Much of North Island going into ‘red’
Cabinet takes ‘cautious approach’; Puts Auckland, Northland, Gisborne, & Whanganui in red; Waikato, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Wellington & South Is going orange; Extra $490m in business support
TLDLR: Cabinet has taken a “cautious approach” and decided to put the north of the North Island above Whanganui into the ‘red’ traffic light, apart from Waikato, the Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty, which will be in orange. The rest of Aotearoa-NZ from Hawkes Bay down will be in ‘orange’ from this Friday, PM Jacinda Ardern announced this afternoon. (Clarified to include Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel in Orange.)
The ‘red’ level means cafes, bars, restaurants and other venues can open for up to 100 people once vaccination passes have been checked. This effectively means the Northland and Gisborne festivals due in late Dec and early Jan will struggle unless the settings change again in two weeks, given the 100 person limit under ‘red’.
The ‘orange’ setting allows venues to open with checks of passes without capacity limits. Venues not requiring passes have to work contactlessly.
Elsewhere, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced another support package of up to $24,000 per affected business soon after the beginning of the traffic light system. The new one-off transition will be activated through the Resurgence Support Payment system and be available on Dec 10. The payment is a lump sum of $4,000 plus $400 per full time employee up to a maximum of 50 employees and $24,000 per business. It will be available to businesses acquired after July 17. Previously they were not eligible.
Treasury estimated the support package would cost a total of between $350m to $490m and the Government was considering further targeted support early next year, Robertson said. He indicated it would not be available once the ‘red’ areas move into ‘orange.’
I am at the ongoing post-Cabinet news conference in the Beehive Theatrette and welcome suggestions for questions from paid subscribers in the comments below. There is more detail below the paywall fold for paid subscribers.
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