The Crown has acknowledged the sacrifice overseas Kiwis have made during the pandemic at Tuesday's judicial review into New Zealand’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine system.
MIQ has been credited for keeping Covid-19 out of the country for much of the last two years, but criticism of it has been growing. It's a system that has been labelled “cruel and inhumane” as some struggled to get home to be with a dying loved one.
The mounting discontent saw advocacy group Grounded Kiwis crowdfund more than $100,000 for the case against the Ministers of Health, Covid-19 Response and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive.
Its argument is that MIQ in its current form is a breach of New Zealand citizens’ right to return under the Bill of Rights Act (1990).
In the High Court at Wellington on Tuesday, crown lawyer Aedeen Boadita-Cormican acknowledged the hardship many who were overseas faced. She said in defending the system the Crown did not mean to “detract or deny” the impact it had on them.
But she said the Government was faced with difficult choices during an unprecedented time.
“The Government made the choice to prioritise life and health,” she said.
“The respondents had to look at the human rights of all people in New Zealand and achieving the least impact on people’s lives and health and socio-economic impacts that followed from that.”
She added the Government did not forget those offshore, rather they were “at the forefront of the Government’s mind”.
“This wasn’t a pandemic that had a clear pathway ahead when these settings were made. On a week by week, month by month basis, the context was changing.”
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