PM warns promoters after Wiggles blunder
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has issued a ‘‘strong warning’’ to event promoters after it emerged The Wiggles may not be able to undertake their planned tour of New Zealand due to a failure to secure managed isolation places.
‘‘For me it is common sense: Don’t go out and put a poster up and sell tickets before you have booked your MIQ [managed isolation and quarantine] place,’’ Ardern said. Speaking at the Labour caucus retreat in Nelson, Ardern said she would leave it to Immigration NZ officials to decide whether to grant border exemptions to the children’s entertainers, who are due to begin a 20-show tour on March 19.
She was concerned that, were the tour not to go ahead, there would need to be a satisfactory outcome for ticket-holders.
‘‘A strong warning to promoters here: Do not promote an event until you have everything in place, and that includes booking your quarantine places,’’ Ardern said. She acknowledged the Government may need to be clearer in its messaging, saying: ‘‘Entry is not the same as an MIQ place and that might be something we have to clarify on our side as well.’’
Live Nation, The Wiggles’ New Zealand promoters, has approached MPs in the hope they will help secure a border exemption for the group, Stuff understands. Among those was Simon Bridges, MP for Tauranga, who tweeted he had ‘‘drafted a letter to the powers that be asking that they do what they can’’ to allow the group to play the shows set for March and April this year – even though they have not booked spots in MIQ. Bridges said the blunder was down to ‘‘visa approval delays’’ that meant ‘‘the MIQ slots that were available aren’t any more’’.
Travellers are required to spend 14 days in managed isolation on arrival in New Zealand, meaning the group would need to enter an MIQ facility no later than March 4 but there are no places available in that window.