Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Lewis Gardner
As New Zealand adjusts to life at alert level 3, some Kiwis are already waiting for level 2 to kick in.
Today on The Country, Jamie Mackay asked Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern if level 2 could possibly arrive early, whether her government has been too cautious in its approach tothe Covid-19 outbreak and how will the wage subsidy affect businesses?
Mackay: Is there any chance under any circumstance that we could head to level 2 before May 11?
Ardern: No. We've set down the two weeks and that's so that we can really monitor how we're tracking and of course as everyone's got to know that the lag, the real tail that this virus can have - we do need a bit of time to see how it's tracking in the community and whether or not we've got full control of the virus.
Mackay: Now I think that the polls would suggest that the country's basically right behind you on lockdown thus far but are you in danger, to use a sporting parlance here, of losing the changing room?
Ardern: Well I think what ultimately people are supporting is a strategy to get us back to normality as quickly as possible and stay there and that's been the balance we've had to strike all the way through. By taking a cautious approach we're less likely to go backwards.
I think that when you look overseas and you see that everyone's working towards opening back up, but at the same time want to guard against the second wave.
The worst thing we can do for our economy - actually our morale - is to yo-yo in and out of different restrictions. So our plan is to get out and to stay out.
Mackay: Yeah agreed, but are you being too cautious? I saw John Key being interviewed by Paul Henry last night and he said he would wake up every morning and ask - how can I get to level 2? - rather than - why I can't get to level 2? Are you too cautious?
Ardern: You're making an assumption there ... every morning I wake up and think, how can I get us back to normal life as quickly as possible? And for me the two things are linked - the way we get back is to make sure that we have control of this virus and that therefore we're saving lives but also livelihoods.
So there's a bit of an assumption there that normality is not my goal. Normality is my goal and the whole reason that we're taking an elimination strategy as our view is that that is the thing that will stop us having to constantly live with restrictions until we get a vaccine.
So by getting it under control, that's how everyone can have a bit more normality in their lives.
Mackay: Are you going to keep on funding the wage subsidy until the economy comes right? Because if you don't, when it comes off, we're going to see mass unemployment and mass closures and breakdown of business.
Ardern: There's again just another assumption. Then it's a 12-week payment and we did that for a good reason. We wanted people to have certainty over that 12-week period. What we've got to then think about is after those 12 weeks - who is most affected on an ongoing basis.
Some people have been able to continue through, some people will open up again and will just be gearing back up at that time the wage subsidy comes off.
Others won't be - and so we're thinking about what can we do to directly support those who are in that basket.
Mackay: Is it conceivable that we could be at level 1, best case scenario, after this 12-week period. Because if those two events coincided, maybe there is a way out of this.
Ardern: Well of course [with] that 12-week period we're looking at June and of course our goal is to be in a position where we have enough control of the virus that we can keep moving down the alert levels, that is the goal.
But if you think about who is most affected if we are in fact at level 2 - because we need to plan for that now rather than just relying on hope that we're further down - I'd rather plan ahead in the circumstances that we aren't.
So who are most affected then? People who are working for instance, in large-scale events, tourism is likely to be affected regardless because of the impacts of our border control. So those are the sectors that we are already thinking about what we need to do to support them.
Mackay: Do you see negative interest rates on the horizon?
Ardern: That's obviously not a decision for me. The governor of the Reserve Bank's already made some statements around this. For us it's about using the tools that we have and leaving the governor of the Reserve Bank to do his job.
Mackay: Okay Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time. Next time we chat you realise that we'll be in level 2?
Ardern: Well that's certainly the aspiration.
Mackay: Come on Jacinda. Promise me. You can do it.
Ardern: As you say I wake up every day with a plan on how to get there safely. So I'm going to keep working on that.
Mackay: I'll see you in level 2. Thanks for your time.
