Recognition has finally come for New Zealanders who were left overseas during the height of the covid-19 pandemic. Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier’s remarks on MBIE’s advice and management of MIQ is a voice long overdue.

Like Boshier, Multicultural New Zealand received hundreds of complaints and pleas from people desperate to return home. A survey run by MNZ in May 2021 reported thousands of New Zealanders separated from their family, stranded with no support or income, unable to reach loved ones in their last days, grappling with mental health.

MNZ president, Pancha Narayanan, is deeply disappointed in MBIE’s handling of the situation. “The MIQ process has let New Zealanders down. It was draconian, callous, dictatorial and without mana. Inevitably this has led to community’s all time lowest faith in the Ministry.” He says.

“This is not only poor practice, but significantly inconsistent with their Tiriti o Waitangi obligations as a government department. There needs to be accountability measures in place, it cannot always be ‘lesson learned’. We need to see learning, listening and implementation as we journey along this pathway toward a Tiriti-based Aoteroa.”

The Ministry’s virtual lobby solution was detached and failed to address the realities of the people who would be using it. “MBIE has received and given poor advice. This comes from lack of consultation with and connection to NZ society. There are six million kiwis. Five here at home, and one million abroad. They should remember that.” Mr Narayanan states.

“The impact of policy has been much bigger on the less visible communities. One in five New Zealanders is born overseas. Multicultural NZ, as New Zealand’s senior most pan-ethnic organisation, needs to be consulted on these matters.”

MNZ calls for a broader inquiry into the MIQ practices as part of the upcoming Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19.

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