Former Waitakere Mayor Sir Bob Harvey says there's an easy solution to New Zealand's rising COVID-19 cases - stop letting Kiwis come home.
"I'd close the border right now," he told The AM Show on Friday.
"I'd stop them coming home, right now. They were told before, 'come home quickly,' this was three months ago."
New Zealand currently has 13 active COVID-19 cases, all of which originated from people returning home from overseas.
"They should have lifted the drawbridge and said 'sorry you're too late'," said Sir Bob.
"You had the warning."
However co-host Duncan Garner pointed out there are legal issues around stopping New Zealanders returning to their home country.
Back in April Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters revealed the Ministry of Health considered doing what Sir Bob says they should have done.
The prospect of blocking returning Kiwis was brought to Cabinet, Peters said, but was rejected on the premise that the Government knew tens of thousands of New Zealanders were spread across the globe and needed to get home.
Peters said health officials were "really strong" in their push to close the borders to everyone but had it come to pass, New Zealanders would have been right to think "their Government had forsaken them".
