Government rejects criticism of Auckland boundary decisions

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Changes to the Covid-19 plan affected Auckland border decision, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said, dismissing criticism of Auckland’s continued isolation .

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Health Director-General Dr Ashley Bloomfield told a select committee this morning that it was believed the extended deadline would not mean a significantly increased risk.

“My team’s advice was that the difference of a week or two in terms of simply increasing the vaccination rate by one or two percentage points more was not, from a public health standpoint… n ‘was not significant in terms of risk, “he said.

Indeed, an affidavit he presented to the Waitangi Tribunal, which is investigating the Covid-19 response, showed the ministry’s opinion was initially that the Auckland imposed limit should fall along with the system. traffic light switches on.

National chief Christopher Luxon this morning criticized the decision to maintain the border in the face of this notice and argued that the border did not need to remain.

He continued this criticism by entering the debate room this afternoon.

“We still have a week to go before we – in theory, maybe, possibly – get out of this border scenario. All I’m saying tonight is that since there are small businesses in Auckland… we shouldn’t just let this thing last another week. “

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

He said he fully understood the hardships Aucklanders had gone through, but that the border was no longer necessary.

Another opposition party leader, David Seymour of ACT, was also outraged.

“People miss funerals, people miss business opportunities, people miss loved ones because this government doesn’t follow public health advice, it follows its own political advice,” he said.

“I don’t think we can ever believe Jacinda Ardern again when she said she was following public health advice. Now we know she had public health advice and she decided to lock us up anyway. .

ACT’s David Seymour speaks to the media Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver

“She should also tell the police to cancel the Northland checkpoints as Ashley Bloomfield says the Auckland border has done its job and there is no danger of people leaving Auckland.”

Te Pti Mori leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also spoke.

“It’s a government that hasn’t taken a lot of advice – health experts Mori, for example – and that’s the situation we have: a government and has certainly taken a very dictatorial approach in its response from public health with Covid. “

Ardern said, however, that more context was needed on when Dr Bloomfield’s advice was given.

“At that point the traffic light was supposed to come by the time everyone had hit 90%… we subsequently put it in place earlier,” she said.

Jacinda Ardern Photo credit: RNZ / Angus Dreaver

“His advice was when we had a different timeline for moving to the frame.”

She denied ignoring advice from health officials.

“Throughout the pandemic we took their advice into account, but our opinion was that there was a way to add an extra layer of reassurance that could cover the rest of New Zealand.”

She fired back during Question Time when Luxon raised the ruling.

Luxon: “What advice has she had on the number of businesses that have gone bankrupt, or the additional costs to the economy, following her decision to keep the Auckland border closed despite the advice of the Dr Bloomfield that there was no public health justification for this? “

Ardern: “The member may misinterpret or in fact may not even read the CEO’s statements. He said there was no longer a need for a reinforced border … Light system) arrived – probably in mid-December.

“It is therefore incorrect to claim that we have kept the border longer than what was advised to us by [the Ministry of] Health. What’s fair to point out is that when we changed that limit, Health said we could just lift it. Our opinion was that the rest of New Zealand would appreciate further action to stop the spread of Covid-19 – but, Mr.Speaker, that would be in agreement with the MP [Luxon]’let it rip’ strategy with Covid. “

She said she would not open the border tonight because it “protected the rest of New Zealand from being part of a delta outbreak … the reason we didn’t see an outbreak beyond that border which has been beyond measure beyond control. So back to Aucklanders, we thank you all. “

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also insisted the context around the timing of the decisions was important.

“The decision to remove the limit was actually made about two weeks earlier than the decisions about moving to the traffic light frame – and we had already reported this publicly at the time – so we made that decision on the basis of the balance of advice that we received. “

He said Dr Bloomfield’s advice was based on the assumption that the traffic light framework would only apply to 90 percent double dose in Auckland.

“And actually, you know, Manukau counties are still chasing, I think, these to hit the 90% double vaccination marker and we’ve already moved.

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

“It may be unfair of Dr Bloomfield to take only part of the advice without looking at how it relates to the rest.”

He also noted that it was not just the advice of the Ministry of Health that the Cabinet took into account.

“I wouldn’t say we ignored the advice at all, in fact we value all the advice we get from health, from other branches of government … when we make these decisions, we talk quite frequently with some of the epidemiologists at across the country, Professor Skegg and his group, and others, so we were getting a variety of different advice there.

“We’ve been careful, we want to slow the spread of Auckland… we also wanted to see those vacancy rates really rise to around 90 percent.”

Hipkins later told Checkpoint that there would be a recording of each region’s traffic light settings before Christmas.

“The hospitalizations look encouraging and we are seeing the number of cases drop. But look, there is still some water to flow under the bridge.”

With restrictions relaxed under the new Covid-19 protection framework, officials want to make sure there are no signs of flare-ups and high levels of testing would help determine that, he said. .

Although ministry advice has indicated that intensive care capacity will be more important to factor into traffic lights than just the number of cases in the community.

“One of the things we will be looking at in cases is where those cases are and in which community we are seeing an increase in the number of cases,” Hipkins said. “And we know that some communities, especially the unvaccinated… if we see epidemics in those communities, we know it’s probably going to put more pressure on the ICU end of the system.

While some Covid-19 testing and vaccination staff will be on hiatus this summer, he said he was reassured that vaccines and testing will still be widely available across the country.

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