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Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

theguardian.com

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Re: Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

#211

Post by yardstick »

roca wrote: post #203
yardstick wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NZ could have added more capacity to MIQ. It could have started working on adding more healthcare resources (it’s been 2 years already, how many new intubators have we added? How many nurses and doctors have we recruited overseas? Or have we just locked the gate and put our hands in our ears?) NZ has had more than enough time to prepare for COVID in a post elimination world. Why does MIQ still exist? Why did NZ provi…

We would never have been able to construct enough MIQ infrastructure to let people come and go as they pleased, which is what would be necessary to satisfy the "right to return is absolute and cannot be constrained under any circumstances" people on this thread. > How many nurses and doctors have we recruited overseas? I don't have the exact numbers, but many hundreds at least. > Why does MIQ still exist? Right now i…

> Also I have a lack of empathy for people rushing back to NZ for forseeable end-of-life visits. In my view, if you care about your parents a lot, you live where they are so you can be with them for more than just the last minute.

Ok I can’t take you seriously anymore. You are saying no one should ever move more than a short drive away, ever. Yeah right.

Re: Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

#212

Post by yardstick »

roca wrote: post #198
yardstick wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taiwan operates an effective home quarantine system (and 850 deaths for a 23m population). Why couldn’t NZ? There would be a lot more capacity that way.

I can't answer that in full because I don't know all the details, but one issues is that Taiwan captures phone location data in a way that has no precedent here.

I’m fairly sure anyone who wanted to abscond wouldn’t take their cellphone with them if that was the case. And yet the cases and deaths in Taiwan remain very very low for its population.

Re: Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

#213

Post by seanmcdirmid »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #209
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are fat with serious health issues you won’t pass. Obese doesn't mean morbidly obese. The former can get a work visa (very common actually) when the latter might not.

Being overweight myself I can attest of health issues even that can cause. High blood pressure > some protein in blood that might indicate kidney damage which in turn meant months of health checks. Same with a friend who had some lung abnormalities since birth - very stringent checks.

Obese is anyone with a BMI over 30, 42% of Americans are obese. It isn’t the same thing as being morbidly obese. I doubt New Zealand automatically screens out anyone with a BMI over 30. Consider that Australia itself has an obesity rate of 30% (about the same as NZ), but then Australians don’t need visas to work in Nz.

Re: Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

#214

Post by roca »

yardstick wrote: post #211
roca wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We would never have been able to construct enough MIQ infrastructure to let people come and go as they pleased, which is what would be necessary to satisfy the "right to return is absolute and cannot be constrained under any circumstances" people on this thread. > How many nurses and doctors have we recruited overseas? I don't have the exact numbers, but many hundreds at least. > Why does MIQ still exist? Right now i…

> Also I have a lack of empathy for people rushing back to NZ for forseeable end-of-life visits. In my view, if you care about your parents a lot, you live where they are so you can be with them for more than just the last minute. Ok I can’t take you seriously anymore. You are saying no one should ever move more than a short drive away, ever. Yeah right.

Not at all. If they're healthy and well and a pandemic isn't on then moving away is very low-risk.

Re: Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

#215

Post by pempem »

sh4un wrote: post #68
pempem wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to add to your FWIW: covid is also not endemic. These regulations sound too restrictive but the attitude towards covid also seems kind of advanced of where we actually are, which is a disease that is mutating due to people traveling and artificial vaccine scarcity

I am sure there are countries where the entire government has art degrees and they took their covid advise from a zombie movie.

I would argue an even more tragic scenario: countries where the entire government is business people and lawyers.

;)

Re: Locked-out New Zealanders outraged as visa scheme for rich foreigners resumes

#216

Post by rasz »

roca wrote: post #134
nimbius wrote: post #9

I think the cat was out of the bag when kimdotcom was indicted. New Zealand is bought and paid for by the cloistered elite seemingly against any real argument by the locals. You could make an argument the work here/look see initiative that imported skilled labor was somehow a counter indication of a plutocracy but I think its largely just salt in the wound for the average NZ resident as it ran defense for anyone who…

Counterpoint: Larry Page entered NZ in early 2021 and was placed in a middling MIQ hotel. His people tried to get him moved to one of the best hotels but were unable to do so. Page is the world's fifth richest person. I think this counts against "New Zealand is bought and paid for by the cloistered elite".

Was this at the time he was allowed to enter NZ despite Total ban on entry?

>NZ charter 4200 kilometer medevac flight while country is on total lock down, and the emergency is so urgent whole thing takes >24 hours before the flight even takes off.

“The day after the application was received, a New Zealand air ambulance staffed by a New Zealand ICU nurse-escort medevaced the child and an adult family member from Fiji to New Zealand,”

https://apnews.com/article/technology-lifestyle-travel-new-z...

Reminder, Sydney is merely 1 hour extra flight time away and borders were wide open in January.

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