No! No! No!
Earlier, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said neither she nor Clark were responsible for the failings at the border that allowed the two women with Covid-19 to leave their hotel room without first being tested.
She said ministers understood that the proper protocols were being applied to the women, who are now in isolation, including being tested before being allowed to leave on compassionate grounds.
Instead director general of health Ashley Bloomfield has taken the blame, but whether any heads will roll is still unclear.
Oh no you don’t Jacinda. This border breach is on your watch, it’s on you whether you like it or not.
You were ‘told’ and ‘your understanding’ don’t mean jack shit. In the early days Minister Jenny Salesa was sent to Auckland Airport to personally witness the criticisms that were being raised about lack of screening protocols because Jacinda had to have confidence in what she was hearing and what was actually happening.
Too much taking the Ministry at its word has been going on and an internal checking system should be operated by the Chief of Staff to ensure the PM isn’t blindsided like this again.
Based on the grotesque incompetence shown during our measles epidemic, this latest border breach with the Covid Virus seems delightfully mild in comparison but when the NZ Herald are running timelines of how the virus re-entered NZ, you know you’ve lost the narrative.
Seeing as everyone, me included, warned that Labour could puncture their election chances if a border breach occurred, you wonder what they’ve been doing.
Jacinda may wish for distance, but this is on her. The Government have known the grotesquely underfunded Ministry of Health was not up to this.
That’s why Jacinda just sent the military into run it…
Military oversight
Ardern said that tests for the women on day three and day 12 should have happened and there were “no excuses”.
The border controls must be rigorous and disciplined, and need to have the confidence of ministers as well as all New Zealanders.
She announced that assistant chief of defence Air Commodore Darren (Digby) Webb would oversee all quarantine and isolation facilities.
Webb can use military resources and personnel, if needed.
He will also audit the system and the written protocols to ensure they are fully implemented, Ardern said.
…this is an issue of capacity – our underfunded public health system isn’t working and cock ups like this will be pounced upon by the Opposition to evoke voter anger, this is Jacinda’s achilles heal in this election.
Jacinda needs to own this and ensure it doesn’t happen again. And next time a Minister has to tell the country something, make sure you have the entire story because now Woodhouse is leading the media on a wild goose chase to highlight how the Government can’t even get their story right.
This flair up is a reminder that this election is different, that peoples vulnerability and gratitude and anger can all be triggered if voters feel that their sacrifice has been taken for granted by incompetence.
Jacinda talks a lot about kindness, one more screw up by one of her team will require a public beheading to show voters her kindness isn’t being mistaken for weakness.
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What I love about this place is that it isn’t a sycophantic echo chamber like some other left wing blog sites and imparts criticism when its due.
You are spot on Bomber – when you take all the acclaim when things go right you have to accept the brickbats when they come. The problem this government has is a trickle fast becomes a flooded river. Incorrectly we adopted an emotional rather than an intellectual approach to this crisis and this reflects our approach to these 2 individuals – the wider risk remains very small that a significant cluster will arise out of this.
bureaucratic incompetence has a pattern of not being one-off and this has the look of a gift that keeps on giving. That said you need a decent opposition to take advantage of this and we all know that isn’t the case at the moment
” Instead director general of health Ashley Bloomfield has taken the blame, but whether any heads will roll is still unclear ‘
We don’t do heads will role remember Bomber there is NO accountability for these people on six figure salaries with benefits.
I think the masses who have been so generous with their confidence and support in the polls will forgive Jacaranda on this occasion but if it becomes a pattern then they will be vulnerable and Mean Muller and National will be waiting to exploit any weakness and go for the kill again and again right through to September 19th.
This is a operational failure which is more than likely to have occurred if the Nasty Natz were still in office.
The difference though would be the huge death toll which would have been accepted as a cost for keeping the country open and operating with neoliberal guidelines.
Remember our poor and others are expendable in the free market economy that services the wealthy.
Jacinda and her colleagues have not got their head around the lay of the land yet.
Six figures??? I thought they had their pay cut…ops, wasn’t I suppose to mention that?
I wonder if the individuals responsible on the spot for getting people tested and for ensuring isolation within quarantine facilities, and allowing or disallowing compassionate exemptions actually have no legal authority to impose any restrictions on anybody. And those who do have that authority have not transferred it to those who are charged with imposing it.
D J S
Yes David there appears to be a big gap there. The Police’s role has yet to be laid down in these circumstances with action before release from enforces quarantine.
Now the Army appear to be involved one assumes the “voluntary” testing will become mandatory
As under resourced as the police are, they are the only organisation that can and will enforce these quarantines. They have the structure the deal with this and are used to being the whipping boy anyway.
But to leave quarantine arrangements to any other government department who are not versed with coercion, the military included, is madness and doomed to failure.
Clearly the Brownies could have done the job better than a bunch of bumbling out if their depth health and social workers.
