Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has accepted an invitation from Australian PM Scott Morrison to participate in the Australian National Cabinet meeting tomorrow. She says she will connect via vidlink to discuss among other things, the creation of a Trans-Tasman travel bubble between the two nations.
This comes as Aotearoa has been highly-regarded worldwide in its handling of curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. The PM had a simple message that we need to stay the course and maintain Alert Level 3.
She also said that our ability to downscale to level two is dependent on how we fare in the assessments that government is conducting.
"We will be accessing if there had been low to no cases for several days preceeding.
The PM noted that Google tracking data had been used to track our movements during the lockdown. While NZ has not perfectly adhered to the Alert Level guidelines, the PM says we have done well.
“However we did better than many other countries we compare ourselves to," Ardern says.
“Your efforts, New Zealand, have put us at the front of the pack, and everyone should feel very proud of that.”
In preparation for the national Budget announcement in ten days, Ardern confirmed that Cabinet will confirm how Alert Level 2 will look like this Thursday.
She also added that Finance Minister Grant Robertson will give a pre-budget speech on the same day.
“We are being very careful to ensure that every dollar spent helps to create jobs and sets us on a path to our country rebuilding better," Ardern says.
“The world wants our quality food and fibre, and perhaps now, more than ever, our high-quality ideas as well.”
Ardern confirmed that while it is hoped that the annual Fieldays would continue this year, there will also be an online sale as well.