The week’s announcement by Chris Hipkins that there is going to be no change to managed isolation requirements for the rest of the year and probably into next year was delivered under cover of the surging pandemic in Australia, but the writing has been on the wall for months.

Thanks to Labour’s shambolic vaccine programme we’re having to rely on a Covid strategy that came into place in the first days of the pandemic and our economy is paying the price. Despite the global efforts of the world’s smartest scientists in developing incredibly effective vaccines, New Zealand is still having to guard its borders as if no such advances in science had been made. Rather than demonstrating to this virus that we are indeed smarter than it, that we have the vaccines and the knowledge to combat it, we’re instead relying on strategies that have their roots in the pandemics of the last century.

This situation has arisen because of two reasons. Firstly, the Government sheltered behind its majority in Parliament and refused to take advice from business leaders or experts outside of their cosy circle. Then this Government cynically traded on the fears of New Zealanders, so it could stick with a lazy strategy that hasn’t evolved to keep pace with developments. Labour simply didn’t have the smarts to think its way beyond an existing MIQ strategy and that’s the truth of it.

Auckland University Professor of Medicine, Des Gorman, went on record recently as saying that the intention to stick with the current MIQ requirements is illogical. This isn’t an MP from the opposition saying this – this is the verdict from an expert. Professor Gorman specifically linked the Government’s entrenched approach to locking down the borders to the fact that so many of us are still unvaccinated. That’s an indictment on Labour. But even given the consequences of Labour’s mishandling of the vaccine rollout, there are still things that can be done now. Professor Gorman suggests using alternative isolation methods for people who meet a range of criteria, these being: fully vaccinated, from low-risk countries, and producing a negative Covid test prior to boarding the plane. Gorman says it makes no sense to send people who meet these criteria into an MIQ facility. They are just occupying spaces that would be better used for people who pose a real risk.

Chris Hipkins has signalled that he has no intention of listening to the science or to the thousands of businesses that are struggling through skills shortages thanks to a border that is effectively closed. So how does he suggest solving the housing crisis when we can’t get enough tradespeople into the country, and what’s his solution for the critical shortage of pickers in our orchards?

Labour’s approach is a handbrake on the economy today and a crippling blow to what we could achieve tomorrow. Imagine the talented people who would love the opportunity to live in New Zealand? We could be welcoming the best and brightest in the world, if only we had the best and brightest in our own Government.