New Zealand Rugby has scored 130 spots in MIQ for the All Blacks and Black Ferns, after the special allocation was signed off by a group of Ministers.
But sailors have not been so lucky. The Sail GP international sailing regatta was headed for Lyttelton in January 2022, but participants have been denied MIQ spaces.
Eight teams were due to come, including one helmed by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Listen
More than 1200 sportspeople have asked for special access to MIQ over the summer, Christmas and New Year period.
The Border Exception Ministerial Group has been considering applications for bulk bookings for sports and other groups for November 2021 to March 2022.
Meanwhile, other New Zealanders are left endlessly hitting the refresh button on the booking website for over-subscribed spots.
Which begs the question, how transparent is the process for ministerial sign-off?
Under the group allocation system, organisations and sports can apply for MIQ bookings for at least 20 rooms if they meet one of three criteria: national interest, economic impact, or national security.
When contacted by Checkpoint, NZ Rugby did not know which of the three categories its application had come under.
It could not provide a breakdown of who will use the 130 MIQ spots - numbers of players, coaches, support, crew, physios, or medical staff. NZ Rugby could not explain why it even needs that many isolation beds.
"I go onto the site every day or two, I click through 100 or 150 times until I get banned, and that's just how it is. I've refreshed the page a couple of 1000 times. And I haven't had any luck, NZ citizen John Brewer told Checkpoint.
He is a telecommunications network designer who is trying to get back from Singapore home to Aotearoa.
"I don't envy the government or the Prime Minister. They've got tough decisions to make. But if the choice is between bringing in 350 more healthcare professionals and letting New Zealand athletes compete abroad, that seems like a pretty easy choice to make," Brewer said.
"And yet all these healthcare professionals are sitting behind their computers clicking refresh the same way as I am, and the sports teams are just given a free pass.
"What are the government's policy goals? If their policy goals are staying popular, then okay, they're going to stay popular by allowing the All Blacks and the Black Ferns to tour," Brewer said.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [MBIE] initially refused to release MIQ sports allocations data, but it was eventually provided under the Official Information Act [OIA].
In its OIA response, MBIE said it could not provide information about which applications had been approved, as they were still being actively considered. That was on August 5.
However, the office of Sports Minister Grant Robertson confirmed the New Zealand Rugby application was approved by the Border Exception Ministerial Group on July 5. One month earlier.
"It seems like some of the things the government is allowing are just a distraction and a terrible use of MIQ capacity, when the system is so badly over-subscribed," Brewer said.
The government has invested $60 million in the Dubai Trade Expo, an event in the United Arab Emirates that runs from October through to March next year.
The Border Exception Ministerial Group has approved 400 spots in MIQ starting in October for people attending. Brewer said it is a "terrible use of capacity".
There are up to 500 MIQ rooms a fortnight that can be allocated.
Checkpoint requested interviews with members of the ministerial group – Kris Faafoi, Chris Hipkins, Megan Woods, Carmel Sepuloni, Stuart Nash and Willie Jackson - about the decision-making process for sportspeople.
Thirty-three teams or organisations have asked for a total of 1211 MIQ spots between November and March.
A spokesperson for Stuart Nash responded, saying Nash is not the lead minister or spokesperson. Willie Jackson's office told Checkpoint he is on the group mainly for a cultural perspective, and suggested talking to Sport Minister Grant Robertson who is "also on the group".
But Sport Minster Grant Robertson is not actually on the Border Exception Ministerial Group. His office said his role is as an observer and advocate.
Meanwhile John Brewer is still stuck in Singapore, locked into his daily exercise refreshing the MIQ website.
"I think they should be obligated to make this information clearer. Full stop. It's part of the transparency that we expect from our government.
"The government needs to be clear about their goals. They need to be transparent with any framework that they put in place. That hasn't happened in this situation."
'We were happy to quarantine for two weeks' - Sail GP head of event and commercial director
"We've gone through the formal process and we've got to respect that that processes has played out.
"We needed about 170 spots for MIQ and we were happy to to do everything as per the current guidelines, so we didn't need any special treatment. We were happy to quarantine for two weeks without access to training.
"But ultimately there's a lot of demand over that key summer period and unfortunately that's made it a bit of a tough one for us," he told Checkpoint.
Budge did not know why his application had been denied while other sports teams had been accepted.
"We were focusing on what our requirements were. We tried to trim as many people as we could to make it as flexible and as achievable as we could. But ultimately there wasn't the space for us during the time period that was required.
"I think the event is a wonderful opportunity for Christchurch. I think Christchurch has had a pretty rough time since the earthquakes, and they haven't been able to attract major international sporting events, so we were incredibly proud to be able to bring this event."
Budge had worked with Sport NZ to apply for MIQ spaces under the major event category, which would make an economic contribution.
"We had independent evaluations done that put it at several million dollars. We know it's a competition that is funded largely by ourselves, so there there wasn't significant government money that needed to come into this event. So there would be a pretty significant government return."
Budge said the Sail GP was estimated to put about $20 million into the local economy.