“The Prime Minister should take some personal responsibility when things go wrong, instead of throwing members of the
public under a bus." says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“The Government has extreme powers to keep us safe from COVID, but the Prime Minister is not matching her power with
responsibility. I wonder if she knows she’s the PM.
“The growing trend with Jacinda Ardern is this: it’s someone else’s fault when her Government fails. The Government’s
response cannot improve with this approach.
“To improve its COVID-19 response, the Government must accept criticism. It can't do that if the Prime Minister's first
instinct is to attack members of the public. ACT said in our report COVID 2.0, the Government must adopt a strategy of accepting criticism as a step to improvement.
“If your strategy is to make sure people are tested, it’s your job to ensure it happens. It’s no good saying ‘someone
lied.’ If they did lie, that's no excuse for the Government. We know people lie, it’s part of the human condition. The
question is why did the Government’s system not check those working in sensitive areas against COVID test results?
“Similarly with the KFC worker who was not told to stay home. The Prime Minister said the person received 15 calls or
texts. The real question is why the Government’s policy was to send endless unanswered messages with no plan B.
“Time and again, things go wrong and it is everyone’s fault but the Prime Ministers.
“I miss the days when the Prime Minister just told us to be kind, I wish she’d go back to those days, and practice it a
little herself.