 New Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez-March is nearly at the end of a two-week stay in managed isolation after travelling to Mexico over summer. The news of his stay drew a strong response from some of his colleagues in Parliament who suggested that he'd sought special treatment to secure a spot in the MIQ system in a social media spot. Mr Menendez-March explained about why he made the trip and he is with us now. Kia ora. Kia ora, good morning. Why did you go to Mexico? It was an incredibly difficult decision to make to put family first and ensure that I was able to spend time with my sick dad and step-mom. And I'm incredibly thankful as well for the pouring of support and empathy from people across the country who understand that family comes first and that people are being put in incredibly challenging situations in regards to family in the middle of the pandemic. As far as you're able to, because obviously this is other people's medical conditions, what's wrong? What is the illness that your step-mother or your father have? My step-mom had an aggressive rebound of breast cancer and my dad had undergone through major surgery recently as well. My step-mom has been battling with cancer for quite some years now that she had a relapse and I had been postponing trips to go and see them knowing that it may be the last time I do due to the nature of my work and the pandemic. So the only opportunity I had to do that was over the summer recess. Okay, so when did you book that trip? So I had made several attempts to book a trip, but I flew on the 13th of December and then I'd been trying to secure a place back in MIQ and ended up getting one through the normal channel on the website. Okay, so hang on, you flew on the 18th of December, but when did you book the trip? The trip was booked very much just a few days before that. Okay, so you booked the trip when you were already an MP? That's right. You paid for it yourself? I did, yeah. Did you discuss this situation with the Green Party after you became an MP? Yes, the members of the Green Party had been aware that my step-mom had been sick and I did check in with co-leader Madame Adividsson and our master, Jen Logie, around overseas trouble. So they gave you the go? That's right. Okay, why did you not check in with all of the MPs and the wider leadership? Normally the process has been to check in with the co-leader and master around seeking approval for that and because of the sensitive nature of the issue and wanting to make sure that they were aware of the details, those two were the people that I sought approval. Why did you ask for an exemption for MIQ? So the emergency voucher is one that many New Zealanders apply and one that I was rightfully declined as most people who apply are and I was exploring the avenues that were possible and ended up using the MIQ website like everybody else does, that just took refreshing for many, many hours at end in order to get a voucher. And this is the reality that we know many New Zealanders face when coming back home and I think the whole experience if anything just shows me the importance of our border protection and ensuring that actually we reflect on the purpose of MIQ as the public health measure. Is it reasonable though that you asked to skip the Q? I think it's reasonable that people have an opportunity to apply and I think I was very grateful that I was given no special treatment and that my application was simply sought on the merits of it. OK, so when did you secure the spot in MIQ that you're in now? So the MIQ spot was secured a few days beforehand that took several hours of collective refreshing in my account by many people and this is something that many people go through. When you say beforehand, do you mean before you went? No, while I was in Mexico. So MIQ spaces open up on a regular basis based on cancellations. OK, so hang on a minute. So you went to Mexico not knowing when you would be able to return and come back into New Zealand. The difficult decision to look after family meant that I was prepared to see them and ensure that I was able to spend some time with them. And I knew that it would augment based on the MIQ availability, a matter of potentially just a couple of weeks or a month. And I was very grateful that I was given the understanding and compassion by my colleagues. And now that I've been able to share the circumstance with five many people in the public. So you went to Mexico without a spot in MIQ to come back into the country. You could have missed a huge chunk of the parliamentary year. I think it's up to June that MIQ is now booked to. What would you have done if you couldn't have got a spot? Well, I would have had to face the consequences to make a decision on that. Would you have resigned as an MP? A family comes first and in the nature of this. I mean, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals. But for me, family does come first. And the sensitive nature of this circumstances would have meant that it would have explored all options to ensure that my colleagues were able to continue with the work. OK, so would you have resigned, though? I'm not going to get into hypotheticals based on that. Well, it's not really hypotheticals, Mr. Menendez March. You must have been dealing with this for some weeks when you didn't have a spot in MIQ. Surely you've canvas this with colleagues, or at least in your head. If it had been the case that I was required to stay in MIQ because of the Catholic family and I was not able to come back, I would have very much been prepared for that possibility, as any possibility in general, because for me, the difficult decision that came to this was that being able to spend this critical time with my family to ensure that I would not regret not spending what could have potentially been the last place for my stepmom in the came-first condition. What would you say to your critics on this? I think what I've enjoyed and really appreciated over the past 24 hours has been the outpour of support of many people who do understand the difficult situations that many New Zealanders who have family overseas are being put through because of the pandemic. And my hope, of course, is that we work towards systems that ensure that people are not having to make this incredibly difficult situation. I'm very grateful for the work control workers and the MIQ workers to keep it safe. But I do understand that there's a decision that I was able to make that came from a place of privilege and that not many people have the resources to ensure that they're able to make such a short trip with their family. OK, thank you very much for your time this morning. Appreciate you talking to us. That is Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez March.