It is 2023 and New Zealand still has MIQ

While the legislation has expired - in case it's needed again the government has contracted 7 MIQ facilities on standby for a total of 1250 rooms while it plans for a Crown-controlled network

I haven’t gone into the history of MIQ but I did get curious as to what had happened to MIQ after going through so many documents. I asked MBIE who administered MIQ what the future was. While the world moves on and learns from what happened - New Zealand remains firmly committed to repeating past mistakes.

Chris Hipkins in his role as Covid-19 Minister directed MBIE to look into securing investment and an operating model for running quarantine in the future. The readiness plan was briefly covered in news media in early 2022.

But this April 2023 OIA shows the New Zealand government currently has a contract with 7 former MIQ providers (hotels I assume) for a total of 1250 rooms in case they are needed.

How is this possible? This Cabinet paper noted that if MIQ was needed again it would need legislation passed under urgency.

The OIA response notes: “Decommissioning of the facilities was completed in August 2022 and all MIQ facilities are now closed.” The remaining team members “…focus is on managing MBIE’s enduring statutory obligations such as debt recovery, ministerial servicing, complaint resolution and Ombudsman engagement.”

Yet in 2023 there is still continuing work on what MIQ looks like in the future (as the above 2022 news article showed). “Cabinet also directed MBIE to develop a Readiness Plan which is intended to bridge the gap between the closure of MIQ facilities and any investment by Government in a longer-term quarantine capability.” It goes on to note IF MIQ were needed it would require legislation under urgency to be passed. MBIE is also developing a business case for “…purpose-designed quarantine network and core- operating model.”

Papers from last year show they were planning to build Crown-controlled quarantine sites rather than rely on a ‘fragile’ network on hotels that made up the MIQ facilities during the elimination phase.

It goes on to state “In early 2023, MIQ also reached out to up 71 interested parties concerning a possible joint-use of a purpose-designed quarantine network and core-operating model.” Is this a public-private partnership model?

Even in 2023, quarantine facilities within New Zealand appear to be an active pursuit of government - and are on standby. Despite court cases showing the issues and impacts of MIQ alongside a growing international reckoning that many pandemic policies simply did not work - New Zealand remains steadfast in not looking back. Only smugly assuming they knew and did know what was best.

Update:

Since writing this, the recent budget 2023/24 shows that funding for this work through vote building (MBIE) has ceased:

But has been transferred to under vote health:

The work continues.