And there’s more to come
When the Prime Minister put the whole country into lockdown back in March, even those among us who thought it was a gross over-reaction were willing to take it on the chin and go along with it. Most of us cooperated and suffered the indignity of our home detention and made the most of it in the best interests of the team.
We knew there was still a lot to learn about this virus and of course the suggestion that “tens of thousands of New Zealanders could die” was enough for all of us to pretty much pull our heads in, well at least a little bit. I wrote at the time that while I was looking to the government to take action, what I was expecting was stricter border controls and social distancing, not a complete lockdown.
Keeping in mind that although they’d announced the border was closed, international arrivals hadn’t stopped, and despite assurances from the government, border security consisted of asking people a few questions about where they’d been and giving them a leaflet which recommended self-isolation. We all know the stories of how effective that was. The border was, in fact, anything but closed.
We suffered the lockdown and being lectured daily by our school principal Prime Minister. We, the constantly and gratuitously labelled “team of five million”, did our part and celebrated the daily successes as the virus didn’t spread and take hold as it had done in other countries.
The wise among us pointed out regularly that this was temporary and much more likely to be the result of our geographic location than of lockdown and good management, but the gullible still believed the daily propaganda about how we had “gone early and gone hard”. She’s still saying that by the way. You’d think she might have registered that it’s wearing a bit thin by now as the number of cases increases on a daily basis but no, she’s locked into her own spin. To be fair, it really is all they’ve got to cling to after three years of failure after failure after failure.
Except this is yet another failure!
Four and a half months since lockdown started and they still have daily breaches of quarantine or the border.
We did our part. Why can’t the government and its officials do theirs?
The answer is simple. Not one of them has the experience and skill needed to run a bath, never mind a small business, never mind one as large as a country. They don’t grasp that in business, you don’t leave anything unsaid or unchecked. Your instructions need to be totally clear. Your expectations have to be crystal clear. The significance of your decisions has to be crystal clear.
You don’t decide something is a good idea then leave it to others to determine what to implement and what checks to put in place. That is what leadership is about and that is the part Ms Ardern did get right – almost. She was able to put us all under a draconian lockdown and we all went along with it because we believed her.
She was clear about the potential damage – tens of thousands could die.
She was clear about what needed to be done by “the team of five million”: Lockdown. Stay at home. Stay in your bubble. Stop it spreading. Save lives. Be kind.
Some of the practical instructions were ambiguous and contradictory but the overall message was clear, as were her stated expectations of us.
But what expectations did she pass on to her own ministers? What clear messages did she send to them and the Ministry of Health?
We don’t know because that was all secret squirrel stuff, but clearly, whatever the messages were, they weren’t clear or those that got them didn’t understand them.
It has become obvious that David Clark was completely useless in the role of Minister of Health. She should have moved him aside on day one. But she didn’t and he did nothing (except go cycling and to the beach with his family). She still didn’t fire him. That is weak and inept leadership.
She (and her senior ministers) didn’t check and/or follow up to ensure everything was being done as instructed.
They checked nothing and the outcome is now there for us all to see: a daily increasing shambles, and they still have no idea what to do next.
Whenever we ultimately end up having the next election, how anybody could cast a vote for such ineptitude is way beyond me.
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