“I Totally Reject That!”

The PM rolls out this statement frequently during debate so here’s a selection of Ardern statements made during the COVID-19 lockdown that we can totally reject.

Weeks in lock down prevented waves of devastation.

“’We have stopped a wave of devastation‘, the prime minister said on Monday as she announced that the strictest period of national shutdown would continue until just before midnight on Monday 27 April.”

I totally reject that! If we had closed our borders earlier than we did we might have avoided lockdown altogether. 88,000 Covid deaths were the estimate from Covid models now described as faulty. There was no “wave of devastation”.

For not sacking David Clark when he breached lock down guidelines by taking his family 20km away from their bubble for a trip to, ironically, Doctor’s Point. The health minister did not comply with what the PM asked of everyone. He should have been sacked.

“‘Under normal circumstances I would sack the minister. What he did was wrong and there are no excuses’, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Tuesday.

“‘But my priority above all else is our collective fight against COVID-19. That requires leadership amongst our DHBs. It requires a good understanding of workforce issues.’

“The Prime Minister said she determined that the Government ‘cannot afford massive disruption in the health sector or to our response – hence Dr Clark will keep his Health portfolio despite flouting the lockdown rules.’”

I totally reject that! This was Clark’s third breach of the lockdown guidelines and his lack of availability during the period of lockdown indicates he was not needed at all.

For not providing financial assistance to small businesses forced to close down under lockdown, many of whom will not survive to reopen.

“‘What we do know, though, is that from the wage subsidy we’ve put out, almost three quarters of it has gone to SMEs, so we were very aware when we came to designing the packages that SMEs were going to be some of the most affected groups by New Zealand’s response.'”

I totally reject that! The SME is only the conduit of the wage subsidy which is fully passed on to employees. Some business owners, but not all, might benefit from being on the company payroll. The PM’s statement shows a lack of understanding of small business.

There is no shortage of flu vaccine this year.

“‘We wanted to be prepared and we have more flu vaccines than we would normally offer as well, so I disagree with that assessment of the flu vaccine. We know we moved early.’”

I totally reject that! Doctors all over the country have complained for the last four weeks about the shortage of flu vaccine. Speaking with Mike Hosking on Monday morning the PM shifted the blame onto DHBs for the vaccine shortage which was the same argument she used when Covid test kits were in short supply. It’s a distribution issue, she said, where “DHB’s need to take responsibility”.

Iwi did not set up illegal road blocks at all.

“Pressed on whether certain iwi-led roadblocks were appropriate, Ardern said police should always be involved in road blocks – nobody else apart from Civil Defence had the right to turn people around on the road.

“Hosking said there were gangs running roadblocks at Murupara. Ardern said that was not her understanding but nobody had the legal grounds to stop people without police involved.”

I totally reject that! Where was Ardern over the last few weeks when media coverage played out dozens of times showing iwi blocking roads and preventing travel – sometimes intimidating the locals? Frequently with the approval of local police – tacit or otherwise. It is simply not credible that Ardern was unaware of the road blocks or the illegality.

No doubt you can add to this very short list. Remember to pay attention next time you hear the PM trot out “I totally reject that” because it’s almost guaranteed to be a weak argument.

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