Waitomo District Council has made the difficult decision to cancel The Great New Zealand Muster for 2022, due to being unable to meet several of the health and safety measures under the new COVID-19 Protection Framework.

Manager Community Development Clowdy Ngatai said the decision was disheartening to make, but it came down to having no other option in the current climate.

“We realise this is disappointing for many, but we hold out hope that we will be able to have The Great New Zealand Muster again in 2023.”

Mayor John Robertson said these are extraordinary times.  

“Keeping our community as safe as possible in the face of COVID-19 has to be our top priority.  We will return to “normality” some time, but with the omicron variant hovering, holding events is just not possible in the next few months.”