The government announced significant changes to the COVID regulatory framework today.
DTNZ reproduces the press release of Minister Hipkins in full below:
The Government is winding down the extraordinary powers used to fight COVID-19 through the emergency phase of the response while retaining a small number of baseline measures to contain the spread of the virus, Acting Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins announced today.
“Today is a significant milestone. The Government has been clear that the measures used to contain the spread of COVID-19 need to be proportionate to the risk of the virus, so it’s appropriate to wind down many of the extraordinary powers that are no longer needed,” Chris Hipkins said.
“What were once justified and served our country well should now be removed. With these changes, the legal framework matches the risk.
“The Government is also revoking the Epidemic Notice, which represents a move away from emergency arrangements to long-term management of the virus. Now, we can manage the virus with tools such as widened availability of anti-virals, without having to resort to the most restrictive measures.
“Ministers have been reviewing the COVD-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 to ensure it is fit for purpose now that we’re through the emergency response.
“The Government’s plan before the end of the year is to remove the most restrictive powers from the Act that are no longer required for the response, while still ensuring we can practically manage the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
“It will retain an ability to put in place case isolation periods and mask-wearing requirements and if necessary, requirements on travellers that can be called on if things change and we need to step up our response, but most other measures, including lockdowns, will be removed.
“Under the new plan, if other measures – beyond isolation periods, mask-wearing and traveller requirements – were needed we would need to pass new legislation to enable these.
“Keeping a basic legal framework in place provides sufficient time to consult on and design a replacement general pandemic piece of legislation that would set New Zealand in good stead for any future events, rather than having to start from scratch as we had to in 2020.
“When COVID arrived we had limited legislative tools to respond and new ones had to be created. It is critical that a legacy of this pandemic is a fit for purpose piece of pandemic legislation like we have for civil defence and natural disasters,” Chris Hipkins said.
Also ending on Thursday is the current requirement for travellers flying to New Zealand by air having to complete the online New Zealand Traveller Declaration.
Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri said the New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD) has been a vital tool in supporting the safe re-opening of our borders.
“The NZTD is an integral part of modernising Aotearoa’s border experience and the New Zealand Customs Service is working with border agencies to replace the paper arrival card with the online NZTD system by June 2023,” Meka Whaitiri said.
Current COVID-19 measures
“Cabinet agreed yesterday to follow health advice and retain the 7-day isolation period for cases and mask-wearing requirements for visitors in certain healthcare settings for the time being,” Chris Hipkins said.
“These core measures remain important, with indications of an upward trend in cases and growing concern about new Omicron subvariants that are driving waves of infection overseas.
“We have seen a slight uptick in cases and hospitalisations in the last couple of weeks. This was to be expected, and for now, these tools continue to prove effective in dampening the impact of the virus on the health system and in protecting the most vulnerable.
“The next review of these measures will be by the end of November 2022.”
Powers that have been removed today:
- Lockdowns
- Managed isolation and quarantine
- Worker vaccine mandates
- Capacity/Gathering limits
- My Vaccine Pass
- Requirement to display QR codes
- Record keeping for contact tracing purposes
- New Zealand Traveller Declaration System
- Entry restrictions at the border
- Vaccination requirements for travellers
- Testing – for people in self-isolation or who would otherwise be required to self-isolate
2 years and a World-wide economic crisis too late.
Gee whiz, look at us we’re being so kind to Kiwis dismantling something that should never have been there in the first place. But it is only optics and cosmetic, ready to be put in place again for the next plandemic. Thanks Chris you’re truly wonderful..
Exactly. They are just a bunch of ar$eh0les never to be trusted again.
They need to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and go to JAIL
They violated the Nuremburg Codes there is only one penalty for this offense – hanging.
NO apology!!!! Tyrannical response cannot be risk based. The jab never protected against spreading to others and they lied. There is no legal foundation for the mandates and creatring two classes of kiwis. No response on side effects and there is still a denial and suppression of truth due to manipulation of data “with covid” fraudulent accounting. NO statemnet on blacklisting the fake “advisors” and “experts” who over-estimated the risk hundres of times more than the real risk based on data seen in NZ and in other countries.
Hipkins may like kiwis to ‘spread the legs’ to satisfy his fantasy but in real life, this school boy was “spreading missinfo” on covid risk.
So who are you going to vote for?
Extraordinary measures my foot, tyranny is the right and only word. Interesting too, how you don’t ever get all your right back, only some of them…..roll on next election…..
Of course you have to wind down “extraordinary powers” Tedros from WHO won’t share the power that you will give him when you sign his global contract to declare future plandemics and to implement their draconian rules on the people of this nation. Remember dumbo you won’t be in control they will, this is not so much a “wind down “more like a slipping into the background so WHO can takeover, a setting the stage if you like, bending the knee, slithering out on your guts like the snake that you are. Ho hum so timely ,perfect for the globalists next move. Still I will try to find the silver lining so please tell me I won’t have to suffer hearing or looking at you anymore because that will be the best news ever????
Send your vaccine passport to Hocken Library for archiving!
As stated at her recent UN speech Jabcinda is very keen to sign over New Zealand’s sovereignty to the corrupt WHO via a legally binding pandemic treaty.
At that point the evil scumbag Dr Tedros becomes de facto World president with creepy Bill Gates pulling his strings. The ultimate dystopian nightmare.
Unvaccinated and non compliant so go fu*k yourself Labour, National, Greens, ACT and the rest of you cucks.
Mean while in Boston some wa*ker spliced omicron spike with the original Wuhan nucleus and made a brand new virus that had a 80% fatality rate with rats, wa*kers never learn.
What COVID-19?
NZ You have been duped
Evidence of lies.. Pfizer CEO saying that their vaccine protects ‘against transmission’
https://rumble.com/v1okkwk-evidence-of-lies..-pfizer-ceo-saying-that-their-vaccine-protects-against-tr.html
Jacinda & Co were spreading mis/disinformation to kiwis on transmission and mandates. Are they not far left woke natioinal security threatening extremists if we apply the same argument they rely on?
He doesn’t actually make the claim that his vaccine protects against transmission, not in a way that will incriminate him in court, he is rather vague, as an example he could claim `if you don’t get infected you cannot transmit the virus and the vaccine offers some protection against infection.
Fauci however said `the vaccine offers 100% protection against infection and transmission`.
So who is lying? everyone would have run their prepared statements past their lawyers, not just Big Pharma but Fauci and governments and the media will just claim they are printing what they heard come out of government so they have all covered their arses, they have been here before many times and got away with it every single time [except Pfizer that got the record fine] this time will not be an exception, they will claim all deaths are virus related.
Gallows. Piano wire. ALL of them. NOTHING else will balance the scales. NOTHING. Hideous demonic GHOULS!! Even Hitler would blush.
Yes, sooooo great to see others baying for the blood of these murderers….. how can people around the world be compensated for the destruction just wrought by these liars? Why are they not in jail, on trial, and being hung in public right now?