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Download AudioNew Zealand First leader Winston Peters has come out in favour of Covid mandate protesters – as long as what they are doing is peaceful and legal.
Parliament’s lawn and surrounding streets are still occupied by protesters who arrived in convoy a week ago, but public support has been undermined by confused messaging and the extreme hostility shown by some protesters to politicians, police and members of the public who are wearing masks.
“People are there protesting for a lot of reasons but the mass majority are there because they are protesting about their loss of freedom and when they say they are protesting against mandates, the mandates are shutting out their right to work and to be here or to be elsewhere and I support them,” Mr Peters says.
He says New Zealanders were told the country could be opened up when the 90 percent vaccination target was reached but that didn’t happen.
He says while Australia is opening up, New Zealand’s tourism sector is going to the wall.
Australia has an estimated 230,000 active cases and a seven day average of 53 deaths a day.
New Zealand has had 53 Covid deaths in two years.
