A communications degree has been one of the Prime Minister’s greatest strengths during the global pandemic. As the country heads into the unknown with Omicron, Jacinda Ardern needs to draw on that skillset more than ever before, writes political editor Jo Moir.
Analysis: Many anti-Labour and anti-Ardern types use the Prime Minister’s exceptional communication skills as a criticism, saying she is all talk, no substance.
It’s an easy but counterproductive political sledge, considering it was those skills Jacinda Ardern used to unite the team of five million in 2020 when the cloud of Covid arrived in the country.
Her daily messaging and ability to speak directly to all New Zealanders played a significant role in Labour winning an outright majority at the election later that same year.
It wasn’t the first time the country had seen it on display – the first was the Christchurch terror attacks and then again during the Whakaari/White Island eruption.
As the pandemic has rolled on, and the uncertainty and unpredictability has increased, those communication skills have waned.
Instead, Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Finance Minister Grant Robertson have provided a more direct explanation or assessment of what was around the corner.
As New Zealand looks down the barrel of a year set to be consumed by Omicron, and with it the first real taste of hospitals being swamped and the virus truly spreading, the messaging must be clearer than ever.
It appeared an over-hyped announcement lacking any real answers, which left people wondering what the plan actually was.
Ardern’s press conference from the Labour Party caucus retreat in Taranaki on Thursday was billed as a review of the traffic light system and an update on Omicron.
Reporters in attendance were told in advance the PM would lay out some of the preparedness work that had been done in recent weeks as Omicron knocks on the border door.
What was announced was a re-announcement that the whole country would move to traffic light red if there was an outbreak, and a promise to make rapid antigen testing free and available to everyone.
Asked where the more detailed plans were, Ardern said they existed but would be announced next week.
That in itself is a return to an announcement of an announcement – something the Government was criticised heavily for last year, and should, by now, be knocked out of its system.
It makes sense that ministers wouldn’t want to overload Kiwis – who are only just returning from summer holidays – with too much information.
But if keeping the detailed plans under wraps for another week was always the plan then that should have been made clear from the outset.
Instead, it appeared an over-hyped announcement lacking any real answers, which left people wondering what the plan actually was.
The decision to treat cancelling the latest MIQ ballot as an “operational issue’’ and leave it to the head of MIQ to put out a press release via social media at 8pm on Tuesday was an avoidable error too.
It was Hipkins who made the call to cancel the ballot, to allow time to make decisions about the border and take some pressure off the overstretched system.
A press conference was tentatively scheduled for after the Covid Ministers group met on Tuesday, and a decision on the ballot had been made.
That never eventuated: instead, the first Kiwis overseas heard of it was on Twitter, creating a significant vacuum for incorrect information to circulate.
Hipkins ended up having to do a press conference on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to put out the fires – well after they had been lit.
Omicron is going to be different to anything anyone has seen before.
People will be more panicked and, to a certain extent, left at home to isolate and recover on their own as well.
Communicating the path ahead and clearly articulating the support mechanisms available will be just as important as it was when the country was first put into lockdown in 2020.
The pressure is on ministers, and in particular Ardern, more than ever before.
