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This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and republished with permission.
The country’s 32 managed isolation and quarantine hotels cost taxpayers more than $ 2 million a day, and must be over budget by Dec. 31, figures provided to RNZ show.
The cabinet should consider long-term financing options for controlled isolation and quarantine before the end of the year.
The government is likely to recoup only about 3 percent of what it has spent since August, when it began a “pay-per-stay” scheme for short-term returnees.
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More than 75,000 returnees have passed through the country’s managed isolation and quarantine hotels. Figures from MBIE show that each stay takes more than $ 6,000 of the $ 499 million the government set aside for the system this year.
MBIE took over the management of the isolation and quarantine system in September and spent $ 131 million in two months, leaving $ 121 million remaining by the end of October.
That means you are on your way to going over budget before the end of the year, because you are spending about $ 2.4 million a day.
The Grand Millennium Hotel, which is used as a managed isolation facility, in Auckland.
To put that in perspective, it’s less than the country’s prisons operating budget of about $ 3 million a day, but more than a government department like DOC, which runs on about $ 1.8 million a day.
University of Victoria Principal Policy Researcher Michael Fletcher believes it is justified by the comparative costs of letting Covid in.
“They would dwarf the price we’re talking about, in terms of MIQ stays. Even the direct costs. I hate to imagine what a night in the ICU would cost the government, and that’s just the direct and immediate health cost.” he said.
MIQ’s money comes almost entirely from the public purse, despite a fee scheme that began in August.
People returning to the country for less than 90 days are required to pay $ 3,100 per person, plus $ 950 for each additional adult and $ 475 for a child, less than half the cost of their stay.
RNZ / Dom Thomas
Police at the Grand Mecure Hotel in Wellington, which is used as a managed isolation facility.
As of October 25, MBIE said people were paying an average of $ 3,146 per room and had submitted 1,583 bills.
That means roughly $ 4.9 million will be reimbursed during those six weeks, roughly 3% of the total cost of hosting 27,800 returnees during that time.
A statement from the office of the Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed that the Cabinet will consider funding the MIQ facilities before the end of the year.
The intention is to provide a longer-term deal in 2021.
University of Waikato law professor Alexander Gillespie believes the fee scheme needs to be rethought.
“For those people who do return home effectively for vacation or business reasons, or for reasons that do not relate to returning home permanently or there is no humanitarian justification, I think there is a fair case that they could be charged more for quarantine.
“Because otherwise those costs simply fall on the taxpayer.”
Gillespie would like the government to consider different models of managed isolation for different budgets, and he thought the private sector could help.
“As long as the rules are strict and enforced with great rigidity, and that is enforced. I still think that having the military involved is correct, but if we could have a cheaper budget model through the private sector it is something that should be analyzed.
“I think more and more you will have to start looking at that, as if there is a debate about whether you want to bring students back to the country.”
Despite the government giving the go-ahead to the private deals in August, Auckland’s economic development agency ATEED has continued to push for them.
He has spearheaded a group of business leaders whose CEO, Nick Hill, said they were in ongoing talks with local and central government about expanding managed isolation.
His ideas include a framework of priorities for people whose presence in the country would fuel economic recovery.
“The private sector is willing to collaborate with the government to enable greater economic activity without compromising public health,” he said.
This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and republished with permission.
