Politics this week touched on long-running trans-Tasman tensions, New Zealand becoming a republic and the lack of regulations around sunscreen.
The spat over Australia's continual deportation of criminals with little link to New Zealand who have served their time came to a head this week. Australia's Channel 9 aired footage of a planeload of deportees in Australia destined for New Zealand. In the television story Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton referred to the deportations as "taking the trash out".
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton likened deporting criminals to New Zealand to “taking the trash out”.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins called it a "deplorable move by the Australian Government". Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said that Dutton’s comments "only serve to trash his own reputation". National's Judith Collins called for New Zealand to do the same with Australian criminals who had served their time.
"New Zealand needs to also say if Australia is going to send us what they refer to as 'our rubbish or our trash', we should be sending them back theirs."
The Prime Minister sparked debate on Monday after pulling out of her weekly interview slot with ZB presenter Mike Hosking. Hosking accused Ardern's Government of being "over being held to account".
Ardern said that she still would be in the show, but only when there were issues of national significance.
The issue of sunscreen regulation will come to Parliament - with National's Todd Muller's proposed law to bring in bring in minimum standards to be debated in Parliament.
The nation’s consumer watchdog has continuously found sunscreen is not meeting SPF levels advertised.
Questions around New Zealand becoming a republic post the Meghan Markle and Prince Harry interview with Oprah were quickly shot down by Jacinda Ardern, who said she had not "sensed an appetite from New Zealanders for significant change in our constitutional arrangements".
The couple painted an unflattering picture of the British royal family.
"I don’t expect that’s likely to change quickly."
It came out this week that the Government spent $11,000 on videos to promote a housing scheme that housed 12 families .
Housing Minister Megan Woods revealed the figure when questioned by National’s Nicola Willis.
Housing Minister Megan Woods was criticised after publicly celebrating housing just 12 families in the Progressive Home Ownership Scheme which has been going for seven months, after it was originally announced in 2019.
National leader Judith Collins pushed for New Zealand to open a reciprocal trans-Tasman bubble after Australia announced the re-introduction of quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders after being on hold during the February Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland.
The National Party leader says New Zealanders were promised smart border control of Covid-19, but got the "most closed border".
"Australia is able to open their borders to New Zealanders and they have been able to close them when there's any Covid cases over here," Collins said.
"We could do the same. If the Aussies can do it, surely we can do it better. They've had one with us since October and they seem to be able to manage."
The nation found out on Monday the Government bought even more Pfizer vaccines , enough to cover it the entire population of New Zealand .
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the decision was based on "the fact the Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be about 95 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic infection".
An additional 8.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab have been secured.
"It also means all New Zealanders will have the chance to access the same vaccine."
It came not even a week after New Zealand went into bat for its trans-Tasman neighbour over a shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia were blocked from leaving the European Union.
The Government had already pre-purchased enough Covid-19 vaccines to cover New Zealand, made up of four different varieties including AstraZeneca, although none have arrived or have had approval, unlike the Pfizer vaccine.
The Government also revealed this week who is next in line for the vaccine , with one of the prioritised groups people from South Auckland who are over 65 or have underlying health issues.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins reiterated on Q+A the concept of Covid-19 vaccine passports , saying it would be "almost an inevitability" within the next year, adding New Zealand was actively involved in conversations around the passport.
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