Bridges’ push to ease up earns PM’s rebuke
Ardern works to dampen impatience as NZ has second day with no new virus cases
Asecond day of zero new cases of Covid-19 has prompted pressure from National Party leader Simon Bridges for the lockdown to be reviewed earlier than next week — earning a sharp rebuke from the Prime Minister.
Jacinda Ardern is again trying to dampen down impatience after a second day of no new cases, saying that in other places where cases had dropped, they had risen again afterwards.
She pointed to the Australian state of Victoria, where a case at a factory had resulted in a spike of new cases, saying it showed just how easily the virus could take off again.
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said the second zero was “very encouraging”. However, he warned people should not breach the level 3 rules as it would put out an invite to the virus: “It will only too readily accept if we do that.”
Bridges repeated his call for the Government to consider on a daily basis whether it was time to open up the economy more rather than waiting until Monday to decide.
He said National had supported the lockdown but the purpose of “going hard and going early” was so you could also move out the other end faster. The Government was taking too conservative an approach, and business owners and workers were suffering for it needlessly.
When he questioned Ardern about it in Parliament later, it earned him a rebuke for chipping from the sidelines while she was accountable for the decisions she made.
“That member may have the luxury of sitting on that side of the House, not bearing the consequences of a wrong move, but we do not. We have to factor in the livelihoods of every New Zealander.”
Yesterday Ardern and Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison also formally agreed to begin work on a transtasman Covid-safe travel zone. The commitment was made in a joint statement released after Ardern took part by video conferencing in Australia’s national Cabinet — a special grouping called in times of crisis.
However, both warned that travel between the countries would still be some time away and depend on adequate health and transport processes.
Ardern and Morrison pointed to the 1.4 million visitors who flowed each way each year, saying resuming that travel would be a big bonus for both sides and a potential lifeline for some businesses.
Morrison said it was unlikely to happen before the travel restriction in place for some states in Australia were removed, but after that, there was little reason why people who could fly from Melbourne to Cairns could not also fly from Melbourne to Auckland or Christchurch.
However, Ardern warned those sectors that relied on international travellers not to get too excited about moving beyond that: “We will not have open borders for the rest of the world for a long time to come.”
Bridges also delivered the first part of National’s plans for an economy salvage package in an address by Zoom to a Business NZ audience yesterday.
That was an $8 billion package, including GST refunds of up to $100,000 for companies that had lost more than half their revenue over the Covid-19 months, and changes to calculating depreciation on capital investments.
In that speech, he said the wage subsidies were swift and necessary at the early stage of the lockdown. However, future assistance should be targeted at those who needed it. He used the example of major law firms which had claimed millions in wage subsidies as those who arguably did not need the extra help.
He said his concern would be in turning a $40 billion-$50b cost into a $100b cost if untargeted help continued, leaving a massive debt. “Not all of it is good spending.”
Tomorrow the Government will release new rules to apply in level 2, ahead of Cabinet considering whether to move to that level on Monday. That will allow many businesses to see if they can return to work and what they will need to do.
Those rules were agreed by Cabinet on Monday and the delay in releasing them has frustrated some schools and businesses. Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O’Connor told the Pandemic Response Committee reopening would be a massive effort and as much warning as possible was needed.