Category Archives: Jacinda Ardern

Like Australia, New Zealands COVID vaccination efforts have been spectacular.

As shown in the table below, 85% of the eligible (16+) population has received at least one vaccine dose, with 66% full vaccinated:

This has moved New Zealand from global vaccination laggard towards leader:

Auckland New Zealands largest city of 1.7 million people has been in lockdown for 63 days despite having only 1,736 community cases and Auckland being more highly vaccinated than New Zealand as a whole. 89% of the Greater Aucklands eligible population has received one vaccine dose and 70% are fully vaccinated.

Yet, despite the low active case numbers and Aucklands high vaccination rate, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced that Auckland would remain in lockdown for another two weeks:

Ardern has not yet announced a specific point in vaccination levels where restrictions will be loosened, but has previously ruled out dropping public health measures before the country reaches 90%. She said on Monday afternoon that restrictions would be needed for a while longer to avoid a spike in cases

If we get this right, if we keep case numbers low while we vaccinate people then it makes it easier for us to keep control of Covid, while we ease restrictions in the future, and that is everyones goal, she said. The question for cabinet today has been how do we avoid a spike in case numbers, and hospitalisations, and protect vulnerable communities as much as possible in the coming weeks, while we keep lifting vaccination numbers.

There has only been two deaths in this outbreak out of more than 1700 cases. At what point will Aucklanders say enough is, enough and revolt against Jacinda Arderns draconian lockdown?

Residents of Auckland must be looking across the pond at Sydney and Melbourne and wondering what the hell is going on?

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.

Originally posted here:

When will Aucklanders turn on Jacinda Ardern? - MacroBusiness

New Zealand is making a four-fold increase in foreign aid spending on countries most vulnerable to climate change, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.

The announcement comes in the run-up to a landmark UN climate conference in Glasgow.How much climate funding is New Zealand planning?

Ardern said Wellington would boost its climate aid budget to NZ$1.3 billion ($920 million; 790 million) over four years.

New Zealand will do its fair share in the global race to tackle climate change by providing $1.3 billion to assist lower-income countries to protect lives, livelihoods and infrastructure from the impacts of climate change, she said in a statement.

At least half of the funding will go to Pacific island nations as they tackle the climate emergency, the statement said.

We need to continue to step up our support for our Pacific family and neighbours who are on the front line of climate change and need our support most, Ardern said.

The prime minister said the money would help Wellington in supporting clean energy projects in developing nations.

She added that the investment would help communities withstand damaging storms and rising sea levels.

How does that compare with other nations?

Monitoring website Climate Action Tracker rates New Zealands existing climate aid budget as critically insufficient and the nations overall response to global warming as highly insufficient.

With the increased commitment from 2022-25, New Zealands per capita contribution to global climate finance would match that of Britains.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw said it was the duty of comparatively wealthy nations like New Zealand to help at-risk nations prepare for climate change.

Our history over the last 30 years has been woefully inadequate when it comes to the scale of the challenge, Shaw told Radio New Zealand.

What thats left us with now is only a few years remaining to dramatically reduce the greenhouse gases that we put into the atmosphere, he added.

Excerpt from:

New Zealand increases climate aid ahead of UN summit - The Indian Express

Jacinda Ardern was elected as the prime minister of New Zealand in October 2017, after the populist New Zealand First party agreed to form a centre-left coalition with her Labour Party.

Ardern is her countrys youngest leader since 1856 and became the worlds youngest female head of government when she took office at the age of 37.

Ardern, who formerly worked in the Cabinet Office in London, was nominated on a pledge to increase the minimum wage, write child poverty reduction targets into law and build affordable homes.

During her time as prime minister, Ardern had her first child a daughter Neve in June 2018, making her the second elected head of government to give birth while in office, as well as guiding New Zealand through the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings and the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 26 July Ardern, who has frequently described herself as a progressive, republican, feminist, and supports the compulsory teaching of Maori language in schools, will celebrate her 40th birthday. Here are her 14 best quotes from her three years in power.

Capitalism has failed our people. If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, thats a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?

On racism

Even the ugliest of viruses can exist in places they are not welcome. Racism exists, but it is not welcome here. Because we are not immune to the viruses of hate, of fear, of other. We never have been. But we can be the nation that discovers the cure.

