National launch petition against 10 person funeral and tangi limit at Level 2

National has launched a petition against what it calls an "inhumane" rule that limits funerals and tangi to 10 people under Covid-19 Alert Level 2. 

"It’s not fair that you can have 30 people on a rugby field playing close contact sport, but you can’t have more than ten people at a funeral so they can grieve together," Opposition leader Simon Bridges said. 

"Our team has been inundated with heart-breaking messages from people who are grieving. Most extended families have more than ten people and that’s before you get to friends and other loved ones."

The petition states that there was "no plausible reason why safety, distancing, and contact-tracing measures cannot be put in place to ensure that public health is at the forefront while still allowing people to fully worship, mourn, or celebrate important events". 

New Zealand is set to largely go to Alert Level 2 tomorrow, however, despite earlier indications gatherings would have a 100 person limit, the Prime Minister announced on Monday that number would be reduced for private gatherings. 

Yesterday Ms Ardern said the reason behind the rule change was "whether or not you're coming together to be with others".

"That's the risky behaviour. Look back again in the areas where New Zealand has had trouble with Covid. It's been weddings, it's been bars, it's been social gatherings so that's where we've put the limits in place."

Ms Ardern said the Government did consider putting in place exemptions for funerals and tangi, "but it was just a very very difficult thing to find a way to have a carved out exemption". 

People can still go to movies, sports games and shows with more than 10 people in the room, limited to 100, "but they'll be spaced out", Ms Ardern said. 

Mr Bridges said some people had held off having funerals under Alert Level 3. 

"It’s not too late for Jacinda Ardern and her Government to be compassionate," he said. 

The Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand also condemned the decision, with president Gary Taylor calling it a "cruel and heartless blow to the thousands of New Zealand families who have lost loved ones". 

Mr Taylor told the Epidemic Select Committee last week it was estimated more than 2000 people had died while New Zealand was at Alert Level 4.

"Without access to a meaningful funerals, their families have not been able to grieve properly. It is vital in the healing process," he told MPs.

"It is also hard for our members to bear the brunt of those families, their anguish, their anger and their utter disappear when we explain the restrictions and the rules that are imposed upon them."