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“They are illegal, right?” Bridges asked Coster during an Epidemic Response Committee questioning Thursday.
The Commissioner of Police assured Bridges that the checkpoints “are not illegal” and that the police “are operating within the law.”
Maori party co-leader and Taranaki iwi leader Deborah Ngarewa-Packer has been working at the southern Taranaki checkpoint and says that since the move to alert level 3, two-thirds of the drivers were breaking the rules.
“If we weren’t doing this, and educating and conveying how they should move, who will?” Ngarewa-Packer told Newshub. “It is very worrying”.
Those who run the checkpoints say they are educating the public and that drivers are not required to stop.
Ngarewa-Packer said that now “really is not the time for the Nats to use the pandemic to incite political division or racism.”
Former police officer-turned-national deputy Mark Mitchell went even further than Bridges, suggesting that the police are “pressured by the government on these illegal checkpoints.”
“Outrageous. That’s a shame, Mark,” Labor MP Ruth Dyson said after Mitchell asked for the names of those within the government who had advised Coster on the matter.
Coster said he had “absolutely no influence” from the government.
“The only minister I have spoken to is the Minister of Police [Stuart Nash], and that was me proactively informing him … At no time has he given me an address. “
The Maori Party supported the previous government led by the country through a trust and supply agreement, but lost its presence in Parliament after the 2017 general elections.
Bridges has spoken of a resurgent Maori Party as a potential ally, but Maori Party President Che Wilson earlier this year indicated a strong preference for Labor.
“We are clear that our people align more with Labor and so we are open to having a conversation with Labor.”
The Maori party announced last year that Ngarewa-Packer will run for the Te Tai Hauāuru electorate for the 2020 general election.
