Moving the dial

One month down, eleven to go. But before we unwrap the second candy bar on the shelf, let’s finish the first one the way we always do it here at Disseminators of the Memes: the Sick Phoque Club. And we have a big induction this time round: the lottery of misery that is our MIQ system. Pregnant Kiwi journalist Charlotte Bellis says she hopes her situation can "move the dial" on the way New Zealand manages MIQ.

The former Al Jazeera journalist shared her story in the New Zealand Herald over the weekend, detailing her rejection from an MIQ allocation in spite of expecting a child in Afghanistan – a place where unmarried pregnant women can face prison time. Speaking to Jono and Ben on The Hits this morning, Bellis said people cannot understand the difficulty of being locked out by your own country until in the situation themselves. Personally, I hope this moves the dial towards a more logic-based, empathy-based approach for the thousands of Kiwis who are abroad and would love to come back to the homeland.