Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was in Northland today where Māori vaccination rates remain low and Covid case numbers continue to rise. Her media stand up was disrupted and her reason for being there was questioned by locals.
Flying past her own constituency in Auckland the PM hot-footed it to visit Te Tai Tokerau, only to face off with hecklers and anti-vax protestors. She was mid press conference when she was being heckled by a female member of the public and a man claiming to be a journalist but the PM was not having a bar of it. She said at one point "Sir I will shut down the press conference if this continues."
Ardern told the man he was being rude to which he replied: "It's rude to lie to the public of New Zealand."
The conference was moved soon after.
Vaccination rates
Northland has a mountain to climb to get anywhere near a 90% 2nd dose target and is just sitting at 65% currently. Māori are even lower, not even hitting 50% of the region's population for the second jab.
One new case in Northland today takes the total number to 14 (three have recovered).
Covid cases in the region and no tightening of restrictions have left iwi leaders feeling abandoned. Last week, Ngāti Wai iwi leader Aperehama Edwards told Te Ao Mārama that the region felt as though the government had turned its back on them.
But the PM assured reporters she wasn't on a redemption tour and pushed back on anyone saying people turned their backs.
However, Māori are worst affected by Covid-19. Health director-general Dr Ashley Bloomfield said in yesterday's post-cabinet press conference that, while Māori once represented 10% of the case numbers in August, Māori now make up 40 - 50% of total daily case numbers.
Ardern said the reason she was in the region was because she wanted to see vaccination numbers go up across the country. The answer as to whether the Prime Minister's road trip is a success will no doubt be found in tomorrow's data.