ACT calls for private hoteliers to run managed isolation facilities

ACT lobbies the Government to let more people into New Zealand by reversing its yet-to-be-detailed 'immigration reset' and letting private hoteliers run managed isolation facilities

26th Jul 21, 10:25am by Jenée Tibshraeny

ACT Party Leader David Seymour

The ACT Party is suggesting the Government allows hotels and motels to become licensed managed isolation providers.

ACT wants to give more people the opportunity to come to New Zealand than is allowed for by existing managed isolation rules, to get “our way of life back”.

It said licensed accommodation providers would need to meet strict standards.

Guests and staff would need to be fully vaccinated and do saliva tests every two days. Travellers would also need to be from low-risk countries, and hotels could only take new travellers across three-day periods, before being “sealed” for two weeks. This would make it easier to keep tabs on people in the event of an outbreak.

ACT said hotels would lose their licences if they broke the rules.

The Government has been selective about which hotels it has used for managed isolation and quarantine, citing design features, as well as access to staff, airports, exercise areas, and hospitals.

ACT, in a just-released “Honest Conversations” policy document, also suggested the Government dump its yet-to-be-detailed immigration reset and “signal a return to pre-COVID immigration settings as soon as public health concerns allow”.

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The Government in May warned businesses they should stop relying on low-skilled migrants, as it had its sights set on “high-value international investment”.

However, last month it announced it is temporarily doubling the duration of the Essential Skills visa to two years for migrants with jobs that pay less than the median wage.

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32 Comments

by dictator | 26th Jul 21, 10:36am 1627252595

I have seen many Government licensing schemes fail. I do not see why this would be any different.

The bigger question is why is ACT pushing for more regulation? Surely the free market driven by greed would be ACT's ideal solution.

by Advisor | 26th Jul 21, 2:13pm 1627265617

All this so we could bring in more low-skilled workers to feed into our low-value sectors; yet not a peep from Seymour about the looming shutdown of NZ's only oil refinery.

We are doomed between a virtue-signaling leftist government and a "business-friendly" right that only wants to restack the house of cards in the name of economic growth.

by JoolzT | 26th Jul 21, 10:29pm 1627295362

Deranged David strikes again.

by xingmowang | 26th Jul 21, 10:46am 1627253169

I just cannot believe how politicians, sitting in the driving seats for NZ's future development, are soooo disconnected to NZ's reality!!

Industry in NZ -- drying milk to powder, slaughtering sheep and beef, cutting trees, catching fish, picking cherries, selling houses and providing beds and meals to visitors

None needs high skilled person

by Squishy | 26th Jul 21, 10:57am 1627253831

Immigration in New Zealand has traditionally been more about suppressing the cost of Labour than facilitating economic development. Why else would "Sex work" and "Café manager" have ever made the skills list? Even now it's not science or technology companies pleading for workers, it's catering and parcel delivery companies.

by Audaxes | 26th Jul 21, 11:45am 1627256716

Blame blind devotion to the Washington Consensus.

We traded our jobs for debt, that's what free trade was about. China got the jobs, Russia got the weapons, and we got the debt.

by VeryInterested | 26th Jul 21, 2:07pm 1627265249

Spot in Xingmowang….. demand for dairy and meat likely to fall over the next few years…. We cannot keep chopping down rainforests to graze cattle then chop even more down to plant soy to feed the cattle destroying vital ecosystems in the process. Read an article this morning discussing how US hedge funds and corporates are buying up single family homes and apartments that require considerable upgrades at considerable cost in order to meet government emissions targets. Many Traditional property investors and home owners cannot afford to make these upgrades. Blackstone, Blackrock are 2 examples. Here many property investors grumbled about the cost of putting in insulation and a heatpump. Imagine if we were told that solar had to replace our current electricity system in order to meet emissions targets….. https://youtu.be/0BVEWdyls7Y

The second one is worth watching too https://youtu.be/qkaRqOlQli4

by dollar_bill | 26th Jul 21, 10:25pm 1627295111

prolly one of your more succinct posts - hard not to agree with it but I think you misinterpret - NZ's future development reality requires on us to confront it and not re-write it. I look forward to the day when Xi turns it over to an AI.

https://www.huawei.com/en/technology-insights/industry-insights/technol…

by fortunr | 27th Jul 21, 8:48am 1627332536

Utter BS.

Read this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_industry_in_New_Ze… or this https://nztech.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/07/Tech-Sector-Ke… and inform yourself before indulging into this kind of generalizations.

by muzled | 26th Jul 21, 10:45am 1627253115

Seymour would sell glasses to his blind grandmother if it meant he got 10 seconds of media spotlight.

by False economies | 26th Jul 21, 10:45am 1627253130

Totally bonkers! There's no way private moteliers would be able to keep covid out

by apizap | 27th Jul 21, 2:47pm 1627354041

Exactly! There's also the divergence of interest: hoteliers & moteliers are there to make money (and good on them). But they would be more interested in promoting better stocked mini bars in the rooms than protecting public health. And let our memories not be so short to forget all the reasons why we ended up having to get the military to run these facilities. Not the best analogy but privatisation of MIQ would be as fraught as privatisation of our prison system has been.

by gnx | 27th Jul 21, 3:08pm 1627355324

ACT cant be taken seriously as a party if this is what they are focusing on....a koru club for miq...ffs

We are just being played as a people. The agenda is set by the banks, for the banks. Time for some focus back on BusinessNZ and what vision they have for the citizenry. They seem to be pushing an agenda via NZME and MSM.Its a future where the banks business grows but our share of the pie shrinks.

