Is Ardern’s luck running out?

pursue people who break the rules has been wobbly to say the least; and the silly decision to stop short of vaccinating front-line GPs in South Auckland, which wasn’t her call, reflected back on Ardern because her control of everything Covid is so omnipresent.

The Auckland businessmen who want a forward plan that looks towards the vital opening of our borders can’t be dismissed.

And the public in general needs a timetable for priority roll-out of vaccines, which at present doesn’t seem to exist.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health, has been experiencing similar problems. The Ministry of Health has always had weaknesses, as I know from my time as its minister. They were revealed months ago, when Bloomfield would give assurances that proved unreliable.

He, too, needs better delegation. A competent adjutant should have been appointed to ensure that the director general’s instructions and public assurances were followed to the letter. That didn’t happen, and the Jacinda and Ashley show has been faltering as a result.

Above all, Jacinda Ardern needs to become a prime minister who directs from above, as Helen Clark and John Key did, not someone mired in detail and trivia that should be straightened out by her ministers.

If Jacinda Ardern keeps on rushing about like a flea in a fit, and fronting the querulous media when she can’t possibly be on top of all the detail, she will soon destroy her reputation. Good government is more than surviving from day-to-day. It involves steady progress towards clearly defined, and measurable goals. Some ministerial reorganisation is long overdue.