As I said to my son, after the parcel he was waiting for was sent to the wrong address, and though supposedly needing a signature of acceptance was actually left in a roadside mailbox at the wrong address- all that despite the sender being repeatedly advised of a change of address- “the world staggers from one fuck-up to the next.”
The problem is, humans are involved, and humans are, at times, forgetful, disorganised, easily-distracted, deceitful, dishonest and lazy, and sometimes they daydream: that’s why we have those words in our language.
Additionally, modern society is dependent on computer systems that seize up, give false results and sometimes fail completely.
The combination of human errors and digital errors can usually be resolved eventually. It took ‘only’ 7 phone calls over a period of 3 months for me to get direct debiting of power bill payments correctly set up.
This coronavirus thing is HUGE, and is out of control in most densely populated regions of the world despite extensive warnings provided by a plethora of scientists and health advisors early in the year (or even in the last months of 2019 in the case of China). That’s why it’s called Covid-19 and not Covid-20.
We are just beginning to see how riddled the environment may be and how the virus may be jumping from species to species and back again when we read reports like this:
‘Around 11,000 mink at a farm in Denmark will have to be culled after they were found to be infected with the coronavirus, the country’s authorities have said.
The outbreak is the first in Denmark, the world’s biggest producer of mink skins, but comes shortly after the virus was found at 13 mink farms in the Netherlands, where about 570,000 mink have been ordered culled.
A spokeswoman told Reuters that around 11,000 mink would be culled in Denmark. A person associated with the farm had previously tested positive with Covid-19.’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jun/17/coronavirus-live-news-brazil-adds-record-35000-covid-19-cases-as-infections-surge-in-six-us-states-latest-updates
And:
‘Leadership is broken. From the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality to the marginalisation of minority communities around the world, our leaders are failing us. Self-serving and divisive, they are gambling with public health and the future of younger generations. We have to make them raise their game.
This is what the Guardian is for. As an open, independent news organisation we investigate, interrogate and expose the incompetence and indifference of those in power.’
Do not be at all surprised if the entire globalised system collapses before the end of the year and citizens are forced to either cooperate extensively with one another or fight amongst themselves.
It was comforting to read that in the latest conflict between China and India sticks and stones and pushing and shoving were used to vent emotion, rather than guns and missiles.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/shock-and-anger-in-india-after-worst-attack-on-china-border-in-decades
As repeatedly pointed out, the coronavirus epidemic is a symptom of human destruction of nature and the close proximity of distressed animals and distressed humans:
‘Pandemics result from destruction of nature, say UN and WHO’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/pandemics-destruction-nature-un-who-legislation-trade-green-recovery
Undoubtedly the plan (if you can describe what government promote as a plan) is to continue with the destruction of nature until nature brings the ‘plague of greedy apes’ under control.
Good points and the usual bevy of online references. Heard on radio what aggro was happening along the flaky India/China ‘border’ in the Himalayan mountains. OK, no shooting, but being pushed off a mountain is not a gentle way to die.
I smell an enormous rat and skulduggery in this. Yes, there has been an epic balls up at the border but perspective has been lost and the finger of blame pointed in the wrong direction.
Ardern has virtually nothing to do with the day to day decisions made for people in quarantine. Like all Governments, she must rely on alleged professionals to do their job. Those professionals messed up and the finger of blame should go there and nowhere else. This is no more a reflection on Ardern as it is on English and Key etc etc. Vested interest in election year however has steered the narrative and blame in Ardern’s direction.
As for the “reliable source” who fed information to a National Party MP about details of interactions. It must be remembered this relates to an urgent compassionate allowance being granted for sisters to attend a parental funeral. You’d think all involved would be eternally grateful but instead a “source” goes straight to Nat MP Micheal Woodhouse, the brother of a top cop in Dunedin to share certain details knowing what Woodhouse would do. This has got hit job dirty politics all over it. What was the motivation of this “reliable source” to go to the National Party? Concern for fellow Kiwi’s? Yea right. This “source” knew the sisters were tested for Covid and confirmed positive on Monday night yet she herself went to a gym on Tuesday and had a “hands on” workout with a group of other ladies at the gym. Her actions have not only put many people at risk but they have also resulted in all compassionate approvals being suspended to be with dying loved ones and to attend their send off. Reprehensible actions. No wonder she wants to keep her fucking name out of this.
“Leadership master class”
Jacinda’s name is “on the door” so the buck stops with her!
As bomber says you take the credit and not take the responsibility.
The problem Jacinda has with this debarcle and virtually every thing else her government has decided to do she lacks the people to actually make it happen.
Her government has been skilled and competent in identifying the problem be it housing, roading, child poverty health education et el. But she fundamentally lacks a “get it done” minister.
Kirk had Walding, Muldoon had Birch, Lange had Douglas, Bolger had Birch again, Clark had Anderton and Cullen, key had Joyce and Grocer. Jacinda has no one in that mould, the best “get done” Minister she has is Ron Mark and he from the other outfit.
