Loans looked at for quarantine

The Government is looking at state loans as a way to get over a legal hurdle that prevents returning Kiwis paying for quarantine – and could make it a law.

According to Housing Minister Megan Woods – who is responsible for the Government’s growing managed isolation and quarantine hotel archipelago – the Government’s legal advice is that it cannot put impediments in the way of people returning home, and charging for isolation could be seen as that. Instead, the Government is trying to find a legal workaround so that Kiwis in quarantine or self-isolation would not be socked with a huge bill.

Currently all New Zealanders are required to spend 14 days in managed isolation or quarantine upon entering the country. This stay comes with a growing bill – estimated at close to half a billion dollars for the year.

‘‘We have to make sure we are not setting up a test for New Zealanders based on how much money that they have in their bank account.

‘‘We would have to make sure we have hardship measures in there as well...like a range of loans the state gives,’’ Woods said.

Options included putting hardship arrangements in place for people who didn’t have the ability to pay for quarantine up front.

‘‘New Zealand citizens and permanent residents have a right to return home, so we have got to make sure we are not putting an economic impediment in place for people to return home,’’ she said.

On Friday, reported Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had been advised by Government bureaucrats that returning Kiwis, who had been away from New Zealand for an extended period, should bear the brunt of quarantine costs.

But Woods ‘‘stressed’’ it was not going to happen overnight because it was complex and could require legislation.

‘‘It’s a very complicated policy, and we need to get this right. I don’t blame Kiwis for wanting to come home,’’ Woods said.

Woods and Ardern’s comments came as the European Union announced overnight that it would be opening its borders back up for New Zealanders, as well as travellers from a select group of other countries. Yesterday Ardern said the EU’s announcement didn’t change anything for New Zealand’s border and New Zealand did not need to reciprocate, but that the Government was considering ways to make Kiwis who leave for a holiday now pay for their quarantine or self-isolation on return.

National leader Todd Muller agreed in principle that anyone who went on holiday right now should pay for their own selfisolation or quarantine. But he has criticised the Government over the long-term border arrangements, saying the country needed a plan to open its border back up.

‘‘It’s a very complicated policy.’’ Megan Woods

Housing Minister