“If we needed confirmation our Government runs on smiles and good luck, we got it last night,” according to ACT Leader David Seymour.
“The Government had one job: test people who are released early from isolation. Only four of 55 were tested. That is extraordinary.
“New Zealand officially has the world’s dumbest borders. The cost is not just the risk of COVID-19. We are so far from smart borders that anyone who needs openness just took a massive setback.
“New Zealanders will now be punished harder with blunt measures because the Government can’t do smart, or even competent.
“Who is asking the basic questions? Had the Health Minister been physically and mentally present, all he had to do was to ask Ashley Bloomfield ‘these people who are released early, you’re testing them, right?
“It’s been the same story throughout COVID-19. The people make sacrifices because the Government is incompetent. Far from ‘The World’s Smartest Borders’, we follow the leader in taking blunt measures that cost livelihoods.
“The COVID-19 crisis is no longer new. The Government of Taiwan advised the WHO there was a problem on December 31 last year. Our Prime Minister was in Fiji in February as the crisis took off, and planning a Christchurch commemoration with foreign guests in mid-March.
“Even taking that late start, we have been at this for three months, and if anything the Government’s capability is getting worse.
“ACT’s 5-point plan, released in our Alternative Budget last month, put public health measures front and centre. That is the kind of prioritisation we need.”