Good on Chris Hipkins for belatedly apologising for breaching Charlotte Bellis’ privacy, but the Government now needs to apologise for the whole of MIQ, National COVID-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“If Chris Hipkins can issue a public apology to Charlotte Bellis, then the Government can surely apologise to all the Kiwis caught up in the lottery of human misery that was MIQ.

“The High Court has found that MIQ unjustifiably breached New Zealanders’ rights from September to December 2021. The Government should do the right thing and apologise for the way MIQ operated.

“For every Charlotte Bellis, there are countless other examples that haven’t hit the headlines. Other pregnant women who couldn’t return home. Kiwis trapped offshore who watched their visas expire in the countries they were in. People who missed the deaths of cherished loved ones and the birth of new lives.

“Charlotte Bellis is just emblematic of the bureaucratic inhumanity at the heart of the MIQ machine.

“The Government was told there were better ways to manage MIQ, but refused to listen. It’s time for the Prime Minister to apologise.”

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