From the moment that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 entered the community, the New Zealand Edition of The Hunger Games, or MIQ as most people know it, became obsolete and no longer functional for the purpose for which it was created. At that point, it should have been immediately shut down, because its role of keeping Omicron out of the New Zealand community immediately became redundant.
According to all data from around the globe and local modelling – if it is to be believed – within the next couple of weeks, there will be thousands of daily cases of the mild Omicron variant within the community. The few dozen cases that are caught in each day MIQ, will be eclipsed by the numbers that will be circulating freely in the community, making MIQ completely and utterly useless.
Yet, on Thursday this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern once again took the podium with the usual charade of false sympathy and singing the tired praises of her own government’s deluded, divisive, and ineffective MIQ system. And instead of announcing the logical solution, which would be the immediate and complete closure of MIQ, she proceeded to announce that many Kiwis would have to continue their agonizing and heart-breaking separation from friends and loved ones until October.
Once again, she announced that the government would be utilizing their beloved, yet worn out “phases” in reopening the borders of our country. Kiwi’s who have been waiting for two years to re-unite with their family members once again, and in many cases those who are hanging on the fine edge between life and death, would have been expectant it might finally happen within a few weeks. But, once again, their hope has been smashed and the familiar delays and empty promises have been rubbed in their faces.
From any logical standpoint, there is NO reason for the farce that is MIQ to continue any longer. If its point was to stop Omicron from entering New Zealand, then even a child could tell you that it is no longer relevant.
One has to ask the question. Why is this government continuing to push this irrelevant and obsolete system? What is the point of phasing it out, when it is going to achieve absolutely nothing, other than to cost those Kiwis lucky enough to win a spot in the lottery thousands of dollars, and the majority who aren’t lucky, endless amounts of frustration and heartbreak?
Is it because this government realizes that if they give Kiwis the freedom they deserve all at once, they’ll have nothing left to offer, and therefore quickly fall from the political good graces of their citizens? By releasing freedom bit by bit, are they undertaking a mission to attempt to keep Kiwis starry-eyed and reliant on their ‘benevolence’ until as close to the next election as possible?
One does have to wonder what other possible, logical explanation there could be.
It is time to end, once and for all, this disgraceful institution that has been dividing Kiwis for years, causing untold heartbreak, and ruining the hopes, dreams, and lives of so many.
