'No upside' for vaccinated Kiwis in current system: Sir Ian Taylor

October 28, 2021

Sir Ian, a businessman and former New Zealand Innovator Of The Year, has been a vocal critic of the inflexibility of MIQ.

The Government's being blasted for the lack of consistency with one prominent businessman warning Kiwis are becoming disaffected. 

Sir Ian Taylor, a former New Zealand Innovator of the Year, has been a vocal critic of the country's Covid-19 response and in particular its inflexibility.

Now with Covid-19 spreading into the South Island after two cases were reported in Christchurch on Thursday, he's wanting a rethink in how restrictions function. 

Taylor told 1News the lack of incentives for being fully vaccinated is contributing to complacency among New Zealanders who aren't benefitting from following the rules. 

"Just take vaccinations for example, everyone has been encouraged to get vaccinated but there is absolutely no upside." 

He added that the vast majority of New Zealanders who are complying with the Government's vaccine plea are being held back by the unvaccinated. 

"There has got to be some meaningful results coming out of following the rules. I think one of the things that really stood out is that people are getting disaffected because the rules aren't consistent." 

It would be an entirely separate system for business travel.

Taylor wasn't surprised by the increase in rulebreakers and anti-lockdown protests due to the disparity in Covid-19 restriction being seen across alert levels. 

"You look across the board now. There's one that says you can get on a plane and fly to Christchurch but there's another that says, on the same day, you can't get a hair cut."

"You need to put these things together, no wonder people are starting to rebel." 

When asked about his thought's on the Government's upcoming MIQ shake-up, Taylor added it was a "great disappointment".

The Animation Research founder has been pushing for a revamp of the current managed isolation system but says the upcoming change fell short. 

From next month, fully vaccinated travellers' stays in MIQ will be halved to seven days, followed by three days spent self-isolating at home with regular Covid-19 tests. 

Sir Ian says Government failed to acknowledge the thousands of kiwis left stranded overseas, still struggling to try their luck with the current MIQ lottery system. 

"Some of those people are stateless, some of them have been overseas for months and if we're going to talk about MIQ and the sort of instill the virtues of what it has done for 180,000 people, we cannot ignore the rest it has let down." 

He added that even with the shake-up, there are still thousands of New Zealanders that will have to try their luck with the lottery system.

"We have said for months that it's not fit for purpose... the next change will see 30 to 40,000 people in a failed waiting room, waiting to access around 2000 spots." 

In the first quarter of next year, home isolation may be introduced, coinciding with the introduction of the traffic light system.

The length of time and requirements would depend on the Covid situation at the time, according to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.  

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