Time to break free from the Kiwi comfort zone
What’s the big holdup, when some employers are crying out for skilled workers?
It’s as if half the population has a giant case of Stockholm syndrome. So enamoured are they with Jacinda Ardern’s political leadership, that they are prepared to overlook the fact that New Zealand is to all intents and purposes morphing into a “giant open air prison with a 1200-mile moat around it”.
That description belongs to a former senior Kiwi politician marooned here since the Covid-19 crisis erupted.
Ardern’s 54 per cent rating as preferred prime minister in the latest Colmar Brunton poll is one factor. More important is the 82 per cent trust rating she enjoys. But that trust has to be used wisely.
For many in business, it is starting to feel as if New Zealand is fast becoming a Kiwi-style hermit kingdom.
It’s the place where expat New Zealanders can return without paying quarantine fees as long as they hunker down for more than three months (if they are here for less than 90 days they will be slammed).
Businesses still can’t get the skilled people they need across the New Zealand border so that projects can go ahead and jobs can either be retained or created.
There is no sign (yet) that the Government is investing heavily in a dual track system for testing those coming across the border by building special purpose quarantine facilities so international businesses can be sustained from New Zealand.
But magically, the Government has been prepared to entertain a request from World Rugby to hold the entire 2020 Rugby championship in New Zealand this year. In a statement, World Rugby said “special measures will need to be implemented to deal with any Government-required isolation period prior to the start of the competition”.
It is at times like these you wonder which hat Grant Robertson puts on when it comes to making these calls: Finance Minister or Sports and Recreation Minister?
The choice should be obvious. The Government estimates some 100,000 — of what are to all intents and purposes Kiwi Covid refugees — will return home by the end of this year. It has set aside a total of $479 million to pay for the costs of managed isolation facilities over that period.
Businesses are prepared to commercially fund the quarantine costs for the people they need to get across the border. But returning New Zealanders are taking precedence.
The projected 100,000 returnees are an enormous cohort of people to arrive here in a very short time. They will arrive into an environment where jobs are not thick on the ground and unemployment is predicted to spike up when the Covid-19 wage subsidy ends in September just before the election.
The $11.9 billion subsidy scheme has been in place since March and has helped protect 1.7 million workers and their employers from some of the worst economic affects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The ability for Kiwis to go offshore and seek jobs elsewhere — particularly in Australia — has long been a safety valve for the New Zealand economy in tough times.
That door is pretty much shut during this global pandemic.
The upshot is that unemployment will rise sharply, particularly as New Zealand heads into 2021, as former National Finance Minister Sir Bill English noted this week.
Economists say it will take a while for official statistics to show the occupation of the returnees. It is unlikely they will fill all the gaps businesses now have.
Senior Labour economic ministers are adamant that bringing too many people across the border exposes New Zealand to the risk of a further Covid-19 outbreak which would have severe economic impacts.
But that argument will look ridiculous if the rugby players are allowed in and skilled business professionals are not.
The Covid-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament this week provided a legal framework to allow the Government to set payment terms, exempt groups of people and waive charges in cases of financial hardship. It will also ensure that recovered charges do not exceed the actual costs of managed isolation and quarantine.
Social media is full of woeful tales from expat and local whingers who oppose the Government charging quarantine fees for those who intend to stay for less than 90 days. They should harden up. Under the Bill of Rights Act every New Zealander has the inalienable right to return here.
But short-term returnees instead of business professionals? No.
For many in business, it is starting to feel as if New Zealand is fast becoming a Kiwistyle hermit kingdom.