And the same for National...focussing on a two million dollar drug rehab spend..but hey lets not mention the $8B we have borrowed this mth to houses ourselves, our high cost of living and future challenges.

We are too trusting of our institutions and civic leaders.

by Kauri | 26th Jul 21, 10:56am 1627253787

Get "our way of life back”? What is he on about? Get back to high levels of immigration, continuation of low-skilled - low productivity economy, continuation of house price rises and infrastructure groaning under weight of crazy population growth. Most of us in Aotearoa have been losing "our way of life" due to what he wants to "get back" to.

by Beanie | 26th Jul 21, 4:33pm 1627274004

Their pro high immigration policy is why I won't be voting for ACT, and why I tell anyone that says they are thinking of voting ACT to go and read their policies.

Seymour gets a lot of things right, but not this.

by Advisor | 27th Jul 21, 10:12am 1627337533

Also, I can't wrap my head around some of his 'pro-business' ideas such as unregulated investments by foreign interests in real estate, assets of national interest and natural monopolies in NZ.

My local ACT spokesperson still celebrates John Key's decision to pawn off Wellington region's electricity distribution network to dodgy a Hong Kong-based corporation as a big win.

by linklater01 | 26th Jul 21, 11:11am 1627254718

And as well as turning the immigration tap back on-to help keep incomes down-Seymour wants what every Right wing party wants-big tax cuts. of course, somehow this will not lead to poorer services through government being made more efficient. Yea right!
This government has failed to deliver many of its policies, but must thank its lucky stars that ACT is feasting so well on the carcass of National. As ACT rises, so National falls leaving the left wing vote largely unscathed. If Seymour proposed merging ACT with National as long as he became leader, that would be a different story.

by morepork | 26th Jul 21, 11:55am 1627257315

I doubt any hoteliers could afford the billion dollar bond to repay affected businesses if they caused a lock down

by Pietro | 26th Jul 21, 12:53pm 1627260792

MIQ is a disgrace. Citizens are being prevented from returning home, unless they are an ISIS terrorist, of course. Re the case of the ISIS terrorist Suhayra Aden, who is being repatriated by a smiley face PM after more international brownie points.

From Granny Herald today: Ardern said New Zealand had an international responsibility to look after its citizens.

"New Zealand has not taken this step lightly. We have taken into account our international responsibilities.”

The woman lived in Australia and the kids have a Swedish father!

Thousands of New Zealand citizens are stuck overseas after study finished, work ended, etc and cannot get home because of the MIQ shambles. But this ratbag gets preferential treatment. Disgusting.

by Comyn | 26th Jul 21, 4:12pm 1627272770

I agree, It's absolutely disgusting. The government talks all this righteous stuff but abandoned its own citizens. I'm in the same boat, I have been wanting to return to look after my aging Mother and settle in to NZ life again with family.
MIQ is a lie, it's virtually impossible to get a spot. The majority of other country's prioritize the citizens coming back but not NZ. If the can go against the law of NZ citizen being able to get home, what else is next convenient law they will break?

by fat pat | 28th Jul 21, 4:46am 1627404412

You might be interested to know that the childrens entertainment group "the Wiggles" were granted border excemptions on December 24th under the "other critical worker" category.

by Mountie | 26th Jul 21, 1:24pm 1627262677

LOL. David Seymour has mis-read this one. He is way off the mark.

by VeryInterested | 26th Jul 21, 1:37pm 1627263465

Yeah, nah, she’ll be right…… what a ridiculous and dangerous idea!

by RCD | 26th Jul 21, 3:43pm 1627271023

Better to keep your mouth shut and have most people think you are a moron than to open your mouth and remove all doubt......David should have kept it zipped on this one.

by Zack Brando | 26th Jul 21, 2:09pm 1627265398

Still years out from the election. People are already talking political change.. it's hard to show sympathy to unrepentant Labour voters. Unrepentant, homeless Labour voters are particularly grievous.

Some people are more deserving of help than others! Some people not only don't deserve help - they should actively be avoided.

by Tim Depositor | 26th Jul 21, 4:23pm 1627273414

This looks like a classic ACT policy, eg Charter schools, of getting into the taxpayers back pockets.

by solardb | 26th Jul 21, 5:09pm 1627276172

I missed the bit where he was asked or explained why this would be a good idea.

by CWBW | 26th Jul 21, 6:43pm 1627281784

You can be assured if the government had a problem managing jails through private entities like Serco, I'll bet jailbreaks, escapees and police chases will be a daily entertainment item on the evening news.

by solardb | 26th Jul 21, 7:10pm 1627283422

That's because you'd expect Serco to be well versed in security measures. Private hotel owners with experience in quarantine , health , security , and political / mental health measures , not so much . This is a health / security/ border control issue , not an accommodation one .

by PocketAces | 27th Jul 21, 7:02am 1627326138

Hmm, isn't this the guy that wanted us to mirror what Taiwan was doing? So how did that work out?

by Squishy | 27th Jul 21, 10:55am 1627340113

David Seymour would likely make better political mileage commenting on the repatriation of people who joined terrorist organisations to New Zealand than Covid-19.

When you run a small political party you have the benefit of not wading into a quagmire like isolation hotels. Pick your battles.

by gnx | 27th Jul 21, 10:55am 1627340142

David is just a puppet for Business NZ and the National party...

Only when the housing market tanks will New Zealand realise the path these idiots have lead us down.