Kelvin Davis says two people who heckled Jacinda Ardern forcing her to move a Northland media conference inside, "think they are smarter than the virus".
The Prime Minister's media event in Kawakawa was briefly halted after a man twice interrupted her. A woman was also heard singing and yelling in the background.
"Sir, I will shut down the press conference if this continues," Ardern told the man at one point.
He then asked, "why is the vaccine not working in Israel? And you are still pushing it".
The PM said he was being rude, to which he replied, "it's rude to lie to the public of New Zealand".
Ardern then ended the media conference and moved it to a new location.
Māori-Crown relations Minister Kelvin Davis, who is also the MP for Te Tai Tokerau, gave the protesters short shrift.
The man interrupted the PM a number of times before she asked to move the media conference inside. (Source: Other)
"That's the first protest I've seen, there were two people, obviously they think they are smarter than the virus."
He said anti-vaccine views the pair were spreading didn't help the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, especially in Northland, which had one of the lowest rates in New Zealand.
Davis and Ardern had been speaking about a funding boost for Māori organisations and iwi aimed at increasing Māori vaccination rates.
"We're trying to protect whānau, protect whakapapa and to have people think what's going on is not reality, I think they're just living in a strange world.
"Our focus is on making sure as many of our people as possible get vaccinated to protect their whānau, protect their whakapapa, that sort of stuff doesn't help at whatsoever."
Ardern said while people may not listen to the Government about why it's important to get vaccinated, it was the Government's job to support those on the ground who were trying to help those who weren't keen to get jabbed to do so.
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