{"id":1575,"date":"2022-04-27T12:32:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T00:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2022-04-27T12:32:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T00:32:38","slug":"new-face-mask-exemption-card-will-have-legal-standing-hipkins-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=1575","title":{"rendered":"New face mask exemption card will have legal standing, Hipkins says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government is rolling out a new face mask exemption card for people with genuine reasons not to wear one.<\/p>\n

Unlike the old exemptions, the new personalized cards have legal standing and anyone questioning them could be contravening the Human Rights Act.<\/p>\n

“We will not be canceling the old cards or requiring affected people to go through the process of getting a new card if they don’t want to, however, the old cards will not have the legitimacy of the new cards,” Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.<\/p>\n

They were being adopted because the government has recognized that some people cannot wear a mask due to an impairment, health conditions, a physical disability, or mental health reasons.<\/p>\n

“These reasons aren’t always obvious or easy to explain and that’s left some New Zealanders who’re genuinely unable to wear a mask not being able to access the businesses and services they normally would,” Hipkins said.<\/p>\n

“It’s also meant uncomfortable situations, with people needing to explain private health information to strangers when they’re trying to do basic tasks like shopping. We’ve worked hard to find a solution which avoids this.”<\/p>\n

\"11102021<\/p>\n

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins does not want people to have to share private health information with strangers.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0POOL \/ STUFF \/ Robert Kitchin<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It is also hoped the cards will give businesses certainty, Hipkins said.<\/p>\n

“Sadly, in attempting to verify whether people are genuinely exempt, workers – especially those in retail settings such as supermarkets – have experienced escalating and unsafe behavior from some customers.”<\/p>\n

Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni said that from the end of May, people would be able to apply for a card through the Ministry of Health website and it would be issued to them digitally or by post.<\/p>\n

An 0800 call-free number will be available, and it will also cater to those who need an interpreter or translation services when requesting their card.<\/p>\n

“It’s important we all understand that for some people wearing a face mask is difficult. This includes people with physical, intellectual, or mental health impairments, and people (such as some victims of violent crime) who have experienced past trauma,” Sepuloni said.<\/p>\n

“Those people should still have the same right as others to access goods and services.”<\/p>\n

She thanked organizations such as Blind Citizens New Zealand, the Disabled Persons Assembly, Deaf Aotearoa, and other non-government groups who have managed the mask exemption process until now.<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government is rolling out a new face mask exemption card for people with genuine reasons not to wear one. Unlike the old exemptions, the new personalized cards have legal standing and anyone questioning them could be contravening the Human Rights Act. “We will not be canceling the old cards or requiring affected people to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,174,5],"tags":[280],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-nz-news","category-politics","tag-health"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1577,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions\/1577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}