Employees of the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) have challenged the legality of the “no jab, no job” policy imposed by NCDC on Port Moresby with a lawsuit.

Lawyer George Kaore, representing the NCDC Workers Association, appeared before Deputy Chief Justice Ambeng Kandakasi to seek certain interim orders at the National Court in Waigani.

City manager Bernard Kipit, Governor Powes Parkop and NCDC were named as defendants in the case.

Kaore said the NCDC employees filed the case for the court to enforce the rights of the workers pursuant to section 41 of the Constitution (Prescribed Acts) and section 48 of the Constitution (Freedom of Employment).

He said the covid-19 vaccination should not be mandatory in the workplace.

However, Justice Kandakasi advised Kaore to provide to the court a list of NCDC workers who were vaccinated and those who were not vaccinated.

Justice Kandakasi also told Kaore to provide a list of the non-vaccinated NCDC staff who had taken a covid-19 test.

‘Basic information’ not provided
Justice Kandakasi said such basic information was not provided by the plaintiffs to the court.

After considering submissions from the parties, he ordered the National Executive Council (NEC), Health Minister Jelta Wong, and the National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning to be added as defendants to the case.

The court ordered the government through NEC, Wong and Manning to provide a copy of the National Covid-19 Pandemic Response plan, the strategic implementation plan and all relevant details about the covid-19 awareness, contact tracing and isolation.

Justice Kandakasi said the case by the NCDC Workers Association would be heard together with the case filed by the Human Rights Advocacy International.

The Human Rights Advocacy International filed the case in the National Court claiming that the “no jab, no job” policy implemented by some government agencies, private companies and public statutory institutions was unconstitutional.

The case has been adjourned to November 16.

Charles Moi is a reporter for The National newspaper. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As the New Zealand government confirmed it would apologise for the 1970s Dawn Raids against Pacific Islanders, memories have surfaced for those traumatised by them, including one elderly man.

The politically-driven crackdown on overstayers from the Pacific Islands involved special police squads raiding homes and workplaces, often in the early morning.

Savelio Ikani Pailate, 93, remembered being chased by dogs in the middle of the night.

He said they had to run to away to Manurewa, to places “where there were no houses”, with some being injured because they fled in bare feet.

Pailate’s case was before the court at the end he was allowed to work, but the police ignored it and deported him anyway.

He dreamt of buying his family a home and getting his children educated

He achieved that after returning to New Zealand and working until age 82, refusing to listen to the many voices against him.

The crackdown on Pacific overstayers. Video: TVNZ News

Racially profiled
Racially profiled and picked up randomly by police, workplaces were raided and homes stormed.

“They’d call it the Dawn Raids but they actually raided just after midnight cause our families would be up and gone before dawn because that’s what they did, they worked at the crack of dawn,” Pakilau Manase Lua of the Pacific Leadership Forum said.

Pacific People’s Minister ‘Aupito William Sio wiped away tears as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed she would apologise for the Dawn Raids next week.

‘Aupito described what the apology would mean, and the significance of restoring mana for the victims of the raids.

The Pacific People’s Minister, whose family moved to New Zealand in 1969 from Samoa, spoke of being raided, having “memories about my father being helpless”.

“We bought the home about two years prior. To have someone knocking at the door at the early hours with a flashlight in your face, disrespecting the owner of the home, with an Alsatian dog frothing at the mouth wanting to come in without any respect for the people living there.”

‘Aupito described it as “quite traumatising”.

“The apology is about helping people heal. People who have been traumatised.”

Ardern and the government will formally apologise for the 1970s Dawn Raids that targeted the Pacific community on June 26 in the Auckland Town Hall.

This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz