Signs of hopeReturn to ‘Covid normal’ soon

• Published date: 04 November 2021
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

Queenstown Chamber of Commerce boss Ruth Stokes says that’s how finance minister and deputy PM Grant Robertson described the government’s expectations for the opening of New Zealand’s economy to a COVID world during a webinar on Tuesday.

Robertson told participants the government’s ‘‘committed to international border reopening in the first quarter of next year’’, while Aucklanders are likely to be out of lockdown before Christmas.

Stokes says the government’s rushing through legislation, to take effect by December 1, aimed at giving employers legal certainty for requiring their staff to be fully vaccinated.

The new law and other measures, such as health orders, are paving the way for a system of ‘‘vaccine passes’’ for consumers and ‘‘vaccination certificates’’ for businesses, other organisations and events.

‘‘So if you’re a business that has to operate under a vaccine certificate, that will de facto mean a mandatory vaccine requirement for customers, suppliers and staff — so anyone on those premises,’’ Stokes says.

The government’s already indicated vaccine passes will be needed for large public...