National leader Judith Collins says she'll speak with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about what New Zealand's latest cases of COVID-19 in the community will mean for next month's election.
Collins says she's devastated by the news and the community will rightly be distressed following news Auckland will enter alert level 3 from midday on Wednesday, after the confirmation of four COVID-19 cases with no known link to overseas travel.
Speaking to The AM Show on Wednesday morning, Collins said she plans to raise the issue of the election, scheduled to take place on September 19, with Ardern and the Electoral Commission.
Collins said it's crucial the election is done properly.
"It's going to be very difficult to have an election in mid-September when we are now mid-August," she told host Duncan Garner.
"Basically, it is very little time and I don't think New Zealanders are going to want to see a postal-ballot type system set up.
"I think it's one of the things that I will be speaking to the Prime Minister about as well as the Electoral Commission. I am very concerned that when we have our election that people have a fear of having an election - and I'm sure that most people would consider that's a fair thing to ask."
While Auckland enters alert level 3 at midday, the rest of New Zealand will move to alert level 2. Collins said Auckland business owners she'd spoken to were devastated about the news.
However, she acknowledged there was no alternative other than a level 3 lockdown.
"I think it has to happen if there's been a community outbreak - certainly in a family anyway," she said.
"This is actually quite a serious situation. I'm very hopeful that they can find out how this has happened but it's [COVID-19] clearly come in somewhere."
Ardern told reporters on Tuesday night that putting Auckland into lockdown was a precautionary approach but one that needed to be taken.