(Getty

(Getty)

On leadership

To me, leadership is not about necessarily being the loudest in the room, but instead being the bridge, or the thing that is missing in the discussion and trying to build a consensus from there.

On compassion

It takes courage and strength to be empathetic, and Im very proudly an empathetic and compassionate leader. I am trying to chart a different path, and that will attract criticism but I can only be true to myself and the form of leadership I believe in.

On the role of politicians

We need to make sure we are looking at peoples ability to actually have a meaningful life, an enjoyable life, where their work is enough to survive and support their families.

On terrorism

Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the man who took them. He may seek notoriety but we will give him nothing, not even his name.

On her baby daughter

I hope that she doesnt feel any limitations. That she doesnt have any sense of what girls can or cant do. That its just not even a concept for her.

On victims of the Christchurch shootings

They will remain with us forever. They are us. But with that memory comes a responsibility. A responsibility to be the place that we wish to be. A place that is diverse, that is welcoming, that is kind and compassionate. Those values represent the very best of us.

(Getty Images

(Getty Images)

On coronavirus

The worst case scenario is simply intolerable. It would represent the greatest loss of New Zealanders lives in our countrys history. I will not take that chance. The government will do all it can to protect you. None of us can do this alone.

On doing the right thing

Do you want to be a leader that looks back in time and say that you were on the wrong side of the argument when the world was crying out for a solution?

On Theresa May

The last thing I ever do is dish out advice or commentary on other peoples politics. Its a difficult game and I know certainly where I am coming from you dont see the layers behind the scenes. She is a woman of remarkable resilience.

On female guilt

I do find it difficult. I go through the exact same emotion any other parent does when Im away from her for a period of time... The guilt of whether or not Im a good enough daughter, sister, partner, mother show me a woman who doesnt.

On leaving her Mormon religion to support LGBT rights

For a lot of years I put it to the back of my mind. I think it was too unsettling... I lived in a flat with three gay friends and I remember going to church and thinking Im either doing a disservice to the church or my friends. How could I subscribe to a religion that didnt account for them?

On being a working mum

I am not the first woman to multitask. I am not the first woman to work and have a baby there are many women who have done this before.

More here:

Jacinda Ardern New Zealand: 14 best quotes | The ...

Leading people through the pandemic is clearly no easy task. But does the criticism currently directed at New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reveal a major misstep on her part, or something deeper about the nature of leadership itself?

Ardern has previously won widespread praise for her COVID-19 response and crisis communication, topping Fortune magazines worlds greatest leaders list in 2021.

Focused on minimising harm to both lives and livelihoods, her pandemic leadership has comprised three main strands: reliance on expert advice, mobilising collective effort and cushioning the pandemics disruptive effects.

These built the trust needed to secure high levels of voluntary compliance for measures designed to limit the spread of the virus.

Then came the Delta outbreak in mid-August, which sees Auckland still under lockdown measures nearly eight weeks later. Despite the efforts of many, elimination proved elusive a daunting reality that Ardern and her cabinet colleagues appear to have accepted.

This shift by Ardern, who engages deeply with the scientific evidence, has confused and angered many, even those who normally support her.

With vaccination rates climbing, in early October, Ardern announced the beginning of a gradual transition away from the established zero COVID strategy in favour of suppression of inevitable outbreaks.

Read more: Three reasons why Jacinda Ardern's coronavirus response has been a masterclass in crisis leadership

This included a three-step roadmap to guide Auckland carefully towards reduced restrictions. What criteria will be used to trigger movement through those steps, however, have not been specified.

Both the strategic shift and the roadmaps ambiguity have become the source of heated debate. But beyond merely choosing sides, how can we make sense of Arderns leadership at this point?

The pandemic presents a particular type of problem for political leaders, described as wicked or adaptive by leadership experts Keith Grint and Ronald Heifetz, respectively.

Basically, wicked or adaptive problems have complex and contentious causes, generating equally complex and contentious responses.

Their wickedness isnt fundamentally a question of morality, although they do typically entail making values-based choices. Rather, it refers to how difficult they are to contend with. Poverty, the housing crisis and climate change are other good examples of these kinds of problems.