In short she has a caucus full of policy geeks who know what needs to happen but no grasp on how to make it happen.
This is just annother failure as a consequence of no ” get it done” Minister.
Adern was happy to stand on the stage and take the credit, she has to stand there and take the blame.
The buck stops at the top.
In my previous post I stated my belief that this has situation has all the hallmarks of a hit job dirty politics of the National Party. They are fully aware of the very strong approval rating the Government has with it’s handling of the pandemic. It’s enough to virtually guarantee they be re-elected. What possible motivation could a “source” have to run straight to a National Party politician with details about a case that you would normally expect to be handled delicately and VERY discreetly? None of it made sense. That situation was illustrated further when the two sisters of the deceased parent both claim to have no recollection of any kiss or cuddle.
Now we know more and as expected, it is National Party dirty politics. They have used this situation involving urgent compassionate leave as a hit job against the Government. Yes, there was a blunder but what do you prefer. People who own the fact the blunder was unacceptable and take immediate action to avoid a repeat….or scum sucking maggots that would again reach for the bottom of their barrel full of festering turds yet again?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121874465/claims-in-parliament-national-mp-lobbied-for-leave-for-sisters
Health Minister David Clark has alleged in Parliament that National MP Chris Bishop lobbied for the early release from quarantine of two sisters who later tested positive for coronavirus.
The two sisters are now at the centre of a political scandal over the safety of managed isolation after it emerged that neither sister was tested before being released.
Yesterday it was revealed that they had come into close contact with at least one other person since leaving managed isolation, contrary to earlier reports/
Clark made the claim in response to a question from Education Minister Chris Hipkins.
“Were the two women who tested positive for Covid-19 this week released from quarantine following personal representations advocating their early release from quarantine by National MP Chris Bishop?” Hipkins asked.
Clark responded that he was aware of that.
“Mr Speaker I am aware of that.”
“Obviously there have been representations made for compassionate leave by members of Parliament – I think people need to be careful,” Clark said.
“I would ask members to be careful around these situations. On the one hand people have been requesting that people be let go out of these situations and on the other hand we have seen the risks that that presents to New Zealanders and the team of 5 million,” he said.
National party health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse later added that Bishop’s advocacy for the two women was separate from the case being prosecuted in Parliament.
The question in Parlliament was whether or not quarantine measures were effective and safe, not whether people should be granted compassionate exemptions.
“Mr Bishop’s advocacy for those people did not infer that unsafe practices should be followed,” Woodhouse said.
I agree wholehearted with everything written here but one Martyn.
It is good to see you put down the cheer pom poms and criticise Adern for her incompetence.
She stood at the podium and took the accolades and yes the buck stops with her for the fuck ups too.
However, having worked for the Defence Force I can assure you that expecting them to run this operation effectively is like expecting a drug addict to guard the dispensary at a hospital.
The Defence Force is vastly more incompetent than the Ministry of Health. VASTLY.
And some of it is due to under funding, the main reason is due to the command and control, don’t question your leaders, style in which the place is run.
What about personal responsibility? The PM says the 2 women did nothing wrong. What bullshit. If anyone is remotely unsure that a strict quarantine is required upon arrival to this country, they must be stupid. Or deliberately non compliant. And the personnel at the facility who are “in charge”, someone must be, are bloody useless. The whole lot of them should be blasted by the Health Boss, or Dr Bloomfield would be even better.
Don’t worry Martyn. No matter how incompetent Labour is, it will get re-elected.
That’s because National seem to have completely lost their way and elected their own version of Kelvin Davis as leader. Sigh!
I won’t bother to reproduce the laundry list of scandals and incompetence that are associated with this government – because from a political perspective it doesn’t matter if the opposition can’t make hay with them.
“The problem is, humans are involved, and humans are, at times, forgetful, disorganised, easily-distracted, deceitful, dishonest and lazy, and sometimes they daydream: that’s why we have those words in our language.”
I completely agree although the dire consequences of reigniting covid means this mistake was at the top of the list.
In contrast what Brownlee did by barging through airport security was a deliberate action and what Nick Smith did with Bronwyn Pullar was a deliberate action as was Collins smear campaign a deliberate action involving Whailoil.
So yes, whilst the processes were not adhered too, none were deliberate.
Aw well. Shit happens. Now we know.
Lets just pause for a moment and thank the baby Jesus for the blessed mercy that the natzo’s are not in power right now.
Each fleeced tourist would get a cost price box of tissues and loaned a shovel to dig their own graves with.
This latest event should be seen as training experience for people who’re otherwise doing a good job within a natzo/neoliberal crippled health system. Is that not right Southern Cross and all you other private health care pirates?
Agree Bomber that Jacinda should take the blame. She’s not in an organisation where she can pass the buck, she’s in the government where the tradition of ministerial responsibility still holds.
This clueless, unsatisfactory handling of visitors’ isolation appears to be endemic and must be sorted immediately.
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