By Peter Wilson*
This week in politics, the government faces a chorus of criticism over the pace of its response to the economic impact of Covid-19, National promises a regulations "bonfire" if it wins the election and drought relief for Northland.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said he won't follow Australia's response. Photo: supplied
The government was anxious this week to let the public know it was working hard on a relief package to help businesses affected by Covid-19 but it faced criticism over the pace of its efforts.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson was with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at her post-cabinet press conference on Monday to announce a business continuity package was being developed. On Wednesday Ardern chaired the first meeting of the Cabinet's Covid-19 Committee and on Thursday Robertson promised "we will get the money out the door as soon as possible".
It's likely to be signed off at Monday's cabinet meeting with details announced shortly after that.
What's known so far is that it will focus on wage subsidies to protect jobs in affected businesses and a plan to redeploy staff in hard-hit sectors such as forestry. Robertson has several times emphasised that a one-size-fits-all approach won't work and assistance must be carefully targeted.
He isn't going to follow Australia's response - a $17.6 billion stimulus package with tax relief for small businesses, support for 117,000 apprentices so they won't lose their jobs and one-off cash payments to beneficiaries.
Inevitably, the relative speed of the responses was noted: "The Australian government was announcing measures while Ardern's ministers were still holding committee meetings," said Politik.
National's finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith described the government as "flat footed" and told RNZ: "What we're seeing, unfortunately, is lots of announcements about announcements that will be made in the future."
He said businesses needed wage subsidies now, which echoed the opinion of the Forest Industry Contractors Association chief executive Prue Younger. "Put it this way, I think it's going to be almost too late," she said, adding that her association had been warning the government for weeks about the potentially devastating impact of the virus.
Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois was pleased that help was on the way but said it could have come much sooner, while Skyline Queenstown's Geoff McDonald warned the hospitality trade faced the "double whammy" of Covid-19 and a minimum wage increase next month which would ratchet up wage bills.
National urged the government to defer the minimum wage increase but Ardern and Robertson rejected that. Their take on it is that the people who get the money will spend it, and that will be good for the economy.
Something else the government isn't going to do is borrow $60 billion and use it to stimulate the economy, as suggested by ANZ. National wasn't keen on that either, with Goldsmith saying the time for that sort of macro intervention wasn't here yet.
On Thursday the global situation took a dramatic turn when President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on travel to the US from Europe by foreign nationals. There had been no warning and no consultation with European governments.
President Trump justified the move by saying Europe had not closed its borders despite the crisis in Italy, and cited German chancellor Angela Merkel's words that Covid-19 could spread to 70 per cent of her country's population, around 60 million people.
It caused more stock market falls and dire predictions about the impact the ban would have on airlines, which were expected to cancel thousands of flights a week.
The effect on New Zealand wasn't immediately clear. There's no direct impact but no one is going to be able to fly to the US via Europe.
By the end of the week it was evident Covid-19 wasn't going to go away any time soon, and the short sharp shock scenario has been abandoned. Officials are now working on measures that could be needed to deal with an extended economic downturn and a potential global recession. Robertson said the economic impact was likely to last through the year, which means up to the election and beyond.
Former MP and United Future leader Peter Dunne said it was the last thing the coalition needed. "It's a gut punch for the government in election year."
With the virus continuing to spread and governments around the world taking increasingly drastic measures to contain it, there wasn't much oxygen left for other political news.
National announced the first plank of its election campaign economic package, promising a regulations "bonfire" if it won. For each new regulation created two would be scrapped, said leader Simon Bridges. There's a lot more to come and National is expected to keep the best to last - his party's tax cut proposals.
Burning regulations is likely to find favour with voters because there are some apparently absurd rules around - Bridges referred to one which says a saw horse made by a builder has to have an engineering certificate. He also said National would do away with some of the rental accommodation rules put in place by the government, which aren't absurd.
The Dominion Post sounded a caution in an editorial, saying there would need to be a very careful assessment before National lit its fire. "We need to be clear on, and convinced by, the case for each page being ripped from the rule book, and for those who would defend them to be heard beforehand," the paper said. "Or we might, in future, be sifting through the ashes looking for where we went wrong."
Ardern found time during the week to visit Northland, where she announced a $10 million allocation for immediate drought relief covering water delivery and stock welfare needs.
At the weekend she's in Christchurch for events marking the anniversary of the March 15 terrorist attack.
*Peter Wilson is a life member of Parliament's press gallery, 22 years as NZPA's political editor and seven as parliamentary bureau chief for NZ Newswire.
