Jacinda Ardern’s Government catches the post-Covid winter blues – Stuff

SUNGMI KIM/Stuff

Jacinda Ardern is fighting political battles on many fronts.

ANALYSIS: On the shortest day of the year and as a cold snap hits the country, it is unsurprising the Government seems to have a case of the winter blues.

First the health system is under clear strain with workforce shortages particularly in the nursing workforce where there is a staggering shortage of 4000 nurses, according to the nurses union.

Health Minister Andrew Little confirmed on Monday there were over 2500 equivalent full-time nursing vacancies in March.

Second, the Governments new bill to change Oranga Tamariki oversight to a board contained within the Ministry of Social Development is being opposed by every other party in Government. It is rare to find ACT, Te Pti Mori and the Greens in agreement on much.

Thats not to mention various survivors criticising the overhaul.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF

PM Jacinda Ardern speaks to media before Caucus.

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Consumer confidence is now at its lowest ever ebb since the series began in 1988. Lower confidence means less spending, which means economic contraction. Whether that leads to a full-blown recession will only be known with time, but its not good news and demonstrates the economic anxiety out there.

And then, right when the shortages of Gib board in particular are making the news, the Government did what everyone screaming out for plasterboard to finish their house or renovation was asking for: another taskforce.

Good to see that after five years in power and months into a plasterboard shortage, the Government has again hit the ground reviewing.

The prime minister is now also under pressure to apologise to people caught up in the MIQ system, since the courts have now found that from September 1 to December 17 last year the system unjustifiably limited the rights of the rights of some New Zealanders to enter the country.

The Government has said it wont appeal, but the prime minister, so far, is certainly not apologising.

This is a niggly time of year for Governments. Darkness and cold envelopes voters, and while the newly minted Holiday of Matariki will offer many people a long weekend reprieve, there is a long cold winter ahead before the next holiday of Labour Day in late October.

While Covid-19 may have retreated from the front pages, what we are seeing now is the consequences of the Governments Covid-19 policies during 2020 and 2021.

Dom Thomas/RNZ

The hospital waiting lists, deferred surgeries and staff shortages have all been bottled up, or simply not fixed.

The flu, which is back with a vengeance, has not really been around for the past two years thanks to closed borders, and Covid public health measures.

The hospital waiting lists, deferred surgeries and staff shortages have all been bottled up, or simply not fixed during the acute phase of the pandemic either due to closed borders or other Covid priorities.

Obviously, the lingering questions around MIQ are also as a result of Covid. As are the inflationary pressures squeezing through the economy as a result of loose monetary and fiscal policy that arguably lasted for too long.

That these issues are not unique to New Zealand is no surprise a similar set of policies were pursued in lots of places in the developed world even if New Zealands big blue moat protected us more and lockdowns and the like were taken up with greater vigour than elsewhere.

Politically, it gets tougher from here. The victories of Covid-19 management are now well behind the Government, the counterfactual of lots of deaths never experienced.

But the deferred challenges as a result of the response to Covid are here now. And thats without worrying about a resurgent opposition.

Winter is here for the Government.

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Jacinda Ardern's Government catches the post-Covid winter blues - Stuff