The Trans-Tasman bubble was designed to reunite ourselves with our Aussie neighbours, and the many family members of Kiwis who live over there. Prior to the pandemic, many of us would visit several times a year, and their family members and friends would travel here too. This happy arrangement was cancelled by the pandemic, and most people understood the reasoning behind it, even if they did not like it. The attempts to reconnect with family and friends in Australia were heavily supported, and once again the government was rewarded for their efforts in the 2020 election. But once Delta hit, all bets were off. The bubble was closed, the country became a hermit kingdom once again, and those who had gone over to Australia for a holiday, or to visit family and friends suddenly found themselves stranded… and the government, smug in their electoral support, have simply left them that way.
Stranded.
No one in government circles seems to be even slightly worried about the fact that S 18 of the NZ Bill of Rights gives citizens the right to leave New Zealand and the right to return… and I am not convinced that a pandemic allows the government to suppress that right. So far, no one has led a challenge on this matter, but I am hoping that someone, or a collective, will do exactly that. I don’t believe that the government could win such an action, and it needs to understand that it cannot simply ride roughshod over the rights of New Zealanders, as it has been doing regularly for the last two years at least.
But nothing has stopped them so far.
To my complete amazement, the government has done nothing to bring home Kiwis who ended up stranded in Australia when the Trans-Tasman bubble closed in July. Flights were set up to help Kiwis get home in the week following the closure, but that was it. Anyone who could not get a flight, or decided to wait it out until the bubble opened again two months later (which it never did) have found themselves stranded for over six months… and now, it could be another six months, or even longer.
New Zealanders stranded in Australia will miss out on booking a spot in MIQ as the next batch of rooms are released on Thursday.
A further 1250 rooms will be available to book using the online lobby system for people returning to New Zealand in March and April.
The MIQ room release was previously scheduled for December 23 but it was cancelled and moved to Thursday following a government announcement that the length of stay would be extended to 10 days, with no self-isolation component, due to the threat of the Omicron variant.
But with the Omicron variant delaying the Government’s plan to open a “self-isolation pathway from Australia”, it means citizens in Australia will not be permitted to book a room in an MIQ facility.
“Airlines do not currently have any red flights scheduled from Australia for March or April,” it said on the Managed Isolation and Quarantine website.
“For this reason, those travelling from Australia will not be able to participate in tomorrow’s room release.
NZ Herald
Are you kidding me? People who have been inadvertently stranded in Australia are being left out of the next MIQ allocation because no flights from Australia are planned?
No. That is not quite right. There are flights scheduled, but none that place travellers into MIQ. I admit, I did not realise that this was the case. I thought all flights in New Zealand put people into MIQ… or self-isolation, or whatever. Are the government and the airlines not working together on this?
The problem, of course, is the usual lottery for MIQ places has become even worse. 1250 places have recently been released, but with at least 10,000 people registering to secure them, the chances of success are limited. The problem is that there will be no more MIQ places until at least March, meaning that travel home will not be possible for months, unless the border is reopened to travel with Australia. At this point in time, that will happen at the end of February, but with the number of Omicron cases accelerating in many parts of Australia, the likelihood of a February reopening looks less and less likely – particularly with this government, who will lock down the entire country for a single case.
So where is the government on this? Precisely nowhere. They are all on holiday in the middle of a pandemic, with a new variant wreaking havoc throughout the world. They are all too busy sunning themselves to be bothered trying to bring home stranded Kiwis… an attitude that has been prevalent with this government ever since COVID first hit.
Omicron had better not arrive in the country until at least mid-February, giving all the ministers time to wash off the sunblock and dig out their work clothes. Unfortunately, viruses don’t work like that, and ministers and civil servants in other countries seem to have coped… but not here. Their holidays are sacrosant and everything has to go on hold until they have had their ‘well-earned’ breaks. What an absolute shambles this government really is.
What someone within the government should be doing is contacting Air New Zealand and organising special flights for stranded Kiwis. So long as they are double vaxxed and return a negative test before departure, they should be allowed to isolate at home. They should pay for their flights, and for transport to their homes, which should be arranged as part of the procedure. That way, Air New Zealand gets some extra business and above all, stranded citizens finally get home. To me, this seems completely obvious.
Very few countries are locking out their own citizens, even in the middle of a pandemic, because it can put people into terrible difficulty, but this government doesn’t care. Let’s have another beer, Robbo, and focus on what is really important. Cheers.
