Audrey Young: The best and the worst - rating our MPs under Covid 19 Coronavirus crisis

COMMENT

The Covid-19 crisis has already claimed one political scalp, Simon Bridges, but the management of the issue has also had an impact on the reputations of ministers and their departments, for the better and the worse.

The best of the Opposition MPs were National MP Michael Woodhouse and Act leader David Seymour.

Each played to his strength on the Epidemic Response Committee - which has just been shut down by the Government despite it being highly effective (or possibly because of it).

Certainly, Parliament has not returned to normal and some of the committee's scrutiny put a bright spotlight on issues that discomforted the Government.

Seymour's contribution to the Covid-19 crisis was impressive from the start.

He had the advantage of being in a relatively secure position going into the crisis, with no incentive to grandstand, and an ability to distill political principles from complex situations.

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Seymour's position at the outset was support for lockdown but he voiced opposition to particular matters on principle, including the shutdown of Parliament. He was the first to propose pay cuts for MPs and did not object to increases in social welfare benefits but thought they should not be permanent.

Michael Woodhouse, National's health spokesman, was clinical, methodical and measured in his prosecution of health issues during the height of the crisis.

It was a good skill set to have in a crisis during which the public had no appetite for party politics.

He certainly looked like a credible alternative to the hapless Health Minister David Clark.
Woodhouse ran a private hospital before he entered politics in 2008 and while he had Immigration, Workplace and ACC as a minister, in hindsight he could be considered unlucky not to have had Health.

In the early days of the economic response to the Covid-19 crisis, National finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith got his pitch perfect, in contrast to his boss, Simon Bridges, who seemed unable to finesse the right tone and target.

When the Government unveiled the $12 billion mini-budget on March 17, including an increase in social welfare benefits, Bridges took the clod-hopper approach, accusing the Government of helping beneficiaries instead of workers.

Bridges was not all bad by any means, however. While the Epidemic Response Committee had its moments of drama, Bridges chaired it capably and fairly.

Speaker Trevor Mallard had originally proposed himself as the chair of that committee, operating as it would as a miniature Parliament during lockdown.

The Government, however, has come to see Mallard's style of chairmanship, and his short fuse in dealing with certain National MPs as a hindrance, not an advantage to itself.

It readily accepted Gerry Brownlee's suggestion of a committee styled on the privileges committee, with the power to compel evidence, and initially suggested that Brownlee himself chair it until National settled on Bridges.

But Bridges' detractors, especially within his own ranks, were looking to amplify any misstep, such as the social welfare attack and his criticism of the tardiness in moving out of lockdown level 4.

It is hard to imagine a worse outcome for him than losing his job. So he must be counted as among the worst.

The committee and its experts, such as Sir David Skegg, focused on the vexing issues of Covid management such as testing criteria, protective equipment, self-isolation, the wage subsidy and small business, vulnerable sectors, lockdown legislation and policing.

It was a reality check against the daily briefings of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, framed as she often was by a halo-like circle in the Fighting Covid livery.

Her arch critics describe her cynically as St Jacinda but, plainly, Ardern was the best performer, winning the confidence of the public quickly with her handling of the health crisis, and attracting plaudits internationally as well as at home.

Grant Robertson in Finance grew in stature as the crisis developed. His $12b economic package on March 17, including the wage subsidy scheme, was almost universally welcomed.

Chris Hipkins was also a high-performing minister, overseeing the Ministry of Education's support to schools and early development of remote-learning options, should it become necessary.

Education, Foreign Affairs in its repatriation work and Social Development in particular were standout government agencies.

Treasury was placed in an unenviable position of having to produce a Budget for May 14 on the basis of forecasts that had a shelf-life of about a week.

Inland Revenue was also an integral part of the Government's economic response and minister Stuart Nash, with portfolios of Inland Revenue, Police and Small Business has been a central player in the past three months and has barely put a foot wrong.

The small matter of Parliament mistakenly having passed an IRD business loan scheme into law before it had even been announced was not actually his fault – the wrong bill was lying on the table of the House - although it was his responsibility.

Clearly David Clark was the worst performer even before his demotion in ranking for his 40km round trip to Doctor's Point beach in Dunedin when everyone else was being urged to stay home.

Having divested responsibility for public health and vaccines to his Associate Minister, Green MP Julie Anne Genter, in 2018 during the measles epidemic, he took them back by default under Covid-19. It was not appropriate for the junior minister to run the show, although she may have done a better job.

She has been marginally more visible than Greens co-leader James Shaw, who has been virtually invisible for three months.

The Covid-19 crisis has sidelined the Greens, apart from the party raising some valid objections to the two-tier welfare scheme introduced this week for those jobless from the virus - which it then supported.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis' stocks diminished during the Covid-19 crisis as well.

Although the sector has had access to the wage subsidy scheme and has the promise of a $400 million recovery fund in the May Budget, in the various interviews Davis has done there is no sense of a recovery plan or that he is the guy leading the recovery.

David Parker had elements of best and worst in his performance during the crisis. As Trade Minister, he did a great job of keeping supply chains open with trading partners.

But as Attorney-General it was not the standard we have come to expect from him.

He was in the thick of a dispute with constitutional experts over the legality of the lockdown, and then in a dispute with the Epidemic Response committee over its powers to compel evidence – threatening to refer it to the Privileges Committee.

He gave virtually no notice of a bill with draconian powers for the enforcement of alert level two and made such a hash of it, that marae wrongly thought they were being singled out for potential police raids.

Then, instead of sending the bill to the Epidemic Response Committee for even a couple of days, it was sent to the Finance and Expenditure Committee for review - after it had passed.

What's more, he started the unwelcome trend of ministers holding briefings on important matters via Facebook rather than exposing themselves to scrutiny in a press conference.

BEST PERFORMERS
• Jacinda Ardern – Prime Minister
• Grant Robertson – Finance Minister
• Chris Hipkins – Education Minister
• David Seymour – Act leader
• Michael Woodhouse – National health spokesman

WORST PERFORMERS
• David Clark
• Simon Bridges
• Kelvin Davis
• David Parker
• James Shaw