Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern still has confidence in COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins after he released personal information about journalist Charlotte Bellis despite official advice not to.
It comes as state-run managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) is scaled back to just four hotels by June and just in case the last thing we need - another pandemic - happens, the Government is considering purpose-built facilities.
But even as it winds down, MIQ is still causing pressure - only this time it's on the minister.
There are a dwindling 300 or so locked up in the last bastions of the MIQ system. Once a system with 32 hotels, MIQ will soon be scaled back to just four, but with the option to one day build some more.
"We do need to have standby facilities for another pandemic," Hipkins said on Thursday.
Rydges Auckland is the first to go back to being a hotel again by mid-May and already 600 Defence Force workers, 300 health workers and 230 police have gone back to their normal jobs.
"COVID in general has made life tough so as many numbers made available as possible back on the frontline is really appreciated," Police Association president Chris Cahill said.
The MIQ scaleback means once grounded Kiwis are grounded no more after two long years of battling the system.
Grounded Kiwi Martin Newell says what's rubbing salt in the MIQ wound is the Labour Party gloating it got Kiwis home sooner.
"That's a bit of a kick in the guts," he told Newshub.
"The 'computer says no' logic has been really heartbreaking."
That's because for most it was a battle until the end. Just six weeks ago the system was under so much pressure pregnant journalist Charlotte Bellis couldn't get a spot. Now it's the minister under pressure for ignoring official instruction not to release details about her case.
Revelations on Thursday show foreign affairs officials sent details of Bellis's consular assistance to the Foreign Minister under the 'no surprises' policy because there'd been "extensive media attention".
This was then passed to Hipkins with a note saying all personal information was "not for public comment".
"Let's be very clear why he did that - he did that to attack her because he felt under attack by her," National's COVID-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop said.
The Prime Minister still has confidence in Hipkins.
"I do have confidence in our minister in the fact that he at all times was working to best ensure that in a really difficult environment that all those who needed to access MIQ were able to do so," she said on Thursday.
Bellis' lawyer Tudor Clee wants an apology from Hipkins.
"He owes an apology not just for breaching her privacy but ultimately the information wasn't even true."
Ironically, Hipkins is now using Bellis' privacy to avoid apologising for breaching her privacy.
"I'm not intending to engage in the matter any further without a signed consent form without the individual concerned," he said.
Clee said Hipkins was "welcome to reach out to us", while Hipkins said he was "very happy to have a conversation" if Bellis called him.
So, who picks up the phone first?
