1 Feb 2022

Deputy PM urges Bellis to take MIQ spot to return to NZ

From Checkpoint, 5:15 pm on 1 February 2022

'I urge her to take it' - the message from the Deputy Prime Minister to pregnant journalist Charlotte Bellis - after announcing she's been given a place in MIQ.

Bellis is in Afghanistan, and had been denied an emergency MIQ room. Her case garnered international attention, after she said the Taliban had offered her safe harbour, while she couldn't get back to New Zealand.

Grant Robertson says government officials have been working with her, and have offered her a voucher and flight arrangements.

He says the staff who process emergency applications deal with challenging cases on a daily basis.