MIQ legal challenge takes off
A legal challenge to the way in which MIQ places are determined could be heard before Christmas after more than $72,000 was raised in a crowdfunding campaign in under 23 hours.
Wellington QC Paul Radich said the challenge was ‘‘about the right of all New Zealanders to enter New Zealand, which is a fundamental human right in every country under a democratic system’’.
Advocacy group Grounded Kiwis filed the claim on Friday against Minister of Health Andrew Little, Minister for Covid19 Response Chris Hipkins, and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) alleging they acted ‘‘unlawfully and unreasonably’’ in the design and operation of the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system.
Radich and another Wellington lawyer, Lucila van Dam, were representing the group and have worked pro bono on getting the claim drafted and filed.
Radich said the successful crowdfunding campaign meant that should the case need to go to a hearing, there would be funds to cover initial expenses.
‘‘We’re hoping we can move the case along more quickly than an average case, to get a hearing promptly. We’ll need to be talking to Crown counsel about that over the next week or so, and there are any number of ways it could be dealt with, including going to a full hearing,’’ he said.
The date of a hearing, should one occur, would depend on a number of factors, including the availability of counsel and a judge ‘‘but we would hope we could get
a hearing before the end of the year’’, Radich said.
Grounded Kiwis launched a Givealittle campaign on Friday to pay the legal bills. It started with a goal of $70,000. Donations had reached $72,810 within 23 hours and the crowdfunding page was closed.
Radich said he had no personal reasons for pursuing the issue, but believed it was an important matter that warranted a hearing.
‘‘Members of the bar will, if an appropriate issue of relevance to the public comes along, take a case on pro bono if it’s in the public interest. The point of view on this is that there are signifiant issues to be tested here,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s an important issue for the courts to look at and to make a call one way or the other, so people know where they stand . . . where the Bill of Rights boundary lies.
‘‘The case is about the right of all New Zealanders to enter New Zealand, which is a fundamental human right in every country under a democratic system. But those rights are limited to the extent necessary and reasonable in a democratic society, so when we deal with Covid issues the question for the court will be ‘what is the reasonable limit?’, ‘what sort of facility is reasonable?’.
‘‘Issues like that are of real significance and, I think, need to be tested when you have so many New Zealanders overseas who just can’t get home.’’
Radich said the current lottery system let in only about 10 per cent of applicants, and that prompted those involved in Grounded Kiwis to ‘‘look at the legal perspective more fully’’.
He said there was no doubt quarantining and safe systems were required for New Zealanders returning home. But the limited number of hotel rooms and hotels meant that number who could be let in was really low. Another issue was that the system did not discriminate between urgent-needs cases and those who had just signed up for the first time.
‘‘There are examples around the world of quarantining in different ways that we need to take into account,’’ Radich said.
Head of MIQ Rose King said: ‘‘I want to reassure people that there are still several thousand vouchers still to be released through to the end of the year.’’