Opinion: Govt should meet the basic needs of people in quarantine

Housing Minister Megan Woods says the Government has spent about $81 million on quarantining arrivals to New Zealand. Photo / File

COMMENT:

It's fair to expect if you are paying for a service then you will get a reasonable outcome. But what if that service is mandatory?

Arrivals to our country are being put up in hotels in managed compulsory quarantine for two weeks.

These border controls are a necessary evil in the face of this global pandemic.

But who should pay?

The Government is considering a co-pay option for people returning to New Zealand.

So far it has spent about $81 million on housing and feeding returnees.

It has budgeted $300m for the rest of the year and as Housing Minister Megan Woods said recently, this is not a blank cheque.

But what is the cost of community outbreak in New Zealand?

Given that we have worked so hard and sacrificed so much, it's reasonable to expect that these new arrivals be kept away from the general public until they are deemed free from Covid-19.

The Government says it's the right for every Kiwi to return home. And the fact that we have been Covid-free for several weeks and have been allowed to go back to our daily lives, free to go where we like, makes for an attractive option for those who have previously left and now want to return.

Because the quarantine is Government-mandated, basic costs should be covered by the Government. It's a cost that I, as a taxpayer, am comfortable with if it means we can avoid an outbreak in our community.

But just like public health versus private health services, if you can afford a better service you should be given the option to pay for extras.

"What we need to consider as a Government is the fairness of a potential co-payment system, so we need to factor in a whole range of issues and keep in mind we cannot stop New Zealanders from coming back to the country where they are a citizen, and so that will have to underpin all of our decisions," Ardern told RNZ recently.

Australia is the only other country to isolate arrivals at hotels and Queensland is the first state to introduce a co-payment scheme.

From next month, all international arrivals there will need to pay up to $200 a day to help cover the cost of their two-week quarantine, RNZ reported.

This could put a lot of pressure on those who have limited funds but their basic needs should be met by the Government.

In the bigger scheme of things, this is a cost we should be prepared to shoulder.