Coronavirus Covid 19: Auckland Mayor Phil cannella Goff calls for council involvement doing local lockdowns

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff wishes for councils to be involved in local lockdowns. Photo / Dean Purcell

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff does not want Wellington making use of the whole show when local lockdowns are imposed for Covid-19.

The former Labour MP is normally urging his colleagues in Parliament to break the shackles of centralised bureaucracy and bring local councils to the table.

He would like to see a multi-agency “command centre” launched working with Cabinet ministers and local local authorities when a local outbreak occurs.

“These command centres probably has the ability to make and implement all the questions and be agile in their nature, type Goff said in a letter to the Minister for Covid-19 Response, Tom Hipkins, and Health Minister Phil Little.

The cover letter was penned last Friday before the last pandemic scare in Northland, that seen chaotic scenes of people queuing in vehicles for up to 10 sessions to get tested for Covid-19.

The perfect police chekckpoint in Auckland work August. Photo / Alan Gibson

Rueben Taipari, Tai Tokerau Border Suppress regional co-ordinator, said Covid checkpoints will be set up on Northland avenues because the Government was not doing more than enough to protect the vulnerable.

In his letter, Goff said one of the significant issues Auckland faced when it went into a local lockdown in August ended up decisions being made by agencies into Wellington who did not fully understand strategies on the ground.

He menti one d this led to a number of issues, in particular not enough testing sites for Covid.

Other problems insured the location and operation of cop checkpoints, and businesses unable to benefit from goods in and out of the city combined with long delays at checkpoints.

“Can you please sell more information on how these issues have been nor will be addressed, ” Goff required the ministers.

Extremely year’s two lockdowns – nationwide in March and in Auckland that kicks off in august – blew a $1 billion location in the council’s accounts. The Auckland lockdown also cost the economy almost $440 million per week, according to quotes by the ASB economics team.

Blog traffic entering Auckland from the south with the August lockdown created a huge for a snaking up the Bombay Hills at the Pokeno caused by police traffic décret. Photo / Mike Scott

“Another stage 3 or 4 lockdown would be fatal for assorted businesses affected by diminished tourism, global marketplace students and the impact of financial mess caused by Covid-19, ” Goff told me in his letter.

That he said the Government has rightly given much praise for the way it seemed to be responded to Covid-19, but while it ruins rampant internationally and while we await the rollout of the vaccine, the continent is fully prepared to deal with more outbreak.

A representative for Hipkins said the minister is seeking advice from the Ministry of Health about the letter.

“The Government constantly looks at its response and policy environments and seeks improvement at every the level. This is important due to the ever-evolving situation advances globally and as we learn more about the herpes virus, including how New Zealand reacted to the August cluster, ” liked said.