PM confirms slain cop’s family will have to wait
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday confirmed that the grieving family of slain policeman Matthew Hunt will have to wait at least 14 days for his funeral.
Some of the constable’s relatives, who arrived from overseas and were taken to Rotorua for mandatory quarantine, will have to complete the 14-day period before they can join their family.
Hunt’s devastated mother, Diane, was further upset by the fact her brother and sister-in-law have been sent to managed isolation in Rotorua — 220km from Auckland.
The family had requested they be transferred to Auckland and allowed an exemption to the quarantine rules on compassionate grounds.
Ardern yesterday afternoon sympathised with the family’s plight but said there is an expectation that the quarantine period will be completed by everyone.
“The condolences of all of us will be cold comfort,” Ardern said.
“It’s a double-whammy of losing a loved one and being caught up in restrictions that are there to keep people safe.” She said there is “an expectation that people will complete a period of quarantine and that remains in place”.
Even with compassionate exemptions, when these were allowed, Ardern said there was an expectation people would have to complete seven days of quarantine.
Compassionate exemptions were suspended after two women who arrived from Britain and travelled to Wellington to attend a funeral were later found to have Covid.