30th July 2020 By Shannon Williams | shannon@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
New Zealanders returning home for a visit will be charged $3100 to cover the costs of the Government’s managed isolation and quarantine.
Speaking to media on Wednesday, the minister in charge managed isolation facilities, Megan Woods, said the Government would seek Cabinet agreement to charge $3100 per person in a room, $950 for each additional adult, and $475 for each additional child.
Megan Woods
Kiwis who came back for less than 90 days, as well as those who left when the regulations came into force and returned at a later date, would be charged.
Temporary visa holders must pay costs unless they were ordinarily a resident in New Zealand before the border closed on 19 March.
New Zealanders and permanent residents who were coming home to resettle would not be charged and there would be mechanisms in place to allow the fees to be waived in full or in part.
Woods said legislation would be introduced to Parliament today and future governments would have the power to alter it.
“New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine system is our frontline of this defence and it is working,” Woods said.
“Over the past several weeks we have done a detailed investigation of options to recover some of the costs of this system. Those options were always going to be balanced with the rights of New Zealand citizens and permanent residents to return home.
“We have carefully weighed up the impact of charging returnees some of the costs, and, as a Government, we have negotiated on the best steps forward.”
The new charges balanced “the right of New Zealanders to return home while ensuring those who intend to holiday here pay some of the costs of keeping our borders safe”.
The Government had so far set aside $479m to maintain the managed isolation system.
“Our managed isolation system is incredibly complex and expensive to run. We have capacity for over 7000 people in our facilities, and the systems in place are being robustly managed,” Woods said.
Current capacity was provided through 32 facilities across five regions and Woods said there were no plans to greatly extend the facilities.
Since 26 March, 32,221 New Zealanders had returned home and gone through managed isolation and quarantine.
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