PM defends decision to keep Auckland border
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended her Government’s decision to keep the Auckland border in place and bring forward the traffic light system.
Newly-published Ministry of Health advice from Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there was no justification to keep the city’s border in place when the nation moved into the new framework, at the time expected to be around midDecember.
He also wrote ‘‘a requirement for testing and vaccination certificates to leave Auckland would direct resources away from where they are most needed’’.
But Ardern said Bloomfield’s November 11 advice, published now as part of a Waitangi Tribunal hearing into the Government’s pandemic response, came when the Government planned to move into the traffic light framework at 90 per cent double vaccination rates across District Health Boards’ (DHBs) eligible populations.
Instead, New Zealand moved into the system on December 3, when a handful of DHBs hadn’t reached the target.
Auckland’s boundary is set to ease for vaccinated travellers on December 15. Vaccinated travellers will need to show their vaccine pass, while those who are unvaccinated will need to return a negative test before crossing the border.
The decision to keep the border in place ‘‘weighed the advice from our public health officials, but we’ve also weighed that against the requirement to consider the best interests of all New Zealand’’, Ardern said in the House yesterday in response to questions from National Party leader Christopher Luxon.
‘‘It is incorrect to claim that we have kept the boundary longer than we were advised to by the Ministry of Health.
‘‘What it is fair to point out is when we changed that boundary, [the ministry] said we could simply lift it.
‘‘Our view was that over the summer period there would be a large amount of movement across New Zealand and that we could best balance the interest of Aucklanders’ need to move with the interest of the rest of New Zealand not having a large increase in Covid cases by simply requiring unvaccinated individuals to be tested before departure and for other Aucklanders to carry proof of vaccine.’’
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has lashed out at the Government, saying there is no need for an Auckland border and the traffic light system makes little sense.
‘‘Our view has been very clearly look, you know, when we get to high levels of vaccination rates, which we are there ... we don’t fundamentally see a need for those borders,’’ Luxon told Stuff yesterday.
Luxon’s comments come as Aucklanders prepare for the super-city’s boundary to all but come down for vaccinated travellers on December 15. Those who are unvaccinated will need to return a negative test before crossing the border, while police will be conducting spot checks. But while it will effectively be removed, the boundary will officially remain.
Luxon also claimed National’s view lined up with the health advice given to the Government by Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
‘‘You have had Ashley Bloomfield – that has been revealed this morning – fundamentally say he advised the prime minister that the public health advice meant that when the traffic light system came in, Auckland did not need to have a hard border.
‘‘That, fundamentally, high vaccination rates meant there was no need for a border – a hard or soft border – around Auckland.’’
Bloomfield, in written evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal, wrote ‘‘there will be no justification to maintain a boundary around Auckland under the CPF [Covid Protection Framework, colloquially known as traffic light system]’’.
Luxon said that while the Government did ‘‘a very good job’’ in following the health advice in 2020, policy was now ‘‘being made up on the fly a little bit’’.
‘‘And again, the prime minister can’t answer – why have we got borders in Auckland?’’
Luxon, expanding on questions asked in the House on Tuesday, questioned the application of the traffic light system more broadly.
‘‘What is the criteria for the justification for who is in which colours and why? And so you look at the piece of paper, and you go, ‘OK, if that is what you want to do, that is an interesting thought’. But frankly, then it is just not being implemented in that way.’’
The Government has previously said the orange and red light settings will be applied over the summer period while the new system is being bedded in, so Covid-19 case spread can be closely monitored.
The prime minister has also said the ‘‘green’’ light setting of the system won’t be considered until at least January 17.
Luxon’s comments come as a political debate mounts over the iwi-led checkpoints being run by police in Northland starting on December 15, which he has called disruptive.
The Government has pushed back against opposition to the move, with Māori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis claiming the backlash amounts to racism.
‘‘It is about protecting families and loved ones up there – there are a lot of people who are really worried about what is going on up there,’’ Davis said.
‘‘If it was the business community, or Rotarians, or a group of farmers helping the police, they would be lauded by the community. But because it is Mā ori it is characterised as lawlessness and I really reject that.’’