Christopher Luxon urges wider vaccine availability, defends 'moving on' comments

From RNZ

National's leader Christopher Luxon wants fourth dose eligibility to be expanded beyond vulnerable people to anyone who wants it.

After returning from overseas, the Opposition leader yesterday criticised the Government's response to Covid-19 as too complex, calling for a loosening of isolation requirements - allowing asymptomatic people to return to work if testing negative - and a simplification or better communication of mask rules.

He told reporters the rest of the world had moved on from Covid-19 - his comments following a week of steadily rising case numbers and hospital occupancy rates.

With cases topping 11,000 and another 19 deaths yesterday, he defended that stance.

"Everyone's learning to live with it, what I'm saying is my comments were different in the context of policy conversations in terms of New Zealand's role in the world and its engagement with the world.

Christopher Luxon says many countries are building back their economies and while New Zealand was lagging. Photo / Bloomberg, File

"And what I've just observed is many countries are talking about how they are now going ahead and building back their economies and restarting their sectors and industries and that was my general observation."

In a Sydney Morning Herald article overnight, Luxon also described New Zealand as having become "fearful, inward and negative" as a result of its Covid-19 settings.

He was asked if it was the right time to be so characterising the country, but denied those remarks were related to the pandemic response.

"My remarks were about, generally, a policy exchange speech that I gave around saying I want New Zealand to rediscover its confidence and its ambition and aspiration, and I do think we've been too internal, too inward, too fearful over the last few years. It wasn't about Covid remarks in particular."

That did not stop him criticising the pandemic response, however. He again called for household contacts to be allowed to return to work if they tested negative, and for mask rules to be clarified.

"Rather than getting all the ins and outs of where masks can or shouldn't be worn, I want that advice to come through very cleanly and very simply from our health professionals and then we follow that advice based off the risk that they're seeing."

He added a couple of new ideas to the list, including wider eligibility for a second vaccine booster shot.

The Opposition leader wants clearer instructions issued on where and when masks should be worn. Photo / Alex Burton, File

"We want to make sure that people who are vulnerable take that fourth vaccination shot - I actually would like it to be made available to anyone who wants it like we see in Australia."

He also suggested vaccination mandates for health workers should end soon to help shore up the workforce.

"There's a conversation to have about a pathway to ultimately removing the health mandates. I think there's about 400 nurses that we're talking about that are unvaccinated, and I think the conversation should happen to say 'well actually what kind of roles can they do and what kind of support can they offer?'"

Beyond that, the rules over "what you can and can't do gets very very myopic and very very confusing for people", he said.

"We've gone through a number of different systems over the last three years, the traffic light system's sat there, it's had different definitions of what green, orange and red actually mean, it hasn't always been followed by the Government and, as a result, I just think it's too complex and too complicated."

National Party leader Christopher Luxon meeting former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May on July 7. Photo / Supplied via Facebook

The Government and Health Minister have been stubbornly refusing to admit health workforces are in crisis.

"I think it is important that the Government comes forward and says 'well what are you gonna do about it'," Luxon said.

He turned to immigration as a solution.

"The Prime Minister being adamant about not being able to put nurses and midwives and teachers for that matter on to a fast track green list so you get an immediate fast track to residency ... I don't understand her logic.

"Our rules have to be as attractive as what you see in Australia."

He continued to fend off questions over a speech he gave in the UK in which he said New Zealand businesses were becoming "soft" and looking to the Government for all the answers.

He said in context, he had aimed to explain how hard it was for businesses to get ahead under the Labour Government.

"It's just a recognition that if you're a business person in New Zealand it's pretty difficult to want to invest in your company when you're getting hit with rising costs by this Government, and you're getting hit with changing and inconsistent policy.

"It's the Government's approach to business that's actually making it very very tough... when you think about a national insurance jobs tax that's coming their way, when you think about national awards, when you think about other costs that have been passed to businesses to pay for.

"It's very very difficult for them to think about the long term - about whether they go off and buy a piece of equipment, a plant, that might expand their business and hire more people and be able to sell more premium products and services."

Premium products and services were what would make New Zealand wealthy, he said.