Concern is growing globally not only about the coronavirus pandemic, but also the amount of power parliaments and police are claiming in their countries to enforce rules and lockdown procedures.
In Tunisia, the government has deployed surveillance robots to enforce their lockdown while in Hungary, Prime Minister Victor Orban has been given sweeping new powers in the name of wiping out Covid-19.
But then there’s those like Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has told his police force to “shoot them dead” in regards to anyone violating the lockdown in his country.
Such power can only be given in drastic times like the one the world is facing currently, but there’s fears that governments may not relinquish it so easily when the pandemic is over.
In New Zealand, Act party leader David Seymour said it's worrying libertarians here and across the world.
“Sadly, in the history of crises - whether they be wars, epidemics or whatever - is that governments take power in bad times and are very slow to relinquish them even when conditions improve.”
Mr Seymour didn’t suggest New Zealand is about to slide into authoritarianism and said he is doing his part to keep the Government here in line as part of the epidemic response committee set up to scrutinise decisions made around our Covid-19 response.
It was one of the measures taken to uphold our democratic values, but the committee is not enough according to former long-time politician Peter Dunne, who would instead like to see an e-parliament.
“All we're reliant upon are the daily briefings that are coming from officials and the Prime Minister and, with the greatest of respect, they will always be coloured by the story that they want to present," Mr Dunne said.
"So I think Parliament as a representative institution of the people should be meeting far more frequently to answer these questions and give the public reassurance.”
A big talking point in New Zealand’s response has been around the power police now have, which many commentators, such as Mr Seymour, were uncertain of and wanting to know more about.
The requests were mostly pushed aside until a document was posted on the NZ Police website last night which made the Police Operational Guidelines public.
Mr Seymour told TVNZ’s Q+A he welcomed the development, saying the return of written law is extremely important and this proves how critical the Epidemic Response Committee is.
He added he had few issues with the substance of the guidelines - saying despite some ambiguities, the restrictions are linked to the public health objective and proportional to it too.
But despite the increase in power, some pockets of New Zealand are already adjusting and working with police to aid in the Covid-19 response such as in Julia Whaipooti's rohe on the East Coast.
The Māori communities, along with the police, are taking a lead in monitoring movements of people, Ms Wahipooti said.
“We know, historically, there’s a distrust around sometimes how police powers are used so we’ve just been really urging them to mitigate that and be very clear about how they’re exercising their growing power,” she said.
“That's what a good partnership looks like – being lead by communities and Māori living in those communities so we want police to be working with us.”
Whatever's happening in the world, Ms Whaipooti says, lets preserve our freedoms and uphold the Aōtearoa way.
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