The Prime Minister on the AM show bounced up and down, hands waving madly to distract from her explanations that lacked credibility. You might suspect she suffers from ADHD. What else could it be?
Duncan Garner was honoured by her presence after the PM crossed the more annoying media off her interview list for their probing questions.
Garner:
“The Cook Islands – why is it taking so long?”
Ardern:
“Oh, and this was something that Prime Minister Brown and I had a chance to talk about face to face.”
Garner guaranteed the PM’s return by not delving into her abysmal track record and it was clear he wasn’t going to ask why a face to face was needed at all, or why it would eventually take nine months to happen.
The Cook Islands, heavily reliant on tourism, pleaded for travel to be restored in June last year.
In August the NZ Herald reported that the ‘Queen of Broken Promises’ hoped “a travel bubble with the Cook Islands would be up and running by the end of the year,” saying a draft agreement had already been drawn up.
Cook Islands leaders committed to establishing a travel bubble by the end of last December are furious after being told to wait until May. Why would they believe this date after the previous failed promise?
The August travel agreement was drafted before NZ officials travelled to the Cook Islands in November to examine “the testing capabilities in the Cook Islands in the event they need to do testing” and look at maritime borders? Wouldn’t mandatory testing and protection of maritime borders become a priority when the borders were reopened?
You could assume the Cook Islands would jump through any number of hoops to reinstate travel with New Zealand. What was in the August agreement?
In August the ‘Queen of Confidence’ raised the possibility of travel within “a couple of weeks” of getting the green light.
The Cook Islands rejoiced, expecting to reopen borders in December but four months later they are still waiting for the promised two-way quarantine-free travel.
Was the November site inspection required? If it was, will there be a further delay for another inspection to take place? Perhaps the PM could combine a visit with her well publicised and long expected wedding?
During the interview, Ardern shifted responsibility for travel delays onto the Cook Islands government.
Ardern:
“Is everything geared up that needs to be geared up? And we’ve of course been working together on that.
Things like PCR testing, at the moment the Cooks don’t yet have PCR testing on the island, which is really important if you’ve an outbreak. They’re working on that being ready in the next couple of weeks.
Things like making sure you’ve got that contact tracing capacity and things like that. So, those things they expect to be in place shortly and so we’re working towards May.”
Newshub AM Show
The Cooks rely on the New Zealand government to fund their PCR lab, assist in developing Cooksafe+ for contact tracing and provide the Covid vaccine, so who really is to blame for the delay?
The latest delay has made the Cook Islands tourist industry furious.
“In December last year, leaders had committed to establishing a bubble by the end of this month.
Since then, a number of issues with regards to Cook Islands’ health preparedness have been identified, including the development of a Covid-19 contact tracing system and establishing mass testing capabilities.
After a string of delays, a new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab is expected to be in operation by mid-April with the arrival of equipment this month. And development of an app-based contact tracing system using Bluetooth technology modeled after one used in New Zealand is completed, and will soon be available for download, according to the Chamber.
Those developments did little to secure a new target date for the bubble, however it was announced $20 million in development assistance from New Zealand will now be re-prioritised to help plug a widening budget gap.”
Given how reliant the Cook Islands are on New Zealand funding, was it a surprise that they needed help upgrading their tracer app and building a PCR testing lab?
The ‘Queen of Broken Promises’ placed responsibility for the travel delays firmly onto the Cooks, albeit it with a carefully worded “get out of jail free” card: “of course we have been working together”.
“We are very disappointed,” said Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Eve Hayden.
“We are at a loss to understand why a firm date couldn’t be secured and we would very much like to know at which point we have failed in terms of readiness.”
Cook Islands News
The Cook Islands have asked where they failed because they believe they followed the instructions given to them. This makes it clear that the delays in opening up travel resulted from inactivity at the New Zealand end.
This project is an example of this government’s operation: plenty of talk but slow, or no, follow through.
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