Wicked/adaptive problems dont have clear boundaries, nor are they static. They have multiple dynamic dimensions. Their effects typically spill out into many parts of our lives and organisations, creating confusion, harmful consequences and disruption to established routines.

To make matters worse, there simply arent tried and trusted solutions that can resolve or dissolve such problems. Instead, they require leaders to accustom people to uncomfortable and disruptive changes to established ways of thinking and acting.

Unsurprisingly, many leaders avoid facing up to such difficulties, requiring as it does the cobbling together of a range of imperfect responses to ever-changing circumstances. It requires constant engagement, mobilising people to help craft a way forward.

Read more: Anniversary of a landslide: new research reveals what really swung New Zealand's 2020 'COVID election'

Leaders cant and dont have all the answers to such problems. Whatever answers they do have likely need to keep changing as things unfold. The best possible scenario is what Grint calls a clumsy solution a patchwork of adaptive initiatives that blunt the problems worst effects.

Only genuinely transformative change can truly overcome these wicked or adaptive problems in the long run.

In the meantime, clumsy leadership will typically trigger conflict between leaders and citizens (or employees in a work setting), and among those people too. There will be blame, recrimination, avoidance, denial, grief, what ifs and if onlys, as people struggle to deal with the changes needed.

Indeed, all these very normal responses have characterised much of the commentary about the Ardern governments decision to change tack.

That criticism, however, doesnt mean she has failed in her leadership responsibilities. Instead, she has required the population to face up to an adaptive challenge. Its unavoidably contentious and painful.

Read more: Phased border reopening, faster vaccination, be ready for Delta: Jacinda Ardern lays out NZ's COVID roadmap

For all that we can debate whether different decisions could or should have been made, the difficulties involved in facing the new reality are unavoidable.

To help people navigate this, Ardern is seeking to regulate distress, as Heifetz recommends. She has repeatedly assured people a cautious approach remains in place and has appeared not to have been distracted by the criticism.

Instead, she has stayed focused on mobilising the individual and collective effort to follow the rules and get vaccinated.

Read more: The COVID-zero strategy may be past its use-by date, but New Zealand still has a vaccination advantage

Wicked/adaptive problems are not amenable to resolution by way of quick, easy or elegant answers. They arent fixed by recourse to command and control, although some top-down decisions are needed.

They entail ambiguity and uncertainty, a constant piecing together of efforts to outflank, mitigate or adapt, giving rise to inevitably imperfect or clumsy solutions.

Asking people to adjust to efforts to achieve the least-worst outcome possible from a range of unpalatable options may not be the easiest path to political popularity. But it is arguably what responsible leaders do.

Original post:

Why Jacinda Arderns clumsy leadership response to Delta could still be the right approach - The Conversation AU

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has scotched allegations her wedding may have involved inappropriate use of parliamentary resources. Photo / Doug Sherring

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has denied allegations a staffer may have inappropriately used parliamentary resources to help plan her wedding to fianc Clarke Gayford.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said no parliamentary time or resources were used to plan the wedding, and the staffer was working in her capacity as a long-standing friend.

The Herald on Sunday reported that Ardern's electorate secretary Barbara Ward had been involved in wedding plans, visiting a wedding venue in Gisborne in May and July.

The news was revealed in a story that reported Ardern had cancelled her original choice of wedding venue - the Bushmere Arms, on the outskirts of Gisborne - and had not paid a $5000 cancellation fee.

The owner of the venue, Robin Pierson, said Ardern and Gayford booked the venue two years ago but talks broke down after a stoush over catering by a Kiwi celebrity chef, Peter Gordon.

Low-tax lobby group, the Taxpayer's Union released a statement on Sunday saying that "the Prime Minister is breaking the law in using her taxpayer-funded electorate secretary as a wedding planner".

Union spokesman Jordan Williams said, "no one would object to officials ensuring appropriate security at the Prime Minister's wedding but having an official involved in the venue and catering is totally unjustified."

Williams said the Union would be writing to the Speaker, Trevor Mallard and the Auditor-General to ask them to investigate.

