Police attend a large gathering of boys at a New Plymouth school on Thursday, day one of New Zealand's lockdown. It turned out they were all boarders and all was in order.

OPINION: It was perhaps appropriate that as a (hopefully) temporary curtain was drawn on New Zealand's freedom of movement, the Australian who gunned down more than 50 Kiwis in two Christchurch mosques last year quietly pleaded guilty to his crimes, in front of a court of 17 people.

It was one of the final public acts of a low grub, who now awaits sentencing.

It is perhaps ironic that the shooter's hearing was brought forward by the whole country being shut down by a public health scare. It wasn't some New World Order imagined up and propagated in the sad little online chatrooms that did it. It was a fast-spreading virus.

For all the carnage, terror and crushing personal grief produced by this terrorist, his impact on the world has been sad and limited.

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Instead, it has been coronavirus that has really stopped us all in our tracks, particularly as the realities of a Level 4 lockdown have become apparent.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush was quite clear on Thursday: Kiwis are expected to stay at home. Even if you go for a drive, for example, and have no intention of getting out of the car, you are expected to stay local. And your trip is expected to have a purpose.

MANDY TE/STUFF The first day of lockdown at the waterfront and Oriental Parade. There are people jogging, cycling and rollerblading but it's nowhere near as busy as it would be.

For those coming back into the country and self-isolating, Police are planning to send uniformed officers to ensure that the self-isolation is actually occurring, and that people are, in fact, where they say they are.

This is the biggest level of intervention in the civil liberties of New Zealanders since the 1951 Watersiders strike/lockout. During that episode the Government made it illegal to strike, help or even associate with striking watersiders, and censored the press.

The difference is that this time, most of the country is in favour of the lockdown: the overwhelming view from Kiwis seems to be that the controls are necessary. The press is considered 'essential' and has the freedom to report on events.

The biggest problem to date has been the mixed messages from the Government on the one hand, and the cops on the other. The Prime Minister initially seemed to be of the view that as long as you stayed within your "bubble" and away from other people, you were more or less ok and could move around a bit.

The cops, however, are clearly of the view that you should be staying at home. The Government's rather ominous-sounding ads on the radio say that you should stay at home, or wherever you happen to be at the moment - for however long the lockdown lasts.

But Minister of Justice Andrew Little had a little diagram on his Instagram account on how 'one-household, one bubble' is best, 'two households, one bubble' is also fine. but overlapping bubbles are no good.

This has caused a great deal of confusion - some people who made arrangements for shared custody or to be "in the bubble" with a partner who lives separately, appeared able to do so at the start of the week. Now that is clearly frowned upon.

There should be no misunderstanding this: it is a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week curfew for the nation. If you are on the way to the supermarket, or the local park (but not playground) and are stopped by police, you had better have a good reason.

And if you are not sure who to listen to on this, the Police Commissioner is probably a better person than the PM. The Police have been empowered through Parliament to be operationally in charge of the matter. And in the cops' defence, telling people to remain at home unless they have a good reason not to be is definitely the best way to handle it.

There is clearly the carrot of being involved in a big feelgood national effort, but also the stick of being detained by police if you don't.

How far can you walk or run while on lockdown? It looks like we will find out soon.