3 Nov 2021

Covid-19: Judith Collins please Prime Minister will visit Auckland

From Morning Report, 7:23 am on 3 November 2021

National Party leader Judith Collins says a trip by the Prime Minister to locked-down Tāmaki Makaurau is long overdue.

Jacinda Ardern is expected to visit Auckland next week, now Parliament's Speaker has dropped strict isolation rules.

Previously MPs returning to Parliament were required to self-isolate for five days upon return. Now they only need a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours before returning to Wellington.  

Collins welcomed the move, and told Morning Report the Aucklanders she's met with during the lockdown struggling.

"I don't think it's a universal feeling in Wellington, but I do think it's easier to forget Auckland if you never have to come here.

"I've spent four weeks of the last three months in Auckland, and when I go and visit people, small businesses and that and I try and cheer them up and give them some hope, you see people who are really resilient people just at the end of their tether. Watching people in tears, I would say is one it's really, really hard."

Ardern told Morning Report on Monday she had Auckland on the mind constantly but going there would have affected her ability to do her job in Wellington upon her return.

"If I were to travel to Auckland, that takes me out of being able to come back to Parliament for five days because of the rules of the way Parliament is working. So I have looked at it. It does impact on my accountability in the debating chamber. It impacts on my ability to front before the media, and in a practical sense if I were to travel there the most likely groups I would meet with, our health team and business leaders I've been doing remotely anyway and in order to meet with them would likely be breaking some of the rules we expect others to follow.

"Those are my considerations. I do need to make sure I'm running the response though and not doing anything that curtails my ability to continue to lead the response."

Collins said the self-isolation requirement wasn't easy, but she had managed to do it. Ultimately their removal is a good thing though.

"These rules that have been put in place for Parliament, they're being lifted now when Auckland's got more Covid than what it had three months ago.

"It has made it very difficult, but ultimately, I think she [Jacinda Ardern] will get a lot out of a visit to Auckland, and I say it's a good thing for her to do that."