When we tradespeople can go back to sites in Auckland we are going to find it hard to get materials, manufactured here or imported into Auckland, due to the supplies required everywhere else. Because Auckland is the big port, most supplies come in there. Raw materials, timber etc. Because I work with only an apprentice on a 200+m2 house, we are unsafe even with the full PPE required. I can see us staying off for potentially longer due to supply issues which are far worse now due to this lockdown. Even longer, with potentially no income.
-Gary S
MIQ in the biggest city is ridiculous. Industry is crippled nationwide. The slow vaccine rollout is a shocker. We have an incompetent government with unqualified ministers - it's like asking an English teacher to teach Year 13 Calculus which the Ministry of Education would never allow, so how come so many unqualified people are in Cabinet? They're spending more time dividing our country with undemocratic ideas.
-John Scott C
We should never have had the quarantine-free travel with Australia. We will have paid dearly for little gain. Also, having MIQ in the Auckland CBD is madness. Now even the building industry is brought to its knees. Why don't they do the saliva test, and test everyone going to hospital? Two wards shut at Middlemore?
-John B
We are a specialised building materials manufacturer in Auckland that uses two independent NZ operations to put the product together and distribute, and we are finding lockdown especially tough. We supply mainly outside the Auckland area and have orders banking up. As tough as it for us, it is the end user, the builder, who is affected the most by not being able to complete projects. And then, ultimately, the homeowner. There will no doubt be other issues to face post-lockdown, with raw material supply, labour and freight.
-Geoff T
Well, now you are finding out what it feels like being in Auckland in level 4. My engineering business has been sitting idle because we aren't essential, meanwhile the overheads stay the same. Sorry, builders, but it's not all about you - there are plenty of industries suffering. Be thankful you aren't in hospitality.
-Mike C
The Government should have kept the whole country at the same alert level as Auckland because without Auckland most of the country can't operate.
Level 3 won't help a lot either, as I guess we will be at level 3 for a week or two.
-Glenn H
Comments after the Government rule change
All supplies are critical. It's no use having the GIB board if you have no windows or doors to lock the building up etc. Building will just stop at the next level of supply. Suppose something is better than nothing.
-Stephen A
This just proves that the Government had not prepared for another lockdown. With Delta level 2, businesses were not forewarned of the requirements to open. This government lacks any foresight and is not proactive but reactive.
-Mark X
- Republished comments may be edited at the editor's discretion.
