The government has announced a major u-turn, confirming that nurses will be added to the immigration fast track list from this Thursday.

It means migrant nurses will be able to gain instant residency after moving to New Zealand, rather than waiting two years. The move has long been called for by those in the healthcare sector and opposition MPs to help cope with workforce shortages and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with the move up the “green list” for nurses, the immigration minister has confirmed midwives will also be added from this week, while the likes of teachers, gasfitters and drain layers will be added in March 2023.

“Since the pandemic 3,474 nurses have arrived in country, but it’s clear we need to do more to encourage nurses to choose New Zealand,” said Michael Wood. “Adding these roles will further build on the attractiveness of New Zealand to those looking to set themselves and their families up long term.”

He added: “We understand that labour shortages are the biggest issue facing New Zealand businesses, and are contributing to cost of living pressures too. These measures are about addressing those shortages and providing greater certainty to businesses as they recover from the pandemic.”

A temporary residence pathway for bus and truck drivers has also been unveiled through a new sector agreement to help employers attract workers.

Responding to criticism that the government had been too slow to act, Ardern said the existing immigration pathway had already seen 4,500 nurses apply to the Nursing Council to work in New Zealand. “What we’re seeing is a globally competitive market. We’re seeing shortages around the world. Coming into our winter period we want to make sure we have a simple message… come to New Zealand.”

The Herald is livestreaming the press conference, you can watch below

The opposition has welcomed the announcement, though not without saying it was well overdue. National’s immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford said it should have been in place a year ago. “After months of dithering, it is a relief that the government has finally realised its mistake,” said Stanford.

“Leaving migrant nurses off the Fast Track Straight to Residence Pathway of the Green List was nothing short of madness while New Zealand faced critical staff shortages across the health workforce.”

The Act Party agreed – and claimed the government only acted today in response to a bad poll result last week. It has been “governing in slow motion”, said MP James McDowall. “Today’s announcement shows Wood has been fudging excuses for months. ‘If we give nurses residency, they’ll just leave,’ he said. Wood’s obviously not worried about nurses with residency leaving now the policy is his, so he’s been fluffing forever.”

It’s the final post-cabinet press conference for 2022 and the prime minister, alongside immigration minister Michael Wood, is expected to make a major immigration announcement.

Jacinda Ardern confirmed during her morning media round that the immigration settings would be discussed during today’s cabinet meeting. While the outcome of those talks isn’t yet known, it’s been rumoured to include shifting settings to address workforce shortages.

You can tune in below and we’ll have full coverage from 4pm.

I’ve been hearing a lot of Aucklanders, myself included, complain about the dismal weather we’ve been having. Today may be an exception, but it has been truly horrid over the past week (I know, apparently it was lovely everywhere else).

But while it’s been a pretty cold and wet start to summer, I’ve seen a few threads from people in the UK showing what it really means to have a cold December.

Here’s former press gallery journo, and occasional Spinoff contributor, Henry Cooke with a lovely series of photos showing what life is like in a wintry London.

The Spinoff’s politics podcast Gone by Lunchtime has taken out the best current affairs show prize at the NZ Podcast Awards.

In silver was the Herald’s Front Page podcast, while The Shit Show from Shit You Should Care About took out bronze.

The number of new Covid-19 infections has risen again, with 40,098 reported over the past week. About 11,000 of those were listed as reinfections.

The Ministry of Health said the average number of new cases being registered each day has increased to 5,721. There are now 514 people in hospital with Covid-19 and 14 in intensive care.

On average, there are three Covid-related deaths being reported each day, the ministry said. The official death toll rose by 35 over the past week, with 22 so far directly attributed to the virus.

The government’s been slapped on the wrist over its MIQ lottery, with the ombudsman saying officials failed to take into the account the “very real impact” on people trying to come home.

The chief ombudsman Peter Boshier’s report into the managed isolation scheme has been released today, criticising the lottery system and virtual lobby system that resulted in thousands of New Zealanders trying simultaneously to secure a slot.

