EDITORIAL
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is going through a rough patch, personally and politically.
Having previously had to put off her own wedding, the PM spent the weekend in isolation after a Covid-19 exposure and faces a difficult next couple of months as Omicron cases are expected to grow.
And that wasn't all.
The PM has for days been the subject of sniping from various overseas commentators, sparked by a column from Act leader David Seymour in the Daily Mail, about New Zealand's coronavirus strategy.
For instance, writing in Britain's Daily Telegraph, columnist Zoe Strimpel asserted that: "Yes, New Zealanders may be 'safer' from Omicron than any other population on earth, but, thanks to Ardern, they are being robbed of the freedoms that make life worth living, with no end in sight".
Countries have dealt with the coronavirus in different ways and Britain has had vastly inferior pandemic health results to New Zealand. That's 240,000 cases and 2273 deaths per one million people in the UK population compared with New Zealand's 3256 and 10.
Both New Zealand and Australia have quite clearly been trying over several months to lighten the government's hand in dealing with Covid and move towards a mix of public health measures and individual reliance on vaccines, masks and risk assessment.
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Advertise with NZME.The Government is also buying time for more people to get booster shots and for children aged 5 to 11 to get jabs.
More troubling for the Government has been the case of Kiwi journalist Charlotte Bellis, unable to get home from Afghanistan. It simply makes New Zealand look cold and uncaring.
The border has been a key defence and tens of thousands of people have come home without incident. But the MIQ lottery system for returnees has revealed a number of sad stories of separated families made to wait and missing family weddings and funerals.
It has been allowed to remain a weeping sore for a long time when some practical alternatives, such as increasing quarantine capacity at remote defence-run sites, could have been explored. Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says changes at the border will be announced soon.
New polling also shows Ardern's approval rating dipping, although the centre-left bloc in Parliament has majority support.
It's hardly surprising considering the pandemic is into its third year, the country is facing a new and highly transmissible variant, and New Zealanders have only had a short summer breather after tight restrictions.
The main opposition National Party has a new figurehead who is disarming rather than divisive, and that appears to have encouraged some former supporters to return to the fold. But the opposition now finds itself criticising the Government for, it says, being insufficiently prepared and proactive on Omicron - after having previously called for quicker reopening last year.
This is a mid-term year for the Government and it has a lot on its plate: Omicron; the expected upcoming border easing; economic issues including inflation; climate and water reform; housing; and transportation in Auckland.
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Advertise with NZME.Hopefully Ardern's health will quickly recover. Criticism and polls can be brushed aside. Getting bigger issues right is more relevant to ongoing political success.
