“The lottery of human misery that is MIQ has forced the New Zealand Men’s Under 19 Cricket Team to cancel their attendance at the 2022 U19 Cricket World Cup, says National’s COVID-19 Response Spokesperson Chris Bishop

“Almost every day now there is yet another example of the misery that MIQ causes. Today it is the Men’s Under 19 New Zealand Cricket Team, who won’t be able to attend the 2022 Cricket World Cup. The U19 team provides a critical pathway for our most talented young cricketers, and alumni of the team include Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, and Tim Southee, all of whom competed at a World Cup.

“Last week the misery was Greg Murphy cancelling his come back to Bathurst after he couldn’t secure a spot in MIQ, which I know caused immense devastation to many in the motor racing community.

“These are just the high profile examples. For every Greg Murphy or U19 NZ cricketer, there are thousands of other people denied entry to their own country because of a lottery of human misery that no longer makes any moral, health or political sense. The system is now callous, cruel and unfair.

“MIQ made sense when NZ was running an elimination strategy and we had no vaccination. But now we’re running a suppression strategy, and New Zealanders here and abroad have taken advantage of vaccination.

“Fully vaccinated travellers to NZ with negative pre departure tests present very little risk, as public health experts Michael Baker and others have acknowledged. While over 2000 people with Covid isolate at home around the North Island, people who don’t have Covid and who are fully vaccinated take up valuable space in MIQ that could be much better used.

“The system is a farce and as the Bolton decision shows, legally dubious as well as being a moral abyss.

“It’s time to end MIQ now and the over 90,000 people who have signed National’s petition agree.”