Dear John --



10 days ago, I launched our campaign to end the lottery of human misery that is MIQ right now <[link removed]>. The response has been extraordinary – over 90,000 people have signed our petition, the biggest the National Party has ever done.



I’m very proud of the campaign that National has run on this issue. I think it’s one of the most important things I will ever do in politics. I’m not going to stop until MIQ is ended.



MIQ made sense at the start of the pandemic. But now it’s just cruel and callous to stop fully vaccinated Kiwis coming home for Christmas when there are 5000 people alone in the North Island isolating with COVID (or close contacts) at home.



As I said in Parliament this week <[link removed]>, it’s ludicrous that fully vaccinated travellers with no COVID go into MIQ, while people with COVID isolate at home in the community when they would be better off in quarantine. Public health experts agree with us <[link removed]>.



Jacinda Ardern’s compassion has turned into cruelty for the one million Kiwis abroad, who are shut out of the team of 5 million.



Every day there are new stories of the hardship that MIQ causes. Yesterday it was announced the NZ Mens U19 cricket team have cancelled going to the Cricket World Cup <[link removed]>. Greg Murphy can’t get to Bathurst <[link removed]>. And then there’s the stories that just break my heart – like that of Shelley Grierson <[link removed]>, who wasn’t allowed to leave MIQ early to see her dying sister despite being fully vaccinated and passing multiple negative COVID tests.



For every Greg Murphy I know there’s tens of thousands of cases of people who are desperate to return home for Christmas or summer but who haven’t secured a slot in MIQ.



The government won’t even open up the Trans-Tasman Bubble for Christmas. They’re stuck in Fortress New Zealand mode while the rest of the world opens up.



John, if you support the campaign, could you sign the petition and share it far and wide <[link removed]>? I’d like 100,000 signatures by the end of the day. Gossip around Wellington is that the pressure is starting to tell on the government and I want to keep the heat on.



Thank you for your support.



Chris







Chris Bishop

List MP based in Hutt South

National COVID-19 Response Spokesperson







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NZ National Party - 41 Pipitea St, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

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