The Chief Ombudsman says the Ministry of Business did not take into account the 'very real impact' of the Covid-19 managed isolation allocation system (MIAS) on people's lives.
Peter Boshier has released the findings of his investigation into the MIAS after receiving hundreds of complaints. He says the advice MBIE officials provided government ministers was inadequate.
"When our first Ombudsman, Sir Guy Powles, was appointed by Parliament in 1962, he said he was there to protect the individual and would look for reason, justice, sympathy and honour in the decisions made by the state. If he didn’t find these qualities, he vowed to call it out.
"Sixty years later, I am again making that call after receiving hundreds of complaints about the MIAS," Boshier says.
"We ended up with a lottery - a system that did not fully allow for the consideration and prioritisation of individual circumstances of people trying to come home during the Covid-19 pandemic."
National Party Spokesperson for Covid-19 Response, Shane Reti, says the government needs to apologise.
“The Ombudsman has said what many New Zealanders were saying at the time that there was insufficient consideration for individual circumstances and that the system did not take into account the very real impact it had on people’s lives.”
Reti says the Government was heavy-handed and overbearing and there will be families who will never recover from what they missed out on.
“It separated families and meant people were unable to return to New Zealand to see loved ones and couldn’t be there when family members were in the final stages of life.
“It was cruel and the Prime Minister needs to accept responsibility for her Government’s actions and apologise.
'Stress and frustration'
MBIE had overall responsibility for the planning and operation of the MIAS programme.
"While ministers made the final decisions on the shape of the system, I would have expected MBIE’s officials to provide free and frank, clear and sound advice and recommendations on the fairest options that considered the impact it would have on people.
"This would have allowed decisions to be made, not just with a reason but also with sympathy and honour."
Boshier said he was sympathetic to the environment MBIE was working in. New Zealand was facing an unprecedented set of circumstances and needed to act quickly to keep Covid-19 away from the border for as long as possible.
"I acknowledge that another type of system, which provided for consideration of individual circumstances would have been more complex, time-consuming and costly to implement than the virtual lobby.
"But I do not consider these challenges provided sufficient rationale for MBIE not to advise and recommend to decision-makers options for such a system - the impact on people was too severe. A fundamental human right was being limited and people’s lives were being significantly impacted.
'Acted unreasonably on te Tiriti'
"It is obvious that managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) and MIAS caused a huge amount of stress and frustration for New Zealanders trying to exercise their right to enter the country."
Boshier has found MBIE’s advice to government ministers on the design and operation of the MIAS failed to put enough emphasis on people’s individual circumstances.
He found MBIE recommended a virtual lobby over other options when a change in the online application process for spaces within MIAS was being considered. Some spaces were set aside for people with special circumstances under the voucher system available off-line but it failed to cater for those who had a genuine or urgent need to travel nor those experiencing delays in returning to New Zealand and it failed to fully ensure there was a way for disabled people to independently apply for vouchers.
Boshier says he found that, collectively, MBIE’s omissions in its advice were unreasonable.
"I also believe MBIE acted unreasonably by failing to undertake an analysis under Te Tiriti o Waitangi when developing its online allocation, and by not consulting with Māori sooner," he says.
He has recommended MBIE address the issues he has raised in the design of any future national quarantine system.
"Key decisions about the allocation system were made by government ministers and I do not have jurisdiction under the Ombudsmen Act to recommend they apologise."
"However, I will be following up with the complainants in this investigation to see whether they have been affected by the individual decisions made by MBIE that may be flawed, and if a personal apology from MBIE is appropriate."