Repatriation flight due next Wednesday [1]
Friday, August 28, 2020 - 11:44. Updated on Friday, August 28, 2020 - 16:50.
A repatriation flight from Fiji that was scheduled for Saturday, 29 August, has been deferred to next Wednesday, Ministry of Health CEO Dr Siale 'Akau'ola, confirmed last night.
He told Matangi Tonga the rescheduling was due to "slight delays in necessary infrastructure upgrades required to be done to our authorized quarantine facilities".
He did not specify what weakness needed to be fixed in the quarantine location, the Tanoa Hotel.
From Solomons
A repatriation flight from the Solomon Islands is now planned for next month.
"There is a chartered repatriation flight from Solomon Islands via Vanuatu tentatively scheduled for September 5th," said Dr 'Akau'ola.
Over 3,000 Tongans have registered on the Government's repatriation registry list and 207 have been repatriated to date, 150 from New Zealand and 57 from Fiji.
Cabinet control
Meanwhile, the first repatriation flight from Auckland did not bring all of the most urgent passengers who were selected by a Tongan Cabinet committee to be on the flight.
Critics of the organisation, claim that needy passengers were bumped from the flight because they could not afford the NZD200+ fee for a pre-departure CoViD-19 test. Their seats were taken by people who could afford to pay for the test at very short notice.
Stranded fruit pickers
A large Hawke's Bay fruit grower is concerned for the well being of Tongan fruit pickers stranded in New Zealand. Radio New Zealand [2] reported his concerns yesterday.
Johnny Appleseed director, Paul Paynter said it was not acceptable that young vulnerable men had been left in New Zealand and that the Tongan government needed to be more pro-active.
Unconscionable
"It is very serious. Young men, vulnerable, away from their homes, no income, no pathway home, and struggling with where they are in life. It is an obvious problem for drugs, alcohol and mental health. A real challenge.”
He believed their situation was shockingly unfair and unjust.
"Tonga needs to look after its own citizens and develop a quarantine system to accommodate their repatriation. It's unconscionable to be left stranded in New Zealand."
He said an opportunity to get the workers home was not "embraced as enthusiastically as it should have been".
He added it was not fair to make this New Zealand's problem.
Some 487 workers from Tonga are registered as requiring urgent repatriation.