National's leader Christopher Luxon is calling on the government to begin removing vaccine mandates once the country is through the peak of its Omicron outbreak.
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Speaking to media ahead of the post-Cabinet briefing from the prime minister, Luxon says people don't need exact dates but that "they want to know when, and under what circumstances, vaccine mandates will end and when vaccine passes won't be required any more".
Luxon says we can use effective public health measures like vaccination, boosters, testing and treatments, and to start returning normality to people's lives.
"To start reducing the rules and restrictions, phasing out the mandates, and easing the divisions that have sprung up in our communities," he says.
He says this needs to be done progressively and carefully once we are through the peak of Omicron.
"The areas where government mandates should be removed first are vaccination requirements for border workers, vaccine pass requirements for children's sport and vaccine pass requirements for hospitality businesses."
Luxon also wants a conversation on the traffic light system and vaccine passes.
"The mandates have caused real hardship and despair: kids denied entry to sports teams or public libraries; good men and women who have lost their jobs because they don't want to be vaccinated.
"We should get rid of mandates progressively and carefully once we are through the peak of Omicron."
He says the government should set out a plan for phasing out mandates.
"That's my challenge to the government: 'you've got to do better than saying at some point they'll come to an end'."
Reopening borders
He says New Zealand should "aggressively reopen to the world".
"We need to be able to bring Kiwis home. There's no reason why we couldn't do that today. We could disband MIQ, bring Kiwis not just from Australia but from all around the world back home again."
He says with current Covid-19 restrictions, the hospitality and tourism sectors are suffering the most.
"Once we get through the peak of Omicron very quickly we could bring in our critical and essential workers and we could open the country up to visitors - and the notion that a visitor can arrive at our border, have a negative RAT test, and be free to go about and enjoy New Zealand and supporting our tourism industry would be fantastic.
"If it is positive then they should isolate."
He says the government should approve more suppliers of rapid antigen tests (RATs).
While the prime minister did a good job in 2020, he says, since then there has been no proper messaging to move forward.
He says the government needs to provide clarity on its roadmap through this pandemic. "The country feels lost."
However, he could not provide a date for when borders should open, "because it's about getting through the peak of Omicron ... it varies from three to eight weeks from when it starts to take off".
"So, we're talking weeks, not months and months."
National calls for protest to be lawful
Luxon says the protesters need to "stop being abusive and antisocial and respect their fellow citizens".
"We don't support the protesters, in the sense of they are a varied group, a varied sense of interests, they talk about freedoms but they're impinging greatly on the freedoms on Wellingtonians.
"They have a right to protest, but they need to do so lawfully."
He issued a statement on Saturday saying the situation was of government's own making, with Kiwis "rightfully frustrated by Labour's 'make it up as you go' approach to Covid which relies far too heavily on controlling all aspects of everyday life".
Daily Covid-19 cases continued to increase dramatically over the weekend, reaching a new high of 2522 on Sunday.
The high case load has also led to an increase in related hospitalisations, putting strain on the health system which is already seeing some patients spending up to 36 hours in emergency departments, often waiting for hours in corridors.
Meanwhile in Wellington, police this morning moved to contain the convoy protest - which has now been at Parliament for two weeks - by installing concrete barriers to prevent more vehicles from entering the area.