Interview with the PM

Prime Minister praises New Zealanders’ ‘astounding’ compliance during lockdown

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she was confident every step of the way in her decisions around the Covid-19 lockdown, and that compliance by New Zealanders of the lockdown was “astounding”.

In an interview with the Herald on the last day of alert level 4 lockdown, Ardern spoke about making those decisions, her confidence that compliance would continue, and the rocky road ahead for the economy.

Ardern has been praised internationally and at home for her decisive, confident handling of major decisions, such as going into lockdown. New Zealand’s response has also been compared, favourably and unfavourably, to other countries such as Australia. There had been also been persistent question marks about contact tracing ability, testing, protective equipment and whether Ardern should have moved on the borders earlier.

Yet every time Ardern had fronted at the Beehive to announce a big decision, she had appeared totally confident.

Asked if she had secretly harboured any fears that it would all go awry, she said no.

“I have been confident.

“One of the things I’ve always done, whether it was Covid, or March 15, or Mycoplasma bovis if you want to track to the beginning, before any of those decisions I make a habit of talking to a range of people, trying to get all of the evidence and advice.

“I balance the need to move quickly but also being confident when we move that we are doing the right thing.

“So every time I have come down [to the Beehive Theatrette], I have felt confident. I felt we are doing the right thing for the right reason — and for us. And that ‘ us’ thing is important.

“Some have taken different approaches but we have done what is right for us. I’ve always felt confident of that.”

She said she’d had access to “good minds” and data to back her up.

Ardern was optimistic people would not get lax about the lockdown rules at level 3 despite the psychological element about shifting down a level.

She had kept an eye on social media — one of the few ways she could gauge public sentiment in lockdown — and had seen “jokey memes” about level 3 as “stay at home with takeaways”.

“That might be trivialising it but it gives me a sense people do recognise we are opening up the economy, but not their social lives.”

Parliament returns today and the Budget is less than three weeks away.

Ardern was asked if she was worried about what lay ahead — and whether she expected to have to take some actions that Labour supporters would not like for the sake of restoring the economy.

There have already been suggestions such as stalling minimum wage increases, allowing more foreign land sales, and tax cuts.

Ardern said dealing with the fallout of Covid-19 on jobs and the economy would be in three phases — the immediate support phase, then rebuilding, and regeneration.

Ardern said she had no intention of abandoning the Government’s current agenda.

“Worried is not the word I would use right now.

“This is an opportunity for us to accelerate what we were already doing, but at a faster pace.

“There is constantly in a role like this the sense that you need to deliver on multiple issues at any one time. This is now a very concentrated version of that. It is not that the agenda changes, it is that the agenda accelerates.”

She was talking with various groups of business leaders, and would not rule out setting up a Covidspecific grouping of “good minds”, business, unions, Ma¯ori and people from different generations.

However, she was less enthusiastic about including the likes of former Finance Minister and Prime Minister Bill English, saying she was aiming to keep politics out of it — and therefore politicians.

Ardern said in level 3 she was not intending to join the drive-through at a takeaways, but was looking forward to buying some treats from small, local businesses such as the cafe across the road from Premier House.

Small businesses have felt the brunt of the lockdown and that had been on her mind.

“The day before we went into lockdown I walked past one of the local restaurants and they were in there packing up. I gave them a wave and they shouted something nice to me as I was walking across the road.

“I thought, ‘They are directly affected by this’, and so for them to have felt that solidarity with all of us I thought was a real indication of the way people were feeling.

“So I’m really looking forward to being able to support them now they can operate again.”

I make a habit of talking to a range of people, trying to get all of the evidence and advice. PM Jacinda Ardern