National proposes privatised quarantine
AUCKLAND: The National Party wants any provider to be able to apply to accommodate foreigners under Covid19 quarantine standards that its national border agency would set, inspect and enforce.
It could result in the private sector playing a greater role in more open borders under a Nationalled government, and more managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) capacity beyond the current 7300 beds.
National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee was due to be releasing details in Auckland today about the party’s longerterm bordercontrol strategy.
The policy is understood to include having National’s proposed New Zealand border protection agency — which would be established within 100 days of taking office — take the lead on MIQ safety standards.
Those standards would continue to aim to keep New Zealand as Covidfree as possible, which would likely require any facility to keep travelling cohorts separate and provide one bathroom per person or per travellers’ bubble.
National said the cost to the taxpayer could lighten with more private sector involvement, and greater MIQ capacity could mean more foreign workers and students allowed into the country.
National already wants overseas arrivals to pay for MIQ — $3000 for a managed isolation room and an extra $1000 for an additional person and $500 for each child aged over 16.
It is understood that under National’s policy, the border agency could allow providers to charge more for foreigners who were prepared to isolate in plusher accommodation, as long as safety standards were met.
It is unclear whether National’s announcement would include a timeline on when the border could be opened more.
National has previously touted its border agency as a way to tidy up the many layers of the Covid response and provide clearer accountability.
Act New Zealand similarly wants the Government to set MIQ safety standards, and if they are met — by educational institutes or even Airbnbs — then foreigners should be allowed in.
All MIQ facilities now are governmentrun, with $479 million set aside to cover costs from March until the end of the year.
New Zealand First has said MIQ should be moved to army bases, while Labour wants 10% of MIQ to be set aside for nonNew Zealanders, with a particular focus on letting in migrant workers who plug a particular skills gap New Zealanders cannot fill.
The Government has previously said purposebuilt MIQ facilities were being explored, and outlined criteria for loosening the border, including a quicker turnaround time for tests, the ability to treat a large number of people, and whether there was a vaccine.
National has released policy about border controls, including a requirement to test negative before flying to New Zealand and a CovidCard for everyone in an MIQ facility or working at one. National said it would introduce unspecified Bluetooth technology to help avoid future lockdowns or partial lockdowns. — The New Zealand Herald
WELLINGTON: National says it wants to double the value of tech sector exports from $8 billion to $16 billion by 2030, in part through a series of measures to address the skills gap.
The party says the policies — including STEM scholarships, a Minister for Technology and a fasttracked technology skills visa, among other promises — would cost a combined $1.29 billion over the next four years.
Yesterday’s announcement continues National and Labour’s extended period of broad consensus on tech policy on publicprivate broadband infrastructure, publicprivate angel funds and now R&D.
The current Government has continued the publicprivate broadband rollouts begun by John Key’s administration — which in turn built on initiatives begun by David Cunliffe and Paul Swain during the ClarkCullen government. It has been a broad arc of consistent policy across nearly two decades, compared to the chopping and changing in strategy with Australia’s National Broadband Network as different governments have come and gone. Arguably, New Zealand has been stronger for it — particularly for remoteworking during lockdowns.
In keeping with historic trends, National is planning to outdo Labour by increasing spending on broadband infrastructure by $1 billion — although it is worth noting that its potential coalition partner Act New Zealand was split down the middle on backing the UFB, meaning National had to rely on its thencoalition partner the Maori Party to get the original UFB rollout up and running.
In venture capital, the current Government mated the old NZ Venture Investment Fund with money from the Super Fund to create the new $300 million Elevate Fund — whose investments will be matched by private partners for a $600 million total spend.
National says it prefers three $200 million funds (each a 50/50 mix of public and private money) with two focused on earlystate companies and one aimed at more advanced firms after Series A capital. It is a slightly different sliceanddice of the same.
A point of difference at the last election was research and development: National favoured maintaining Callaghan Innovation’s Growth Grants, which put about $300 million in matching research and development (R&D) funds granted to a select group of companies in what critics like Sam Morgan called a ‘‘government picking winners’’ strategy.
Labour vowed to scrap the grants and use the money to fund a universal tax break for R&D; a policy that it duly implemented.
This time around, National’s policy makes no mention of scrapping the universal tax break for R&D. Labour and National now seem on the same page here. National does say it would make our regulatory environment more attractive — although, given the wide latitude given to the likes of Rocket Lab, and the Googlebacked Wisk testing pilotless flying cars near Christchurch, things are relatively open already.
One point of difference is National’s plan to have a dedicated Minister of Technology once again, for focus. — The New Zealand Herald