It’s time to think about closing our borders
Anarchy in the US! New Zealanders watched in horror as right-wing American thugs, incited by the president, invaded the Capitol. Even though his own vice-president was in danger, President Trump was apparently reluctant to take any action or send in the National Guard.
Many of us wondered if the same thing could happen here. Yet even during our worst disputes, such as the Waterfront Strike and the Springbok Tour, the New Zealand Parliament has never had a Capitol-style attack.
During the 1960s and 70s, drunk Vic students regularly put a beer glass in Dick Seddon’s hand on the statue outside Parliament during Capping Week. In 2003 National backbencher Shane Ardern (yes, he’s a distant cousin of Jacinda’s) tried to drive a tractor up the steps in protest at the government’s ‘‘fart tax’’. Occasionally protesters yell out in the House and are removed or censured by the Speaker. But that is hardly anarchy.
In 2004, the foreshore and seabed protests outside Parliament were massive, but the protesters were peaceful, despite being called ‘‘haters and wreckers’’ by Helen Clark.
As for Trump’s refusal to concede the election, only Rob Muldoon has exhibited similar behaviour here. After being beaten in the 1984 election, and before the new government was sworn in, he refused to devalue the dollar and resolve the foreign exchange crisis. It was only when Muldoon’s senior ministers threatened to roll him that he reluctantly did as he was told.
But just because the US political system was imploding last week, and the Covid numbers weren’t appearing on CNN screens, didn’t mean that they weren’t increasing. A record number of US Covid deaths occurred on the day of the protest, only to rise again the next day to 4085.
The United Kingdom is also having a terrible time. It is in the middle of a long lockdown thanks to a new and more contagious variant. On Saturday it suffered a record 1325 deaths. There is also a new highly contagious Covid strain in South Africa that has been detected here.
Even though our border security is good, the number of cases in quarantine is climbing. During the weekend we had 31 cases over three days, a third of which were the infectious UK variant. This is because the rate of infection in those who are arriving is higher, especially in those from the UK and the US.
That is not surprising, given the two countries have had such an increase in recent cases. With 276 (UK) and 182 (US) Covid cases in managed isolation since February 2020, arrivals from these two countries make up more than half our cases. Add India’s 100 and you are talking over three-quarters of all cases from just three countries.
Yes, the requirement to test negative before coming here may help, but is not a complete solution. Canada has banned flights from the UK, and many European countries have announced travel restrictions. Should we, in the interests of safety, do the same? That is what epidemiologist Michael Baker is suggesting could happen. Yes, we have strong bonds with the UK and the US, but I’m not sure if the virus cares much about that.
If cases increase even more, closing the border with these countries for a short time could take the strain off our quarantine facilities and make it less likely for community transmission to occur. The system only needs to fail once for the country to have a serious problem. If the contagious new variant spread within our community, scientists have warned that we could be looking at a level 3 or even level 4 lockdown for some time.
Any border closure would not have to be permanent. Already the vaccine is being rolled out in both the US and the UK, and I suspect that, as soon as President Biden is sworn in – assuming Trump-inspired thugs don’t stop the inauguration – his administration will make Covid a top priority.
Closing borders completely is not ideal – but it is something we should at least consider. Our superb early response to the Covid crisis was because – as well as the great efforts of the team of five million – we looked at successful models close to home, such as Taiwan, and learned from them.
If we had taken on board Boris Johnson’s ‘‘herd immunity’’, the failed ‘‘Swedish model’’ touted by some here, or any of Donald Trump’s crackpot suggestions, other countries would now be closing their borders to us, rather than talking about bubbles.
Yes, we want to maintain friendly relations with other countries, but we also need to protect our population from a highly contagious variant. We should at least consider closing our border to badly infected countries, and not let sometimes unreciprocated loyalty be a reason to put ourselves at risk.
Closing borders completely is not ideal – but it is something we should at least consider.