CovAIDS 4Y Anniversary: New Zealand COVID Law: Still on the Books

The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 is still active and a potential threat. "...officer may enter, without a warrant, any land, building...".

COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020

The following Sections of the Act are still active. I’m not including all the text in each Section highlighted. Just some of the juicy bits. All italics are mine. [NOTHING BELOW SHOULD BE CONSIDERED LEGAL ADVICE]

Enforcement

Section 20 Powers of Entry

(1) An enforcement officer may enter, without a warrant, any land, building, craft, vehicle, place, or thing if they have reasonable grounds to believe that a person is failing to comply with any aspect of a COVID-19 order.
(2) However, subsection (1) does not apply to a private dwellinghouse or marae.
(4) A constable exercising a power of entry under this section may use reasonable force…if, following a request, a person present refuses entry...

Section 21 Power to give directions

An enforcement officer who has reasonable grounds to believe that a person is contravening or likely to contravene a COVID-19 order may—
(a) direct that person to stop any activity that is contravening or likely to contravene the order:
(b) direct that person to take any action to prevent or limit the extent of the person’s non-compliance.

Section 23 Power to direct person to provide identifying information

…an enforcement officer may direct a person to give the person’s full name…or any of those particulars that the enforcement officer may specify.

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I could go on. Section’s 26, 27…the same nonsense continues. Read it if you’re bored. Personally, none of this concerns me. I know who I am.

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There is no definition of “person” in the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. In that event we would normally look to the Interpretation Act 1999 (since repealed, but at the time of the 2020 COVID-19 Act it was still in place).

In Section 30 of the Interpretation Act 1999 a “person” was defined as [italics mine]

person includes a corporation sole, and also a body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate.

Nothing about a living man or living woman. There is a legal maxim, expressio unius, exclusio alterius, that amounts to “what is not included is excluded”. My question is:

Are you a person?

I haven’t yet identified what has replaced the repealed law, but it doesn’t actually matter. It’s all word magic.

police = pol-i-ce = pol-i-cy = policy

THE TRICKS

See also

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