However, a spokesman for the Prime Minister denied there was any wrongdoing, saying Ward, whose partner is Cabinet minister David Parker, was assisting Ardern and Gayford in her capacity as a friend.

"Barbara Ward is a close friend of the Prime Minister and Clarke Gayford.

"She is helping with their wedding in a personal capacity. Her costs are being met privately and the time involved is either outside of work hours or annual leave," the spokesman said.

Continue reading here:

Jacinda Ardern pours cold water on wedding allegations, saying staffer helping as a friend - New Zealand Herald

Politics

15 Oct, 2021 04:00 PM4 minutes to read

Watch: Kiwis have smashed the government's 'Super Saturday' goal of 100,000 vaccine doses today - and Auckland should hit the 90 per cent first-dose target in the next five days.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office has been sent some heavily critical feedback on the Government's draft traffic light system, which is meant to replace alert levels when the population is highly vaccinated.

"Not fit for purpose" and "no consultation" were strong sentiments among the expert feedback for a new system that Ardern will reveal next week.

During a visit to Taranaki yesterday, she said the new system was about incorporating vaccination certificates into a framework of restrictions based on risk.

"How can we use vaccination as a way to give greater access to some of the things that have been high risk in the past?

"There has been consultation on it over the last couple of weeks."

That included a Zoom meeting on Thursday co-chaired by Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard, chief science adviser to the Prime Minister, and Professor Ian Town, chief science adviser at the Ministry of Health.

It included dozens of health experts including microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles, developmental paediatrician Dr Jin Russell, GP Rawiri Jansen, Auckland University Associate Professor Collin Tukuitonga, Covid-19 modeller Professor Shaun Hendy, and epidemiologists Sir David Skegg, Professor Michael Baker, and Dr Rod Jackson.

The traffic light system aligns the level of risk to red, amber and green.

In the draft proposal, green is similar to level 1 settings but with mandatory vaccination requirements for large events - which Ardern has already said will be needed for summer festivals.

Amber is similar to level 2, where the virus is increasing in circulation and restrictions such as mandatory mask-wearing would be used. There would also potentially be a requirement for vaccinations at retail and hospitality businesses.

15 Oct, 2021 12:07 AMQuick Read

15 Oct, 2021 04:32 AMQuick Read

14 Oct, 2021 09:56 PMQuick Read

15 Oct, 2021 12:53 AMQuick Read

Ardern has said the Government is yet to decide on whether to make vaccinations mandatory for the hospitality sector.

Red is similar to level 2.5, with some limits on gatherings and possibly further vaccination requirements for businesses.

Several people familiar with the Zoom call told the Weekend Herald that the general feedback was that the new system wasn't fit for purpose, and its usefulness was for a time when enough of the population was fully vaccinated - which could be months away.

That is considered to be the only scenario when lockdown restrictions, which were notably absent in the red settings, would no longer be needed.

It would then be premature to reveal it to the public if it wasn't going to be implemented for some time, the Weekend Herald was told, and if it was going to come into force sooner, then that would be risky.

Concerns were also raised around how flexible the system would be, and why it would be better to move to a system than was less nuanced that the current one, and which was also already well understood.

There were also questions around who had developed it.

Level 3 and 4 settings were mooted as still being a necessary part of the toolbox, given the possibility that a new variant might emerge that was resistant to vaccines.

The latest data shows 83 per cent of the eligible population across the country with a single dose, and 62 per cent fully vaccinated (and for Mori, 41 per cent) - well below what those figures need to be to safely jettison lockdown restrictions.

Ardern has previously talked about the ability to avoid level 3 restrictions if 90-plus per cent of the population were fully vaccinated.

The Government is understood to have sought independent expert advice on the public health strategies that should be pursued for a highly vaccinated population.

Cabinet will discuss the traffic light system on Monday, including when the right time would be to transition to the new system, and what the triggers would be to move between the different settings.

The new threshold for lockdown-type restrictions will also be discussed, given the increasingly vaccinated population.

Gerrard, who posted a photo of the Zoom meeting on Twitter, said that minutes for the meeting would be publicly available within a month.

The rest is here:

Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Scathing feedback from experts on Jacinda Ardern's traffic light system to replace alert levels - New Zealand Herald

Nine months out from the 2020 election, opinion polls suggested it would be a close race between Labour and National. But that all changed with the arrival of the global pandemic.

