Covid 19 coronavirus: Bryan Gould - Government must tackle issue of importing fishermen from hotspots

Columnist Bryan Gould questions bringing in foreign fishermen when there is labour capacity in New Zealand. Photo / Getty images

OPINION

Much of the political debate over the past few months - as we have grappled with the coronavirus pandemic - has centred on the question of whether it is the interests of business or the health of the community that should take priority in policy terms.

Much has been made of the damage done to business by the focus placed on controlling the virus through measures such as lockdowns of varying severity but most people have understood that there is not a choice to be made between protecting business on the one hand and dealing with the virus on the other - that the best, indeed, only, way of helping business is to bring the virus under control.

That conclusion is strongly supported by the unhappy experience of other countries - the US and the UK, among others - which have followed a different course and attempted to protect businesses rather than people. In our case, the issue seemed to have been put to rest by our election result, which could be seen as an endorsement of the Government's priorities.

It is therefore somewhat surprising that we now find ourselves threatened with further outbreaks of Covid-19 brought about by what, in my view, is the relaxed attitude apparently taken to the arrival on our shores of scores of foreign fishermen from Russia and Ukraine, known to be hotspots for the virus.

These foreign fishermen, many of whom have been found to be infected and have had to be quarantined on arrival, despite apparently having been quarantined and tested before they left their countries of origin, are permitted entry, it seems, in the interests of large fishing firms.

That's because, according to one company, the imported workers are deemed essential as there is a shortage of Kiwis trained well enough to be capable of working on the technically advanced fishing vessels used by the fishing firms.

Does being essential mean that their threat to our Covid-free status can or should be disregarded or overlooked? How is it that the health and safety of the population as a whole (as well as the business interests of many other firms) are being put at risk like this?

And when will the fishing firms train virus-free Kiwis if they are permitted to go on importing trained, albeit infected, workers from overseas?

What efforts have been made to train Kiwi workers? How did the foreign workers get trained in the first place? And do they offer other advantages - perhaps settling for lower wage rates - as well as their superior training?

Surely our newly elected Government must apply the lessons that it has learned and proclaimed in its successful campaign against the virus to this situation? Surely it will give priority to the people who elected it, and will, above all else, take the steps required to prevent any further outbreaks?

Have we not reached the point when businesses must be told that we - the population as a whole - having made so many sacrifices ourselves, are entitled to expect them to accept and act on their own responsibilities; at the very least, are we not entitled to be spared the threat of a resurgence of the virus that can come with imported labour?

And what of other firms that have made so many sacrifices? Are their interests to be put at risk because not enough Kiwis have been trained to do a particular job?

Come on, ministers and officials. Show some of the clarity and decisiveness that have distinguished your performance so far. The public good must surely be the top priority.