With Christmas fast approaching Kiwis are starting to think about summer, holiday plans and relaxing. Many will be feeling bitterly disappointed that they still can’t see family who have been stuck fighting for MIQ spots.

Last week showed us how big our MIQ problem is. There was 31,000 people vying for just 3000 places. That’s 31,000 people who haven’t seen their families in a long time, who are desperately trying to see sick or dying loved ones, or who have the skills and expertise we desperately need in many different sectors.

Most New Zealanders know we can’t be in this locked down position forever. They’re thinking ahead for the future and they want a Government to do the same.

We’re starting to see a growing frustration with the Government and its lack of a plan to open up to the rest of the world.

New Zealanders want a Prime Minister who isn’t simply thinking from one 1pm press conference to the next. They want a Government focused on the future and what that’s going to look like for New Zealand.

Planning isn’t this Government’s strong suit though. It had 18 months from our first Covid-19 lockdown to learn the lessons and prepare for the next one – but it failed to do so.

It had five months since Delta hit our borders to prepare for a possible community outbreak and how that might change our restrictions at different border levels – but it failed to do so.

It has known New Zealand’s ability to open up to the rest of the world hinged on a strong and comprehensive vaccine rollout – but it failed to ramp it up as soon as possible.

Labour got complacent. And that complacency, as I’ve said before, has cost Kiwis.

National agrees that locking New Zealand down was the right thing to do last year, in fact we called for restrictions far sooner than the Government implemented them.

But with vaccines comes options. And a higher vaccination rate gives us even more options.

New Zealanders just want to know what the next step is. We can’t be yo-yoing in and out of level 4 lockdowns forever. It’s unsustainable economically, but it’s also unsustainable socially.

I, like other Kiwis, have been unable to see my family in Auckland for a number of weeks now and I have no real sense of when I might be able to go home and see them next.

I’m under no illusions that there are many other families who have had it much worse, particularly our migrants who have been split from their families for more than a year now, but it’s still a difficult situation to be in.

That’s why National has been so vocal about getting our vaccination rate up. At 70-75 per cent we have options around lockdowns, and we may not necessarily need the hard level 4 restrictions we’ve had to use previously.

But it’s not just that – the Government must be using all the tools in the kit to make our response robust. We need rapid antigen testing, much wider use of saliva testing and a ramped up contact tracing system.

At the same time National has been planning for the future. We will be releasing a policy in the coming days that will outline how a National Government would open up to the world.

It will outline what needs be done to get us there, and what Kiwis can expect.

It will be comprehensive and detailed.

National knows we can’t be locked down forever. We want to give the country some certainty around what the next steps should be.

We’re focused on the future, the Government should be too. – Judith Collins, National party leader based in Auckland, leader of the opposition, Member for Papkura, National Party.