Chris Hipkins, then minister in charge of the Covid-19 response, with then director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield in 2022. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Politicians have mixed reflections on the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, five years on from the first lockdown.
It has been half a decade since New Zealanders entered a nation-wide 'Alert Level 4' lockdown, designed to prevent the spread of the virus.
Cabinet was quick to move the country to Level 4 after public health officials were unable to trace the source of two cases of community transmission.
"Our plan is simple. We can stop the spread by staying at home and reducing contact. Now is the time to act," former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the public at the time.
As the country prepared to lockdown, people travelling around the country scrambled to get home before the rules came into force.
Non-essential workers were instructed to stay home and only have physical contact with those in their 'bubble', with exceptions for exercise, medical appointments and supermarket shops.
The Level 4 lockdown lasted just over a month and by the time New Zealand moved to Level 1 on 8 June, the total number of cases had reached 1505 with 22 deaths.
At the time, there had been 6,917,871 confirmed cases world-wide and 401,287 deaths.
Looking back, five years on
Labour leader Chris Hipkins, then-Minister in charge of the Covid-19 response, said decision makers got it "about right" at the outset.
"I think the lockdowns that we did in the beginning gave New Zealand a head start on fighting the virus. It meant that we actually got to live a relatively normal life for a period of about 18 months when the rest of the world was experiencing rolling lockdowns."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins was minister in charge of the Covid-19 response. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Hipkins said it had been a team effort in the end.
"I do reflect on that period with a degree of pride in New Zealand's response, but also in the way New Zealanders came together.
"It wasn't just the government, the whole country did their bit to make sure they were fighting Covid-19 and as a result, we achieved something that very few other countries were able to achieve which was effectively a year and a half of relative freedom."
ACT leader David Seymour said New Zealand would be better off today had it followed his party's ideas during the pandemic. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
ACT leader David Seymour was critical of the government's response, saying New Zealand would be better off today had it followed his party's ideas during the pandemic.
"I'm really proud of the contribution I made to the debate in that time. ACT put out, if I recall, at least four substantial policy documents [to] make the rules fairer and use better technology.
"Let people use their RATs if they're approved in Australia, don't wait until New Zealand approves them, allow businesses and schools to make their own rules about vaccines, allow people who want to do frequent RAT tests come to work if they don't want to get vaccinated.
"If we'd done all those things New Zealand would be in a much better place than it is today."
Seymour said it was "critical" people make submissions to the Royal Commission so the country would be better prepared for the next pandemic.
"I understand a lot of New Zealanders don't want to think about those days again but in my lifetime, in your lifetime, I'm quite sure that something very much like Covid-19 will happen again.
"It's just the laws of averages, more people, more complicated food chains, you're likely to get something like that again and it's critical that we are better prepared for the next one.
"We literally can't afford to do it the way we did it last time because we spent all the money."
New Zealand First Minister Shane Jones, who was at the Cabinet table during the pandemic, was critical of the government's response to Covid-19.
"Oh, we're not talking about Covid and all that, the over-exaggeration and all that catastrophisation."
"We're having a study into the excesses and the loss of liberty during the Covid experience. Now, whether or not the system is ready for another attack of a Covid variety, I think we're a lot more robust and a lot cleverer."
Challenged on his position at the decision making table at the time, Jones said he was "one of many voices" and went on to get "thrown out" at the next election.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
