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In this election, 1 NEWS looks at the top five issues of most concern to New Zealanders. This week we take a look at what Kiwis want from border control.
New Zealand’s border controls will be a key issue in the 2020 elections, as a pandemic continues to sweep across the world.
There have been more than 30 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins accountant, and more than 950,000 people have died.
More than 6.5 million cases and nearly 200,000 deaths are in the US alone.
In New Zealand, officials are hopeful that they have successfully delineated the last community group, in Auckland, as cases continue to appear at the border.
Research NZ’s Emanuel Kalafatelis says the government’s border control measures have been a “hot topic” this year for New Zealanders.
“Before this resurgence, border control was a hot topic. And that was simply because checks and balances weren’t in place,” he told 1 NEWS.
“That was at least Joe Public’s impression.”
Research NZ surveys show how quickly moods around border controls changed.
At the beginning of June, 58 percent of Kiwis imagined that New Zealand would reopen its borders with Australia in three months, while 57 percent thought it would be open to the Pacific islands in the same time.
About a quarter of people thought it would happen in August.
But two weeks later, people were concerned about the management of the border facilities.
More than a third said they were “not at all confident” about whether the borders were being managed properly, while only 14 percent were “very confident.”
Since then, the Labor-led government has cracked down on the restrictions, including requiring all newcomers to test negative before leaving a government-run isolation facility.
Several months later, it also included weekly tests for border workers.
Kalafatelis says that despite the recent resurgence in community cases, Kiwis are more satisfied with border controls.
“The fact is, most people see that resurgence as a community broadcast function rather than people coming into the country,” he says.
“I think that even though there are identified cases related to people entering the country, the general feeling is that all of this is under control and that people are being properly quarantined.”
So far only two cases of border workers who contracted the virus have been known.
The first, a maintenance worker at the Rydges isolation facility in August, contracted the virus when using an elevator after someone who later tested positive.
Meanwhile, the most recent was a nurse who had been caring for a confirmed case that was rushed to the hospital this month.
The recent increase in community cases is related to the Auckland group, which was triggered by a case in Americold.
However, the initial transmission remains a mystery, with no links to known positive cases and superficial transmission in the refrigerator ruled out by the Director General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield.
Before the elections, voters will seek to make sure those border controls remain appropriate, Kalafatelis says.
“They are looking for the proper assurance that the correct checks and balances exist, that there are no loopholes, and that, obviously, the proper controls exist at the border,” he says.
“Currently, the impression is that that is the case. And as a result of that, border control does not appear to be a problem for the general public, when it comes to Covid-19.”
The party’s policies around border controls include creating a specific agency to administer the border, changes to managed isolation and quarantine facilities, and proposals to charge more people entering the country.
POLITICAL PARTY POLICIES FOR BORDER CONTROLS
Work: Review immigration criteria to allow more workers to enter the country, allocate 10 percent of MIQ slots to critical workers, targeted strategy fostering high-value international investment, trans-Tasmania travel bubble by mid-2021 . See Labor’s border policy announcement here.
National: International arrivals require a negative Covid-19 test before traveling, establish the New Zealand Border Protection Agency to monitor and manage Covid-19 at the border, mandatory contact tracing technology for border workers. See National’s border policy announcement here.
New Zealand first: Create a new Border Protection Force, relocate quarantine locations to existing military facilities. See NZ First’s border policy announcement here.
Green Party: No border policies were announced.
ACT match: Create a National Epidemic Response Unit, allow private organizations to manage MIQ facilities, punish MIQ fugitives more strictly, treat different countries with different levels of caution. See ACT’s border policy announcement here.
Maori party: Require New Zealanders to test negative for Covid-19 before traveling. See the Maori Party’s border policy announcement here.
The feast of opportunities: Discuss the relocation of MIQ facilities out of Auckland. Charge non-New Zealanders to enter the country. See The Opportunity Party’s border policy announcement here.
New conservatives: Remove the military from border controls. See the New Conservatives border policy announcement here.
