust chief executive Geoffrey Milner is focused on the race to get vaccinations up, but says timing is everything.

"The Government appears to be less flexible about shifting that goal line and the potential flow-on when we get tens of thousands of whānau coming back, who are desperate to come back home."

Northern leaders say there are other measures that can minimise risk.

"Cap the numbers of people who can come up so that officials are able to manage the people coming north, and see if they're meeting their obligations to come up here."