“I acknowledge that another type of system, which provided for consideration of individual circumstances would have been more complex, time-consuming and costly to implement than the virtual lobby,” Boshier said.

“But I do not consider these challenges provided sufficient rationale for MBIE not to advise and recommend to decision-makers options for such a system – the impact on people was too severe.

“A fundamental human right was being limited and people’s lives were being significantly impacted.”

At the time the lottery was in place, the government defended it. They did, however, admit that it was an imperfect system. Meanwhile, the opposition repeatedly condemned it as a “lottery of human misery”.

Boshier started his investigation into MIQ late last year after fielding a number of complaints from the public.

In response, MBIE’s MIQ general manager Shayne Gray said that MIQ was designed at pace in order to protect New Zealanders from Covid-19. “The scale of the MIQ system, and speed at which it was set up is unprecedented in New Zealand’s history,” Gray said.

“As the global pandemic unfolded, the effectiveness of decision-making in times of crisis depended on the ability to make sense of constantly changing information. MBIE is confident that it provided a high standard of advice to ministers on the operation of MIQ given the challenging environment.”

He added: “Regardless, MBIE acknowledges that the allocation system was not perfect and that some people were unable to secure a place in MIQ whilst in extremely challenging circumstances.”

As is the annual tradition, a lot of Auckland’s beaches were deemed unswimmable over the weekend following days of torrential rain.

A glance at the Safeswim website shows many inner city beaches with red “swimming not advised” and black “do not swim” tags.

Back in early 2021 I wrote a piece for The Spinoff outlining why Auckland beaches regularly become off limits following heavy rain. In short, much of Auckland’s existing waste and stormwater infrastructure is combined, leading to overflows that often end up in the sea. That means the beaches become contaminated with actual human faeces. Lovely.

As I explained at the time, it’s a long road ahead to fixing the issues – though the government will be hoping its three waters proposals could speed that up.

A review of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme published this morning by the Human Rights Commission has found RSE workers are being subjected to conditions akin to modern slavery. Equal employment opportunities commissioner Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo says it’s not a case of a few bad apples, but systemic.

The review found numerous instances of human rights breaches including poor housing conditions, workers being banned from travelling or consuming alcohol in their own time, people not being allowed to make dinner for themselves and workers being warned against joining a union. The government raised the quota for the RSE scheme by 3000 this summer in September. It was the biggest increase in the programme in over a decade.

It will review the RSE scheme early next year. Massey University academics say Pacific nations are now losing crucial workers to labour schemes in New Zealand and Australia at such volume that their own development prospects are being undermined.

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Jacinda Ardern won’t be drawn on which of her MPs will be retiring ahead of next year’s election – but said it’s not a sign anyone is simply jumping ship.

RNZ’s Corin Dann asked the prime minister whether any of her MPs had seen the “writing on the wall” ahead of next year’s election and after the weekend’s dismal byelection result. Ardern said that was unfair. “It’s not unusual, government or opposition. People do have a look, particularly in their personal circumstances, whether they want to commit to another three years,” said Ardern.

A reshuffle will be announced in the new year, but that was a separate issue and had been long-signalled, Ardern said. The resignations were linked to people’s personal decisions not to stand in 2023.

Meanwhile, on the Hamilton West byelection, Ardern said the result – which saw National take control of the seat – was disappointing but not unexpected. “I also think we need to put it in context. The turnout for that byelection was along some of the lowest we’ve seen,” she said.

“Byelections traditionally have very poor turnout. Byelections next to Christmas, it appears, have even worse turnout.”

Speaking to Newshub’s AM, Ardern said she would learn from the result and instruct cabinet ministers to take a look at their agenda for the new year. “We do need to be focused on the economy,” she said. “It’s a broad-based request for our ministers to go away over the summer period… for that reflection.”

It wasn’t accurate to use the byelection result as indicative of what could happen in a general election, added Ardern, however she would not be ignoring the result. “For us, our focus will be particularly: how do we continue to support New Zealanders through what is an internationally volatile period?”

Cabinet will meet today and we’ll next hear from the prime minister around 4pm.