COVID came to dominate the policy and political agenda from March 2020, ensuring Labour focused its re-election campaign firmly on its pandemic response. As Jacinda Ardern said at the campaign launch, When people ask, is this a COVID election, my answer is yes, it is.

The result was resounding. On October 17, Labour won an unprecedented victory, forming the first single-party majority government of the MMP era. It was the largest ever swing to an incumbent in the history of New Zealand politics.

So what does this result tell us about electoral politics in the context of a global crisis, and the role of incumbency, leadership, trust?

When it comes to analysing an election result, changes in party vote or seats give us an overall picture. But to understand why the electorate votes the way it does we need to consider the choices made by individuals.

The New Zealand Election Study (NZES) allows us to look at a random sample of individuals drawn from the electoral roll, and to test some of the factors we know influence voting behaviour.

Read more: New Zealand's new parliament turns red: final 2020 election results at a glance

The NZES has been conducted after every general election since 1990. In 2020, we surveyed 3,731 participants whose views and votes provide us with a unique insight into the complex interplay of variables that might determine an election result.

Here we highlight some of the topline numbers from our analysis of the 2020 NZES to cast light on what led to the historical election outcome 12 months ago.

The data reveal that 2020 was indeed a COVID election. For instance, we asked people to say what they thought was the most important issue of the election. As our word cloud below shows, COVID was clearly the most mentioned issue, and ranked above many issues traditionally seen as important during election campaigns.

Moreover, the public overwhelmingly supported the governments response to COVID, with 84% of people approving or strongly approving, while only 6% disapproved.

Of those who approved or strongly approved of the response, 57% reported casting a vote for Labour (9% voted Green, 3% New Zealand First and 1% Mori Party), while only 19% voted for National.

The majority (50%) of people who disapproved of the governments COVID response voted for National, and a further 19% for ACT, while only 8% voted for Labour.

Nationals loss and Labours win sparked a number of speculative explanations. For example, Labours gains in provincial electorates were claimed to be a result of strategic voting by farmers anxious about Green Party policies and water reform.

Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury president David Clark argued that plenty of farmers have voted Labour so they can govern alone rather than having a Labour-Greens government.

Read more: Labour's single-party majority is not a failure of MMP, it is a sign NZ's electoral system is working

But our analysis of the NZES data reveals only a small change in the farming vote between parties. A majority (57%) of those in farming occupations voted for National and 21% voted for Labour. These numbers contrast with 2017 when National received 67% of the farming vote and Labour just 8%.

On the other hand, ACTs share of the farming vote increased from 2% to 16%, while the NZ First vote collapsed from 13% to less than 1%.

While these observations are based on a very small sample size of farmers, and should be interpreted with caution, our findings indicate the combined National-ACT vote was relatively unchanged making the anti-Green argument a little far-fetched.

Looking at the responses of all voters in our study, we find that of those who switched from National in 2017 to Labour in 2020, 46% placed themselves at the centre of the political spectrum, compared with 25% of voters who voted for National in both the last two elections.

This suggests these centre voters may have always been open to switching from National to Labour, casting further doubt on the strategic voting claim.

Read more: Her cabinet appointed, Jacinda Ardern now leads one of the most powerful governments NZ has seen

The popularity of Jacinda Ardern and the lack of popularity of Judith Collins is also highly likely to have contributed to Labours success. Of our NZES respondents, 65% said they most wanted Ardern to be prime minister on election day, compared to only 17% supporting Collins (no one else received over 2% support).

When asked to rate leaders from 0 (strongly dislike) to 10 (strongly like), 33% of people gave Ardern 10, and 69% gave her a 7 or above. In contrast, only 22% of people gave Collins a 7 or above, and 23% gave her 0.

We found, unsurprisingly, that likeability and trust are highly correlated, but we also found trust in Ardern as leader was statistically significant in explaining the shift to Labour, even after controlling for how much people liked or disliked her, their prior vote, and their left-right positions.

This supports assessments from around the world that decisive and rapid responses to COVID-19, combined with clear communication, can lead to increased trust in political leaders.

