"Isn't it about time you headed home? Here are a few reasons," he wrote."It's summer here in NZ, we are not in lockdown, restaurants are busy, your skills are in demand.
"Send me a DM [direct message] with what you are looking for. I could put some money towards your flight home," Emett said in the Instagram Story.
Emett told the Herald he often had one or two positions he was looking to fill in his restaurants.
"It isn't dire straits but it is difficult - it's difficult to find really good people," Emett said. "We're constantly looking for good staff."
Emmet's situation isn't unique and it highlights the dilemma for New Zealand.
On the one hand, we desperately want to be kept safe from the Covid-19 coronavirus, particularly the more virulent strains which have emerged from several of the worst-hit countries and spread around the world.
On the other hand, businesses are fighting to tread water in difficult circumstances, many needing to recoup substantial losses sustained in last year's lockdowns.
Hospitality is one sector which is reliant on a seasonal ebb and flow of staff, moving where the work is.
During our busy summer, young and family-free restaurant workers would typically pour into our cities to keep the kitchens and front of houses humming. But that tap has been turned off.
Emett is a classic exemplar of the quandary our Government and, particularly, the Covid Response Minister is in.
Strict control and managed isolation of arrivals is difficult for many people on compassionate grounds, but so too for businesses struggling to keep the home fires burning.
Right now, we need our best Kiwis home.
