“This Government is like a kid who shows up after the race is run but still wants a medal for participating,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“While we welcome today’s announcement that five hundred MIQ rooms will be available to workers, it is far too late and doesn’t go far enough.
“The Trans-Tasman Bubble has been in place for three week and was being worked on for months leading up to its implementation. The Government should have had a plan ready to go. But like everything with this Government, it’s incapable of being proactive.
“You can’t keep having the attitude of ‘better late than never’ when being late is causing so much pain to business owners, causing delays to important projects and left families separated.
“There was no need for us to miss the entire 2020 season as the Government stood by watching fruit rotting on the ground.
“We need to ask now why we are still letting in fewer people can capacity. This week there will be 1798 empty MIQ rooms, a similar number to last week.
“The Government will give itself a big pat on the back today when it should be reflecting on how much misery it’s caused businesses when it should have been working proactively to have a plan in place.
“ACT has been one step ahead with our positive plans of how to overcome the COVID crisis. The other principles of our COVID-19 Response Plan can be found here. I encourage the Government have a read and start being more proactive with its response.”