Two women confused after being released from MIQ after a day, then brought back

New Zealander Justine Curtis and Australian Laura Bunting, who’s a permanent resident in New Zealand, arrived in Wellington from Melbourne on Monday.

Two women who were released from MIQ after one day and then brought back again say they don't believe they should be there.

New Zealander Justine Curtis and Australian Laura Bunting, who’s a permanent resident in New Zealand, arrived in Wellington from Melbourne on flight QF171 on Monday afternoon.

New Zealand currently has a quarantine-free travel arrangement with Victoria, but the pair had both been in Queensland the week before on different trips.

Though wholesale quarantine-free travel from Queensland to New Zealand didn’t resume until midnight on Monday, Covid-negative NZ citizens and Australian citizens normally residing in New Zealand have been able to fly direct from Queensland to New Zealand without having to isolate on arrival since last Friday.

On that basis, Curtis and Bunting, who both provided negative PCR test results before flying, thought they were safe to fly. They say they were not asked anything about their travel history before getting on the plane to New Zealand.

“I visited northern Queensland just for a couple of days under the premise it had been deemed safe for New Zealand permanent residents to return home from Queensland,” Bunting said.

On arrival in Wellington, both disclosed they had been in Queensland recently, though not in locations of interest.

“They said you're going to have to go into two weeks quarantine, I couldn't believe it. I had no idea what the hell the story was,” Curtis said.

The pair were taken to the Grand Mercure in Wellington, where 16 mariners from the Viking Bay ship are being kept. It’s believed most are infected with the Delta variant of Covid-19.

“It’s pretty disgusting, I'm quite terrified of not wanting to put the air vent on in the room,” Curtis said.

Justine Curtis FaceTiming her family who are at Hastings Hospital.

“It just makes no sense to me that I’m at the highest risk now than I have been in the last three weeks,” Bunting added.

But the story gets more confusing. Bunting and Curtis say they were told if they booked a flight from Wellington to Brisbane, they could then turn around in Brisbane and fly back to New Zealand without having to go through MIQ.

They spent just a day at the Grand Mercure before being released. They were given letters saying their stay in MIQ was complete, and they were taken back to Wellington Airport for their Brisbane flight.

At the airport, another hurdle. The women say they were kept in the van while Customs, airport and Air New Zealand officials met to discuss the situation.

“There was probably about 12 people there… basically they said ‘we found out about this late last night, we haven't been able to put you on the plane’. We were sent back to quarantine even though we'd actually been let go.”

Curtis says she was devastated as her father is in Hastings Hospital with a severe bout of pneumonia and she’s desperate to see him before his situation gets worse.

“I was FaceTiming with him, he's really confused, asking where I am. I'm trying to say ‘I’m in a hotel trying to get to see you’... It's a really sad situation to be here. I just don't understand.”

1 NEWS has been trying to get answers on the situation, but the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) which runs MIQ says it’s a health issue.

The Ministry of Health and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins say they don’t comment on individual cases.

Hipkins says he’s confident that anyone in MIQ is there for a good reason.

“Ultimately if they're in MIQ, it's because they are not covered by the exemption,” he said.

He says it’s “unusual” for people to be taken out of MIQ and put back in again.

“I do know that airlines are reluctant to have people who should be isolating travelling on their airlines at the moment, and that can be a factor. Where we're in a position where people have breached the rules and we can turn them around and send them back, that’s what we do, but I appreciate sometimes airlines won’t take them.”

Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan says uplifting people from MIQ isn’t something they usually do.

“We’re working closely and at pace with the Government to clarify the process for uplifting customers from MIQ as this is not standard practice.

“We understand this is distressing for customers in this evolving situation and we have been in direct contact with them to offer assistance and updates.”

After receiving conflicting information from officials, Bunting and Curtis say they just want to know exactly why they’re in a managed isolation hotel.

“It's crazy, I've got a really horrible family situation going on and I can't be part of it.”

Do you know more about this story? Email our reporter Kristin Hall on kristin.hall@tvnz.co.nz

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