Table of Contents
Vera Stanton
February 3rd was a day long-awaited by those locked out of their own country, as new announcements from the Podium of Truth would reveal if and when they could finally return home.
Unsurprisingly, the announcements were couched in the usual self-congratulatory rhetoric and failed, yet again, to acknowledge all those people who had made the involuntary and often heart-breaking sacrifices that came along with playing the MIQ lottery.
Already burned by promises of border reopenings that were rapidly reneged on at the first sign of the new and terrifying Omicron variant, many New Zealanders remain sceptical about the chances of the plan actually going ahead. Frankly, if it does, it might be the first time Labour has delivered on a promise.
The excruciatingly slow drip-feeding nature of the reopening and the prioritisation of people returning from Australia has left many of us scratching our heads. No doubt there are various models, graphs and analyses used to justify these decidedly unscientific-sounding decisions, but it reeks of face-saving to me.
I suppose that had they announced an immediate re-opening of borders to citizens and residents, without conditions attached, it would be tantamount to admitting that MIQ has become an unscientific and immoral failure.
As a New Zealander who has not returned to New Zealand since 2019 but has no immediate or desperate need to do so, I have been watching the MIQ and border reopening debacles with a mixture of horror, outrage and embarrassment. I am very lucky that I have not experienced any awful circumstances that forced me to plunge into the MIQ lottery hell. However, all of my family are in New Zealand and I plan to visit them when the time is right.
However, the time will not be right as long as the government insists upon following the current reopening plan. Its neat, one-size-fits-all approach completely fails to account for all the different situations that we New Zealanders abroad find ourselves in.
To be clear, I am simply outlining my personal reasons as to why the reopening plan is fairly meaningless for me and my family. Everyone’s circumstances are unique and while this plan will no doubt come as a huge relief to some, there will be many like me who will find this plan unreasonable and unworkable.
The first thing that struck me is the emphasis on ‘vaccinated’ New Zealanders not needing to enter MIQ. The ability to enter our own country without conditions is of pivotal importance. There should be NO conditions attached to entry into our own country, not fewer conditions that coerce us into compromising our body’s sovereignty.
Furthermore, it’s inconsistent with internal policy. If the government insists that compulsory MIQ for non-vaccinated arrivals is necessary, then why not extend this requirement to all non-vaccinated positive cases and close contacts inside New Zealand?
Furthermore, there is always the risk that the goalposts will be moved with regard to what constitutes ‘fully vaccinated’. Right now it is two vaccines but when will it change to three? I received two vaccines in mid-2021, but have refused any boosters since it became clear that Omicron does not represent much of a threat to my health. My husband was mandated to receive the vaccines for his job. He suffered side effects for quite some time and has now also refused any boosters.
My children are not vaccinated. My eldest is in his early teens and due to the concerns of the vaccine side effects outweighing the risk of contracting Covid for teens – especially boys – he will remain non-vaccinated. Many countries are not recommending mass vaccination for children. I refuse to be coerced into unnecessary boosters and jabbing my children because New Zealand will detain me in MIQ if I don’t comply.
Neither my husband nor children are New Zealand citizens. As it stands, this means we are only able to travel to New Zealand in stage 4 of the reopening – six months from now. Granted, I can apply for New Zealand citizenship by descent for my children but thus far we have had no particular need. Their existing (normally) visa-free passports and the fact that they are the minor dependents of a citizen should be enough.
I also refuse to go through the process of ‘proving’ my relationship with my husband and sending screeds of highly personal information to some anonymous government department just so he can be granted a visa to be allowed to travel with his family.
For our family, we will wait until the government capitulates and catches up with the rest of the world, where a negative PCR or RAT test on arrival is enough. Failing this, we will visit only when this government is voted out and a new government will (hopefully) be able to make more scientifically and economically sound decisions around the border.
In the meantime, we will continue to connect with our family online, and our tourist dollars will be spent in the countries that welcome us, rather than turning us into detainees considered so dangerous that we need to be guarded by the military.
