National and the Greens say the cost of paying contacts of Covid-19 cases higher amounts to stay home is worth it and have criticised the Government for refusing to do so, Marc Daalder reports
As New Zealand yo-yo'd back into lockdown in early March, an unusual political spectacle unfolded in Wellington.
The National Party and libertarian Taxpayers' Union had joined with the Green Party and unions to condemn the Labour Government for stinginess. Auckland had just been plunged back into Level 3 lockdown amidst revelations that contacts of Covid-19 cases had not been self-isolating.
At issue was the Leave Support Scheme, which pays those instructed to self-isolate $585 a week (before tax) to stay home. That's well below even the minimum wage and might not cover the rent in many parts of Auckland.
National said the Government should instead pay people their full wages, so there was no disincentive to stay home, and the Greens pushed for the Government "to take another look at its support system to make sure we’re keeping everyone safe from Covid-19".
Newsroom can now reveal that the Government had previously been briefed on the cost of increasing the payments and had decided against doing so, even though both National and the Greens say the price tag would be worth it.
"The quantum of payment ($585.80 per week) however, means that some workers may still face a financial penalty for the period of self-isolation if there is an agreement to lower wages while they are on leave," officials wrote to Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood and Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni, in a November 26 briefing obtained under the Official Information Act.
Increasing the payment to the minimum wage would cost an additional $3 million a year, over and above the $8.6 million the scheme was expected to cost in a 12-month period. Even the most generous expansion, more than doubling the payment to the average wage of $1200 a week, would only cost the Government $9 million a year.
"To me, it seems like it would absolutely be worth it to avoid a future outbreak and to make sure that people are able to meet their needs while they're doing the responsible thing and staying home," Green Party Covid-19 Response spokesperson Julie Anne Genter told Newsroom.
Genter's counterpart in the National Party, Chris Bishop, agreed.
"We have spent literally tens of billions of dollars on the Covid response. For the sake of $9 million, I just find it surprising. I just think it's short-sighted and surprising," he said.
"What we want is a system where people who are asked to stay at home do so, and we give them no reason whatsoever to break the rules and potentially put other people at risk. Generally that's how we've done so well through Covid - a system where people follow the rules."
Wood told Newsroom the Government didn't see a need to increase the payment. Instead, he echoed Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins' comments from May, in hoping that employers would top up the difference between the leave payments and an employee's wages.
"We all have a part to play in keeping Kiwis safe from Covid-19 and we expect employers to do their part and support employees staying home if required," he said.
Genter said employers couldn't be counted on to play their part, however.
"I don't think there's any guarantee that all employers will. And probably the most vulnerable people are more likely to be in a situation where they're not able to or worried about asking their employer for additional help."
Bishop called on the Government to adopt National's policy of full wage replacement for those required to self-isolate.
"I hope that it would not just be churlishness from the Government's part, to not adopt something that National has put forward. When we put it forward, Labour did look quite isolated in terms of support for it, so I hope it's not just simple churlishness that means they don't want to adopt it. It's still good policy and we encourage them to take it up."
At one stage during the Valentine's Day outbreak, nearly 2000 people had been instructed to isolate at home for 14 days. A study performed just prior to the pandemic found that one in five New Zealanders couldn't live on their savings for 14 days. How many of those required to stay home had in fact breached the rules because they couldn't afford to follow them?
"The costliest thing for us is if we have an outbreak that means we have to go to a Level 3 or a Level 4 lockdown. And so it's in everyone's interest to make sure that people have the financial means to self-isolate when they need to," Genter said.
"I can't understand for the life of me why the Government is being so stubborn for this issue. It's not the time to pinch pennies."
