We’re free! Delight as Covid cuffs snap off
Ardern cops some flak over timing of her level 1 announcement
Auckland businesses are rejoicing that their city is restriction-free this weekend after the City of Sails was moved into alert level 1 yesterday.
The decision, announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, meant level 2 restrictions ended at midday. That meant spectators could gather in larger groups to see the afternoon’s America’s Cup race.
But Ardern drew fire from some businesses over the delay between Cabinet making the decision and its announcement. And she was also forced to defend her fiance´, Clarke Gayford, who took to Twitter yesterday commenting on the process.
Ardern thanked Aucklanders for their sacrifices while the city was at level 3 then 2, but also warned to “work hard to maintain the position we have all worked so hard for”.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said to temper celebrations with awareness of the virus’ rampant nature.
He reiterated his calls for
Aucklanders — with a particular focus on South Aucklanders — to get the vaccine as soon as possible.
Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said the return to level 1 would allow “our Auckland-based businesses to recoup some revenue after prolonged periods of restricted trading”.
But she was upset Cabinet made the decision on Thursday night when it was not announced until just before midday yesterday. Ardern defended that, saying Cabinet had made a “preliminary decision” on Thursday night. It meant ministers decided that if yesterday’s data wasn’t bad news, Auckland would move out of level 2.
There were no new community cases yesterday and all the relevant testing information for the close contacts of the last community Covid-19 case has come back negative.
Because of this, Ardern moved Auckland into level 1. But, this time it was done in a way that was “a little unusual”. Instead of a movement occurring at midnight,
Auckland moved to level 1 at midday — 25 minutes after the announcement was made.
“We’re not waiting until midnight, because we’ve got those morning results.”
Because Cabinet had met and made the in-principle decision the night before, the executive orders to move Auckland down to level 1 had already been drafted.
Meanwhile, she was forced to defend Gayford’s social-media activity.
Former Wellington chef Martin Bosley said on Twitter: “Feeling really sorry for all Auckland Hospo having to wait until 11.30am today to find out about moving levels. It’s utterly ludicrous.”
This prompted a response from Gayford: “Martin an inprinciple [sic] decision was decided but its all pending on final test results today.”
Ardern pushed back on any suggestion Gayford had been forewarned of the alert level decision.
“He has not known the decision,” she said, adding that this information was in “the public domain”.
Various ministers, including Grant Robertson, Chris Hipkins and Stuart Nash had been asked about the delay between the decision being made and it being announced. But none specifically said Cabinet was considering making an “in-principle” decision.
“Cabinet is meeting tonight and the reason for that was to simply facilitate an announcement on Friday,” Robertson said Thursday. “When we make these decisions there are sometimes further pieces of work that are required — we didn’t want there to be any delay on Friday so we are having the meeting this evening.”
Senior minister David Parker did tell the AM Show, that an “inprincipal decision” had been made, however those comments came after Gayford’s tweet — which went live at 7.02am.
In 1896 Henry Sharp opened his law practice on the Strand in Tauranga’s city centre. 15 years later he invited fellow lawyer, Archie Tudhope, to join him and they quite literally used bullocks to pull their two offices together on Spring Street! 125 years later one of Tauranga’s most respected businesses, and our oldest, celebrates a milestone in the region.
Today Sharp Tudhope continues to play an active role in community organisations and in the economic development of the city. Partner John Gordon says for that reason the 125-year celebration is as much about Sharp Tudhope as it is about the region. “We have always been a firm that is deeply invested in this community, our city and region. We have deep connections with our community and have played a very active role in the economic development of our city. As we celebrate this year, we are acknowledging this place we passionately call home and our enduring commitment to our region’s future.”
“There has always been a strong desire for Sharp Tudhope to demonstratively contribute to our community and I can honestly say I don’t think that’s ever wavered over the years. We all feel a
responsibility to continue to deepen and develop the custodian role in our city, that the founders and forebears of this firm started. We want our city to flourish, our clients to implicitly trust our work, and the care we take with it, and our community to be supported and nurtured.”
“Whether it’s constructing our new offices, looking after our valued clients or supporting our community we don’t compromise on integrity and quality. It’s one of our hallmarks that we’re immensely proud of and, after 125 years, there’s
Chair of Partners Hamish Murray agrees.
Sharp Tudhope has a strong commitment to this region, across business, social and community sectors. They support a number of community organisations including Waipuna Hospice, Tauranga Arts Festival, Tauranga Art Gallery, the Graeme Dingle Foundation, Rescue, Revive, Rehome and Riding for the Disabled to name but a few. “We believe in demonstrating our commitment to this region in a myriad of ways, community support is a fundamental part of that. It’s about giving back and nurturing vital organisations that provide pivotal and often life changing services and support. We take great pride in the role we play in supporting this.” says John.
Sharp Tudhope’s focus on leading the way in their approach to business and business practices is particularly evidenced in their landmark offices on Devonport Road. Designed by leading architects Jasmax and built by Watts & Hughes Construction, it was Tauranga’s first green star-rated building when it was completed and opened in 2012. John says the brief, from the outset, was to make the building pragmatically green. “We didn’t want to be doctrinaire green, we wanted things that made sense for us. What’s more, the majority of our partners grew up in Tauranga and we wanted to leave something decent as our legacy in the central business district.”
Partner Alasdair Christie says the green star-rating was a robust process. “You have to make a commitment from the day you conceptualise the building and you have to record everything on the way through to prove it. This building was a sixyear journey and one step along a continuum of a long process of where you are designing and building offices, not to harm but to be beneficial to the people around them. To be the first green starrated building in Tauranga – we’re proud of that and proud to have led the way.”
With a history spanning 125 years it’s more than innovative bricks and mortar, or in this case green star-rated building materials that’s sitting at the heart of Sharp Tudhope. The client base has a number of families that have been with the firm for generations and for the partners and staff it’s about looking after those clients well, honouring the past and keeping a keen eye on the future.
“We’re extremely proud of our heritage,” says Partner Shima Grice, “At the same time we are very future focussed. We have an energetic succession plan to ensure we continue to stay at the forefront of technology and innovation, business practices and giving back to this community we live in, work in and love.
still a strong sense of duty to honour that in everything we do.”
Former Chair of Partner’s Bill Chapman says after 125 years it’s more of the same and that’s all good. “As a firm we’ve watched Tauranga grow and develop over 125 years and played an instrumental part in that across business and community sectors and we’re looking forward to continuing that work for many years to come.”