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Police and Air New Zealand management spoke with Advance New Zealand co-leader Billy Te Kahika Jr after improperly wearing a face mask on a flight on Saturday.
Masks remain mandatory on all flights to help stop the spread of Covid-19 until all of New Zealand is on coronavirus alert level 1.
But Te Kahika, who is running as a candidate for Te Tai Tokerau, said wearing a mask didn’t feel right on the flight from Wellington to Dunedin on Saturday.
Ryan Anderson / Stuff
Billy Te Kahika, co-leader of Advance New Zealand, says the mandatory use of masks on airplanes is treating kiwis like sheep. (File photo)
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Te Kahika said she wore her mask under her nose so she could breathe comfortably and was asked three times by an Air New Zealand crew member to pull the mask up.
123RF
Masks are mandatory on all flights until all of New Zealand is at alert level 1. (File photo)
“I said no. Tell me what evidence you have that there is some benefit to putting this mask on my nose. She couldn’t.”
A police officer and an Air New Zealand staff member were waiting for Te Kahika when he landed at Dunedin Airport and asked why he was refusing to properly wear a mask, he said.
He asked them to tell him where the Covid-19 legislation required him to wear a mask on an airplane.
Although the legislation does not mention masks, passengers must comply with the orders of the pilot-in-command under the Civil Aviation Act.
The World Health Organization recommends that people wear face masks to help stop the spread of Covid-19, particularly healthcare workers, sick people, and those who care for someone who is sick.
He said that prolonged use of medical masks, when used correctly, does not cause CO2 poisoning or oxygen deficiency, but says that the masks should not be worn during exercise.
Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images
Minister Megan Woods and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wear face masks during their visit to the Malaghan Institute for Medical Research at Victoria University in August. The use of masks is recommended up to alert level 1.
Te Kahika has gained popularity on social media for her theories about the way the coronavirus has been handled, calling the pandemic a sinister plot to control the population and saying that the mandatory use of masks treated people “like sheep. “.
His comments come as New Zealand’s Covid-19 elimination strategy has been praised by international experts in medical journals. The lancet.
Kelvin Davis, who is the Deputy Leader of Labor and MP for Te Tai Tokerau where Te Kahika is located, is not concerned about Te Kahika’s popularity on social media.
“It is plausible to the gullible and there are not many naive people in Tai Tokerau; they have a lot more common sense than that.”
Te Kahika has been contacted for further comment.
