Big push ahead of December 3

Public venues in Hamilton could soon be off limits to those who aren’t fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

City councillors will meet with council management today to discuss the possibility of attendees at council meetings needing to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19.

The meeting will also canvas whether visitors to council facilities, such as libraries and pools, should also be required to carry a vaccine passport. And it comes as the Government announces it will shift the whole country to the new Covid traffic light framework on December 3.

Veteran city councillor Dave Macpherson, together with councillor Ewan Wilson, has drafted a policy that would require those attending council meetings to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Those who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons would be exempt from the rule.

A lot of public discussion to date has focused on the rights of people to choose whether to be vaccinated, Macpherson said.

‘‘I’m more concerned about the rights of people to be safe,’’ he said. ‘‘If you don’t want to get vaccinated, I think you’re nuts, but that’s cool, you can attend council meetings via zoom, or you can set up an automatic payment for your council bills.’’

Council policies around public meetings and its venues need to be established before the Government introduces its traffic light framework, Macpherson said.

Stuart Crosby, president of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), said councils nationwide are grappling with how to create safe work environments in the wake of Delta.

LGNZ has a staff member working almost exclusively on the issue, Crosby said.

‘‘Our understanding is it’s effectively a health and safety issue at the moment and comes under the gambit of [council] chief executive officers and whatever safety plan they choose to put in place,’’ he said.

‘Legal advice provided to councils from LGNZ notes elected members are not employed by local authorities, and it may not be possible to require them to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

However, councils could make a policy directing only vaccinated people be allowed in council workspaces.

Inquiries from Stuff indicate all of Hamilton City Council’s elected wing has received two vaccine doses.

Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said today’s briefing will examine the council’s staff vaccination policy, and proposed policies for public facilities and meetings held in the council’s debating chamber. Southgate said a public safety ‘‘lens’’ should be applied to such issues.

‘‘If I was given the choice of going into a library or restaurant where people had to be double vaxxed, or go to a place where vaccination certificates weren’t required, I would go to places where a vaccination certificate was required,’’ she said.

Like Macpherson, Southgate said council policies relating to the vaccine passport need to be in place before the country moves to the traffic light framework.

At November’s full council meeting, elected members expressed frustration that more progress hadn’t been made with the council’s Covid policies.

Council chief executive Lance Vervoort, speaking at the time, said staff had completed risk assessments on all its staff roles and had carried out a staff survey relating to vaccinations.

Hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who do not yet have both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine face a tightening of their freedoms on December 3, when the Government moves the entire country into the new ‘‘traffic-light’’ system.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the date yesterday, saying the ‘‘hard truth’’ was that Covid-19 was not going to be eradicated from New Zealand.

While Aucklanders will finally see an end to New Zealand’s longest lockdown, those in other parts of the country could face far more restrictions if they have not been fully-vaccinated.

Hospitality venues and closecontact businesses like bars and gyms will be able to bar those who are unvaccinated from entering their premises, and will gain far greater freedom to operate if they do so, with no capacity limits or seating requirement.

‘‘The key difference between the two systems is that vaccine passes will shortly be required at places like bars, gyms and restaurants,’’ Ardern said.

Other events like large festivals and concerts will be required to use vaccine certificates.

Restaurant Association head Marisa Bidois said a survey the peak group had carried out suggested a strong majority of restaurants and cafes were looking to implement vaccine passes.

Bidois said the businesses that opted not to were generally not in Auckland.

Under the ‘‘red’’ traffic light Auckland will start out with, cafes and restaurants who do not use vaccine passes will only be able to operate contactless – meaning pick ups and deliveries.

She said the industry still had questions about how the vaccine passes would work in practice, but the Government had

promised more information this week. An app to check vaccine certificates will be launched today.

Hundreds of thousands of Kiwis aged 12 or over have still not had both doses of the vaccine.

As of midnight on Sunday 3.51m Kiwis have had both doses – about 81 per cent of the Statistics New Zealand estimate of the 12+ population, which is 4.34m people.

Well over 1 million Kiwis have already downloaded a vaccine pass.

National’s Covid-19 spokesman Chris Bishop said the definite day would hopefully spur some Kiwis into getting their jab.

He said the Government needed to provide greater clarity over what the triggers would be for the different ‘‘colours’’ in the system.

Auckland will start in red, while no region will start in green. The Government has indicated some areas with low vaccine rates would start in red too, but has not set an exact line.