David Seymour ACT Leader The Government’s inadequate testing and tracing have let us down, leaving us in lockdown for at least two weeks. The Prime Minister now tells us that ‘early modelling’ predicted cases would peak on day eight. Why did she promise a three and seven-day lockdown, if
David Seymour ACT Leader Jacinda Ardern is happy to have a socially distanced 1 pm stand up with a dozen journalists in a room but not a democratic parliament with elected representatives asking her questions. Ardern called me this afternoon to say she has decided that Parliament should not sit
David Seymour ACT Leader The Government’s decision today around Alert Levels will come down to how prepared it’s been. It should be open and transparent about the numbers traced and tested, and what numbers it needed to make a decision. People want a Government that is accountable to
David Seymour ACT Leader Other than the Alert Levels, the Prime Minister has another important decision to make today, will she allow democracy to continue? In these extraordinary times, we need to ensure democracy continues and that the Government is held to account. While the Government was elected by majority,
David Seymour ACT Leader The ACT Party is today proposing a COVID-Tracer app lottery to encourage people to use the app more. Instead of getting pinged to isolate, you might get pinged that you’ve won $1000. Today the Government announced compulsory app usage but the onus to ensure people
David Seymour ACT Leader The ACT Party is pleased to see mandatory scanning being put in place by the Government but the onus shouldn’t be on businesses to enforce it. Businesses have been through enough with multiple lockdowns, as well as a raft of other costs placed on them
David Seymour ACT Leader COVID response Minister Chris Hipkins has shown how unprepared the Government was for a Delta outbreak in an interview on Q+A this morning. Hipkins said, “Delta raises some big questions that we’re going to have to grapple with… it does mean our existing protections
David Seymour ACT Leader The Prime Minister’s 1 pm announcement brought good news about the situation but also questions about the Government’s response. For the most part tests are negative, and genomic sequencing points to only one cluster, while contacts traced so far are mainly in Auckland. We
David Seymour ACT Leader The wheels are falling off the Government’s response to COVID-19, it needs to show it is prepared to do more than just extend lockdowns. After the extension of yesterday’s lockdown, many people will be asking what steps are in place to shorten lockdowns that
David Seymour ACT Leader The Prime Minister needs to explain why the AM Show can broadcast, I can order ice cream to my apartment and people can order sex toys, but Parliament shouldn’t open. ACT believes Parliament should sit next week, or we should bring back the Epidemic Response
David Seymour ACT Leader The Ardern Government has had 18-months since the last Level 4 lockdown and there hasn’t been enough preparation done on testing and tracing. Thousands of people are lining up for testing for hours on end. Why wasn’t there a solution in place? Saliva testing
David Seymour ACT Leader The infrequent wastewater testing needs to be explained by the Government. Wastewater has been tested weekly around the country. The last negative Auckland tests were taken on the 11th of August. Today we are told all wastewater results in Auckland are now positive, but there was
David Seymour ACT Leader The day has arrived where businesses will rightly need support from the Government after they’ve been forced to close but the rainy-day fund has already been raided. The Government has been dipping into the $50 billion COVID fund, with $515 million on school lunches, $26.
David Seymour ACT Leader The ACT Party is once again calling on the Government to bring back the Epidemic Response Committee. Scrutiny of the Government’s response is essential during this pandemic. We have seen how valuable it was when Chris Hipkins made a brief appearance at the Health Select
David Seymour ACT Leader The Government needs to tell us what it did to prepare for a Delta outbreak, so there is hope of ending this lockdown in days not weeks. At the Health Committee two weeks ago, Chris Hipkins could not give one example of what the Government has
David Seymour ACT Leader The Government’s announcement that it will hit pause on vaccinations for 48-hours is the most nonsensical decision it could make. We are bottom of the OECD for vaccinations. Our low rates of vaccinations is what has put us most at risk of a Delta outbreak.
