[ad_1]
This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Community checkpoints have garnered the support of local councils, the police, and hundreds of volunteers determined to keep their communities safe, but they remain a polarizing issue among some MPs.
A social justice advocate says he is backed by racism and an effort to get cheap political points.
Community checkpoints were quickly erected across the country when Alert Level 4 began, and supporters declared that they were a necessary step to ensure the safety of vulnerable communities.
Since then, hundreds of volunteers, many of them Maori, in areas like Northland, the East Coast, Taranaki, and Bay of Plenty, have spent their days arresting drivers and driving away those who posed a risk.
READ MORE:
* Coronavirus: MP asks police to stop ‘illegal’ checkpoints, iwi disagrees
* Coronavirus: Police order Hone Harawira Covid-19 checkpoints to run properly
* Coronavirus: Iwi establishes more checkpoints to protect Covid-19 communities
But they have not done it alone. Councils in ōpōtiki, Taranaki, and Gisborne have publicly endorsed the checkpoints, and the police have also been deployed to help manage them.
But that has not stopped parliamentarians, such as national leader Simon Bridges, from calling them “illegal” and wondering if they should be operating.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has repeatedly told parliamentarians that checkpoints operating across the country are legal because the police authorized and helped administer them.
He has also appreciated any information on checkpoints where the police are not present to ensure that they can work alongside communities to operate them safely and within the law.
Social justice advocate Julia Whaipooti said it was disappointing that some MPs had used community checkpoints as a tactic to earn political points and undermine a successful Maori-led movement.
“What really underpins this is racism,” he said.
“Anything that involves Maori-led responses or iwi-led responses often turns into political football and that’s really disappointing.”
Kevin Stent / Things
Simon Bridges.
“Just like Simon Bridges questioned the police commissioner during this time, it really comes from a way of antagonizing and inciting racist views and fears of the people, and getting cheap political points. That’s not what we need.”
She believed that such opposition would not have existed if the checkpoints had been led by Pākehā.
In a report published yesterday, the Commission on Human Rights said the community checkpoints were a positive example of the Treaty association in action.
Whaipooti agreed with this.
“So the community-led checkpoints, which work with the police, is a practical expression of the relationship with Tiriti and I think it is something that needs to be defended, and obviously the Commissioner for Human Rights has also pointed this out.”
Bridges, in a statement, said he endorsed everything he said at yesterday’s epidemic response committee meeting.
“It doesn’t matter if these checkpoints are operated by Māori or Pākehā, they are illegal.”
Other MPs like National’s Matt King and Law leader David Seymour have called for the checkpoints to be closed, citing reports that some drivers felt unsafe and were being verbally abused.
But Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha said that none of the complaints received by the police, including a claim by Bridges that gang members intimidated drivers in Maketu, have been confirmed.
“We have staff to investigate and investigate what those problems are about. Of course, they have heard that there are gang members at these checkpoints, but that has not been the case,” he said.
“I have received no reports of abuse.”
He said that the political discourse on community checkpoints had been a distraction from the reason why communities established them in the first place.
“It has been extraordinary that this has become a distraction from what has been in front of us,” said Haumaha.
“It is about preventing the spread of the virus. Some of these isolated communities did not have access to immediate medical services. The topics they discussed were about the low levels of immunity of their people, their elderly and their pakeke.”
Taranaki iwi Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Ruahine have recently erected checkpoints in the region.
South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon said he had received no reports of driver abuse, and was grateful for what the local iwi were doing.
“I really support what they want to do to protect our community. They are going to do everything they can to take care of us.”
Haumaha said that the police will continue to work alongside communities below alert level 3.
He said that may change under alert level 2, when the risk of virus transmission has decreased and there are more cars on the road.
This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.
RNZ
