The toughest of calls; the very bravest of decisions. And absolutely nothing less.
The Labour-led administration’s latest package of bold measures to tackle — and hopefully — throttle the accursed coronavirus before its pincers claw their way into the New Zealand community to ravaging effect, may yet turn out to be Jacinda Ardern’s finest hour.
That is a big call in itself. The suggestion that the decisions made by ministers at Saturday’s emergency Cabinet meeting might eclipse Ms Ardern’s consummate and empathetic handling of the aftermath of the Christchurch terrorist attack might well be subject to genuine question by many, if not most people. They might also regard the making of such a comparison as offensive.
But the validity of such a judgement on Ardern’s response to yet another mega-crisis landing on her desk can be gauged by the simple fact that another very different massacre likewise generating horror in the populace has completely overshadowed the marking of the first anniversary of the horror of the March 15 attack on Christchurch’s Muslim community.
To be blunt, the task of blocking the march of Covid-19 is inherently more complex — and thus much more difficult — than dealing with the repercussions of the hate which surfaced to such horrendously ugly degree on that fateful Friday afternoon a year ago.
We have had thousands of years to understand human nature. It has been mere weeks since we became aware of the coronavirus and the havoc it is capable of reeking.
But we know little else about it. The sheer unpredictability and randomness of where and how hard coronavirus strikes has made it very problematic for governments to choose the best options to combat the scourge.
Facing accusations that what they were doing was either too much or too little, politicians initially took the easy option of doing the least possible to avoid disruption to their economies and their societies.
There has been precious little international cooperation. The now-justified dire warnings being megaphoned from the headquarters of the World Health Organization fell on deaf ears — especially the pair belonging to a character whose idea of a working weekend is flitting from Washington to Florida in order to salute the flags sprouting from one of his many personally-owned golf courses.
To mention China’s lockdown of the inhabitants of Wuhan was to prompt chortling noises of superiority from anyone listening.
No longer. Now the words “lockdown”, “shutdown” and “border closure” have suddenly become vogue across the globe.
That has been the result of the very scary compounding rates of coronavirus cases and deaths in Europe, especially in Italy.
With five cases confirmed, Parliament needs to work together to ensure public safety and secure the economy, the Prime Minister says.
While the number of people in such plight in New Zealand was struggling to reach double figures, you can bet the official advice to Ardern and company was that to believe this country was somehow exempt from what has been the norm elsewhere was to sign up to full membership of a Fool’s Paradise.
Ms Ardern acted. The Cabinet promulgated the mandatory requirement that anyone entering New Zealand — apart from those on-traveling to nations in the South Pacific — go into self-isolation for 14 days.
Ms Ardern might have grasped the nettle. She is going to be stung, however - and badly so. That is inevitable. Politicians don’t win popularity contests by throwing their country’s economy into deep recession. They are not elected in order to shrink household incomes.
There are going to be no victory parades once the virus is contained — and there is surety that is so.
That the economy will nosedive even further and faster over coming weeks is nigh on guaranteed.
Politicians are expected to ameliorate job losses and slow attendant wage cutting — as John Key and Bill English did on coming to power in the midst of the global financial crisis in 2008.
The pair speak on the upcoming business package to help those impacted by coronavirus.
They proceeded with tax cuts and ignored calls to slash income supplements introduced by the previous Labour government in the form of the Working for Families programme.
Along with targeted wage subsidies, much the same can be expected from Grant Robertson when the Finance Minister this week releases details of the latest instalment of his Business Continuity Package.
What confronted National’s two now knights of the realm was a mild storm in a small teacup compared to the tempest now blowing at full force outside the doors of the Beehive.
Back in 2008, there were no Sunday afternoon emergency meetings as has been the case today with the likes of Air New Zealand and other players in the tourism industry — or what little is now left of it.
From hereon it’s going to be a white-knuckle ride for Ms Ardern, Mr Robertson and the rest of Labour’s camp, only interrupted by a general election bearing down on them.
Even tougher steps to halt the pandemic are likely to be asked of Ms Ardern in the interim. It looks like it might well be Wuhan from Whangārei to Whanganui and down to Wilton and all stops in between.
There is never a best time to be warming the Opposition benches in Parliament. If there is such a time, however, then surely that time is now.
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