Read more: Can New Zealand's most diverse ever cabinet improve representation of women and minorities in general?

We also know Labour won nearly half a million new voters compared to 2017. Where did this support come from? Around 16% of 2020 Labour voters reported voting for National in 2017, while 13% stated they did not vote in the previous election.

Of the new Labour voters, the majority (55.5%) were women and just over half (51%) were under the age of 40, with 33% Millennials and 18% Gen Z. When asked which party best represented their views, 58% chose Labour and just 11% chose National.

However, when asked if there was a party they usually felt close to, only 29% reported feeling close to Labour, while 53% did not feel close to any party.

Our NZES data clearly show the 2020 New Zealand general election can indeed be thought of as a COVID election. Support for the governments rapid public health and economic policy responses, and the popularity of Ardern, go a long way to explaining the outcome.

However, as the word cloud suggests, there are a number of policy issues that remain of concern to voters, including housing, health and the economy. These were issues that featured in 2017 and may continue to matter through to the 2023 election.

Our preliminary analysis, then, is a reminder that Labour cannot take its new voters for granted.

Continue reading here:

Anniversary of a landslide: new research reveals what really swung New Zealand's 2020 'COVID election' - The Conversation AU

New Zealand has imposed some of the toughest COVID restrictions in the world.

The goal was COVID elimination. It seemed to work ... until Delta.

Last week, the country changed course:

"Children can have a playdate in a park," prime minister Jacinda Ardern said. "Friends can meet outside for a walk, a picnic, or a beer."

So, New Zealand pivots to a new strategy, one that accounts for both vaccines and the Delta variant. What lessons can the U.S. learn?

"We have set unrealistic goals in terms of its only reopening the economy or its only eliminating all transmissions and infection," Dr. Celine Gounder said.

Today, On Point: A pandemic playbook reality check. We hear what national priorities need to be now.

Dr. Celine Gounder, infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at NYU and Bellevue Hospital. Co-host and producer of the podcasts "American Diagnosis" and "Epidemic," which focus on the coronavirus pandemic. Volunteer aid worker in Guinea during the Ebola outbreak. (@celinegounder)

Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (@j_g_allen)

Dale Fisher, infectious disease physician at National University Hospital. Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Chair of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network at the World Health Organization. (@profdalefisher)

Lucy Lawless, actress and singer best known for her role as the title character in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. (@RealLucyLawless)

Siouxsie Wiles, microbiologist and science communicator at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. (@SiouxsieW)

Ben Cowling, professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. (@bencowling88)

Read more:

What New Zealand's changing COVID strategy tells us about the pandemic's end - WBUR

ANALYSIS: This week, and probably for a few more after, we will see the last gasp of alert level decisions.

Hopefully by the end of the first quarter of next year, the memory of alert levels will be receding from sight as life gets back to more normal and there is a general acceptance of Covid-19 in the community.

However, on Monday afternoon at 4pm there will be decisions being made on Auckland, Northland and Waikato.

Northland seems a no-brainer. It looks like it should go back to alert level 2. There haven't been any extra cases pop up there for a few days.

Waikato, similarly, seems like a no-brainer except in the other direction. There were another four reported cases in Waikato on Sunday. Clearly Covid-19 is still floating around Waikato not least in the wastewater and not all the sources of it are known yet.

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Lower Hutt on Saturday.

READ MORE:* Covid-19 Australia: Quarantine-free travel to NSW starts November 1 for double-jabbed* Covid-19: Australia on track for 90 per cent vaccination rate* Covid-19: Pressure on Government for weeks ahead as Northland locks down and vaccine campaign takes centre stage* PM Jacinda Ardern warns lockdowns will continue without more vaccination

In a way, getting the case numbers down in Waikato is of more immediate importance to the Government than Auckland. Because of its relatively porous border, chances of the virus getting out once entrenched are greater than in Auckland.

That matters because the Government is still effectively running an elimination strategy outside of Auckland, while doing suppression inside, and it doesn't want to have to lock down other parts of the country while getting vaccination rates up.

In Auckland, the question facing the Government will be whether to move the city to the next step of fewer restrictions: this would involve the reopening of retail, public places such as zoos, libraries and museums, and increased limits to weddings and funerals of 25 people.

