Pursuant to clause 31A of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Maritime Border) Order (No 2) 2020 (“Order”), I, Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for COVID-19 Response, having taken into account the advice of the Director-General of Health and being satisfied that:

1. the exemption is necessary or desirable in order to promote the purposes of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020, and that the extent of this exemption is not broader than is reasonably necessary to address the matters that gave rise to the exemption;
2. declare that the 26 crew members of the Interislander ferry, the Aratere, are exempt from the requirements in clauses 17 and 19 of the Order to isolate and/or quarantine on the Aratere’s arrival into New Zealand on or around 22 April 2022.

The exemption is subject to the following conditions:

1. The crew members must not be liable to quarantine in accordance with section 97 of the Health Act 1956;
2. no new crew members have joined the Aratere since it departed Wellington, New Zealand, on 27 March 2022;
3. there has been no interaction with any other individuals or vessels since departing Sydney, Australia for Wellington, New Zealand, aside from those interactions which may occur while the crew complete an essential task in accordance with clause 21 of the Order or when a person boards the ship to undertake a necessary task as defined in clause 4(1) of the Order;
4. the crew members must undertake a rapid antigen test (RAT) at time of disembarkation (being the day 0/1 test);
5. the ship’s master must report the crew members day 0/1 RAT results as soon as reasonably practical to the relevant Public Health Unit;
6. the crew members must undertake an additional RAT between 120 hours and 144 hours after disembarkation (being the day 5/6 test);
7. the crew members must report the result of the day 5/6 test as soon as reasonably practical by phoning the COVID-19 test results line on 0800 432 010 and leaving a message with their name, phone number, email address, and result.

Dated this 20th day of April 2022.

Hon CHRIS HIPKINS, Minister for COVID-19 Response.