A Plea to a Prime Minister Which Will Probably Be Ignored

Every story is important, if only to help us understand what compassion and understanding mean

Photo by Aneta Foubíková on Unsplash

New Zealand is apparently now the only country in the world that is actively stopping its own citizens from returning home. Despite assurances from the government that they are not doing this, the reality is that the only way into NZ is via hotel quarantine, and places have now been allocated via a lottery system for many months. Currently all places for March and April are stopped.

Getting an exemption basically requires you to be dying. I have recently read the story of a young woman whose sister and baby died in terrible circumstances. She is still trying to get home.

The following is a letter to the PM from another young woman who is desperate — I have permission to publish.

From: Elena Boikov

Sent: Sunday, 16 January 2022 01:17

To: Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern <Jacinda.Ardern@parliament.govt.nz>

Subject: One, not entirely hopeless (just yet), NZer

Hi,

I’m a New Zealander currently stuck in Australia. I have no idea if you’ll reply to this email, but I thought I might as well try. I admit it…