On the face of it, it seems highly unlikely that this will occur. Clearly Covid is in Auckland to stay and the trend line of cases is rising. But until full vaccination rates are higher, it is unlikely more restrictions will be eased.

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF

Music, dancing, food stalls and a visit from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern brought crowds down to the youth-led vaccination festival 'Do it 4 the East' in Cannons Creek, Porirua.

The big vaxathon on Saturday clearly helped Auckland is now almost up at 90 per cent first doses, but it's the full course that is of the most public health interest.

According to the Ministry of Healths figures 85 per cent of the population nationally has had one jab of vaccine, while 65 per cent have had two doses. In Auckland, however, first doses are 89 per cent while second doses are at 71 per cent.

Second dose figures in Auckland are starting to really rise now, but it is unlikely to be enough for the Government to ease up immediately. It has consistently said that it wants everyone eligible to have the chance to get vaccinated this year. While clearly everyone has had the chance, thats a lot of people still waiting on their second jab.

For that reason, more liberalising in Auckland looks unlikely.

It is difficult seeing these sorts of alert level decisions last more than a few weeks, and the Government is expected to announce a raft of changes to how it manages Covid-19 this week. Monday will most likely focus on the alert levels, but the PM may give a taster of what is to come later in the week.

Behind closed doors the Government stresses that the plan will still, more or less, be what was broadly signalled in its Reconnecting New Zealand work in mid- August, just prior to the lockdown although Delta has sped it up dramatically.

On Friday, the Australian state of New South Wales announced that, come November 1, it would be allowing all fully vaccinated travellers to NSW be they residents, tourists, or anyone else to come to the state without quarantine or even self-isolation. (Scott Morrison and the Australian Government quickly scotched that suggestion for non-Australians for a bunch of pretty weak reasons, not least of which is the frenemy-style relationship between Morrison and new NSW premier and fellow Liberal Dominic Perrottet).

Quarantine-free travel to Australia from the South Island will now be restarted for the fully vaccinated.

But the point is, at an 80 per cent vaccination rate, NSW is only a few weeks ahead of New Zealand.

But NSW, with its population of 8-odd million has gone through its big Covid wave, it is now down to about 300 cases per day and falling. New Zealand's reopening or even further spread of Covid-19 in Auckland beforehand will take place with a far more vaccinated population than in NSW or Victoria at similar stages of their outbreaks.

But that wont give much succour to desperate business and residents of Auckland destined to be looking at the same four walls for another week or few. A firm plan of what will happen when, dished up this week, might.

Read this article:

Covid 19: No change likely for Auckland, Waikato but alert levels now on borrowed time - Stuff.co.nz

Top Questions

How did Jacinda Ardern become famous?

The charismatic Jacinda Ardern gained fame by leading a struggling New Zealand Labour Party to a surprising victory in the 2017 parliamentary election. She earned a reputation as a rock star politician on the way to becoming New Zealands youngest prime minister in more than 150 years at age 37.

Where did Jacinda Ardern grow up?

Jacinda Ardern, the second of two daughters born to a Mormon family, spent her first years in Murupara, New Zealand, a small town known as a centre of Maori gang activity. Later, her fathera law enforcement officer who became the national governments high commissioner to Niuemoved his family to Morrinsville, southeast of Auckland.

Where did Jacinda Ardern go to school?

Jacinda Ardern received her primary and secondary education at schools in Morrinsville, southeast of Auckland on New Zealands North Island. She matriculated at the University of Waikato in Hamilton (also on North Island) in 1999, and she received a bachelor of arts degree in communication studies in 2001.

How did Jacinda Ardern influence others?

In 2019 Jacinda Ardern was called upon to lead and comfort her country after an attack on a mosque in central Christchurch and another on a mosque in suburban Linwood on March 15 resulted in the loss of at least 50 lives and injuries to about 50 other individuals.

Jacinda Ardern, in full Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern, (born July 26, 1980, Hamilton, New Zealand), New Zealand politician who in August 2017 became leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and then in October 2017, at age 37, became the countrys youngest prime minister in more than 150 years.

