“The government’s Covid modelling being used to enforce restrictions on kiwis must be released in its entirety for public scrutiny,” says Winston Peters Leader of New Zealand First.

“How can the government ask us to ‘trust the science’ if we aren’t shown what the science is that is being used?”

“Transparency is even more important now given the phenomenally inaccurate nature of some of the recent models that had us threatened with fifty thousand cases by Waitangi Day.”

“The Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins himself has said that he has ‘always been sceptical’ about the modelling and compared them to weather forecasts.”

“It’s astounding that the public should continue to be asked to believe the numbers without being able to see and analyse any assumptions, background science, criteria, or data being used.”

“The government has an obligation to release the entirety of this data they are using to enforce restrictions that are effecting so many kiwis’ lives.”

“We should not be continually subjected to dire predictions of catastrophic numbers and an overwhelming of our health system without it being either corrected or confirmed by the government," says Mr Peters.

“The latest data (as of 11am today) shows that only around 0.8% of all detected cases are in hospital – with zero in ICU.  The government needs to answer how that compares with the modelling they have been using to take so many kiwis' freedoms away.”