The second of two daughters born to a Mormon family, Ardern spent her first years in Murupara, a small town best known as a centre of Mori gang activity, where seeing children without shoes on their feet or anything to eat for lunch inspired her to eventually enter politics. Her fathera career law-enforcement officer who later (2014) became the New Zealand governments high commissioner to the island of Niuemoved his family to Morrinsville, southeast of Auckland on New Zealands North Island, where Ardern attended primary and secondary school. She matriculated to the University of Waikato in 1999.

Even before earning a bachelors degree in Communication Studies (2001), Ardern began her association with the Labour Party. In 1999, at age 17, she joined the party and, with the help of an aunt, became involved in the reelection campaign of Harry Duynhoven, a Labour member of parliament (MP) in the New Plymouth district. Following graduation, Ardern became a researcher for another Labour MP, Phil Goff. That experience would lead to a position on the staff of Prime Minister Helen Clark, the second woman to hold New Zealands highest office and Arderns political hero and mentor.

In 2005 Ardern embarked on an overseas experience, an extendedusually workingtrip to Britain, which is a traditional rite of passage for the children of New Zealands middle and upper class. Instead of labouring in a London pub or warehouse and then touring the Continent, however, Ardern worked for two and a half years in the cabinet office of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, serving as an associate director for Better Regulation Executive with the primary responsibility of improving the ways in which local authorities interact with small businesses. In 2007 she was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), a position that took her to destinations such as Algeria, China, India, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon.

In 2008 Ardern was chosen as Labours candidate for MP of the Waikato district, a seat that historically had been beyond the partys reach and that Ardern lost by some 13,000 votes. Nevertheless, she entered parliament as a list candidate. New Zealands mixed member proportional (MMP) election system allows candidates who run for a district seat also to be on a partys list of candidates, from which 49 MPs are chosen in proportion to the number of votes received by their parties. At age 28 Ardern entered the House of Representatives as its youngest member. In her maiden speech she called for the introduction of compulsory instruction in the Mori language in New Zealand schools and she castigated the New Zealand government for what she characterized as its shameful response to climate change. In addition to being named Labours spokesperson for Youth Affairs, Ardern was appointed to the Regulations Review and the Justice and Electoral select committees.

In 2011 she ran for the seat representing Auckland Central that was held by another of New Zealand politics brightest young stars, Nikki Kaye of the New Zealand National Party, who was just five months older than Ardern. Kaye narrowly (717 votes) won the race, dubbed the Battle of the Babes, but once again Ardern returned to parliament as a well-placed list candidate. Arderns support for David Shearer in his successful quest for Labour leadership won her a high profile assignment as Social Development spokesperson. In 2014 Ardern once again faced off with Kaye for the Auckland Central seat, this time losing by only 600 votes. Nonetheless, ensconced at the number five position on Labours list, Ardern easily returned to parliament. Labour leader Andrew Little expanded her portfolio to include positions as spokesperson for Arts, Culture, and Heritage, Children, Justice, and Small Business.

As Arderns political profile increased in prominence, the details of her personality and personal life became better known. Opposed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stand on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, Ardern became a lapsed Mormon. She gained notoriety by performing as a disc jockey. She was also involved in a romantic relationship with broadcast personality Clarke Gayford, who in 2016 became the host of Fish of the Day, a part-fishing, part-travel television program that took him to exotic island locales throughout the Pacific. Ardern bridled at media attention to her physical attractiveness, characterized herself as an acceptable nerd, and described her approach to life as relentlessly positive.

In 2017 Ardern registered a landslide victory in the parliamentary by-election for the vacant seat representing the solidly Labour district of Mount Albert in Auckland. When Labours deputy leader, Annette King, announced her resignation, Ardern was unanimously elected as her replacement. Meanwhile, as the general parliamentary election scheduled for September 2017 approached, Labours showing in preference polling was abysmal. Even after some nine consecutive years with the National Party in power, there was seemingly little interest among voters in trying Labour Party rule. A pair of polls in July found Labour Party support to be less than 25 percentsome 6 percent worse than the partys standing in a June polling. With fewer than two months left before the election, Little stepped down as leader but not before securing Arderns pledge to stand as his replacement (reportedly, she refused seven times before agreeing). Running unopposed, Ardern was elected leader on August 1.

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