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OPINIONPoliticsJuly 14, 2020

Seven ideas to make the 2020 election a true contest of ideas

Guest writer

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If there’s any time for ambitious, agenda-setting policy ideas, it’s now, write Max Harris and Laura O’Connell Rapira. Here are seven suggestions that might just transform New Zealand for the better.

In a pre-budget speech, finance minister Grant Robertson said it was time to “address long-term issues”, but then when the budget was released, it was criticised for failing to tackle problems crying out for solutions. So as the country’s attention turns towards the September election and the parties finalise their manifestos, what are the ideas that need to be debated in this campaign cycle?

For the Labour Party, this is an opportunity to put forward a second-term manifesto that turns the rhetoric of “transformative government” into a reality. The major positive legacies of the last Labour-led government were the creation or restoration of public institutions that would endure beyond a single term, including Kiwibank and KiwiRail. This is a moment when Jacinda Ardern’s government can decide what it wants to be remembered for, beyond well-deserved plaudits for effective crisis management.

But it’s important for all parties that this election is a contest of ideas. National leader Todd Muller has been challenged for failing to detail a plan for economic recovery, having promised “a suite of policies” before the election. The Green Party, whose polling has hovered around the 5% threshold, will need to differentiate itself from Labour to return to parliament. As we finished this article, the Greens had made a good start on social security, income tax, and ACC reform, prompting meaningful debate about the state of our tax and welfare system. Other small parties seeking to gain a foothold in a post-Covid Parliament will need to offer programmes or perspectives that aren’t getting discussed at the moment.

Here are seven areas of ambitious action we’d like to see on the 2020 election agenda.

Members of the public hold flags as Navy ships sail into the Waitematā Harbour as part of the fleet entry to celebrate the Royal New Zealand Navy’s 75th Birthday in Auckland on November 16, 2016. (Image: Michael Bradley/AFP/Getty Images)

Constitutional transformation

The chaotic passing of the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act under urgency, containing significant police powers, exposed a constitutional framework that is not working as it should be. And this is nothing new. In recent years, New Zealand governments have taken action that has over-reached or endangered rights, with few safeguards in the way. Think the Foreshore and Seabed Act, or Canterbury earthquake legislation, or the Urewera raids.

Constitutional change doesn’t have to be just a dry legalistic activity. It can also be a positive opportunity. It can be a chance to put in place institutions and processes that reflect New Zealand’s identities, cultures, and commitments. The report of Matike Mai Aotearoa, coordinated by Moana Jackson and Margaret Mutu, represents the most exciting proposals we have seen. It sets out concrete ways to give effect to He Whakaputanga (the 1835 Declaration of Independence) and the 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi, based on over 250 hui from around the country. It proposes three spheres of authority in a new constitutional model: a kawanatanga (government) sphere involving the Crown, a rangatiratanga sphere recognising ongoing Māori sovereignty, and a relational sphere. Published in 2016, it called for a Tiriti Convention in 2021, led by Māori. A political party going into the 2020 election could say it is committed to engaging with this convention, on the foundations set by the Matike Mai Aotearoa report.

A Ministry of Secure Green Jobs and a green investment bank

The economy will also be central in election debates, as dozens of countries enter a recession in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis. How can New Zealand respond to the inevitable hit to sectors like tourism and higher education, while keeping an eye on the long-term? It will require strategic investment, going beyond the more ad hoc approach of the Provincial Growth Fund. It requires creative thinking about where New Zealand wants its digital sector, or manufacturing, or renewable energy to be by 2030, and careful planning about how we get there, including an awareness of how past trade agreements might get in the way of that investment. A dual mission could be built into strategic investment: job creation and decarbonisation, to support getting people into work in the coming months and to contribute to the global imperative of reducing fossil fuel emissions. This could be New Zealand’s Green New Deal, building on the work of the Sunrise Movement in America and The Leap’s global-focused People’s Bailout.

Māori food producer Wakatū uses technology to make high value products, but it also helps the company take care of the environment. (Image: supplied)

A new ministry could focus on green infrastructure that is publicly owned, including renewable energy, full-fibre broadband, and public transport. Rather than harking back to the past by calling it a Ministry of Works, this could be a Ministry of Secure Green Jobs for the 21st century, employing people on good wages and conditions. The ministry could model a different approach to power-sharing and the constitution. The government could partner with hapū and iwi to deliver appropriate projects, learning from past wrongs done by the Ministry of Works on and to Māori land. This would result in better decisions and projects for all of us. As well, in the tino rangatiratanga sphere (or sphere of Māori sovereignty) parallel funding and authority could be provided to hapū and iwi as part of giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Setting up a new department in this way would be a way of valuing construction and trades work.

A flagship project for this Ministry of Secure Green Jobs could be mass state housing-building, going beyond the 8000 announced at the budget to a goal of at least 18,000 to address the current waitlist, designed in partnership with cutting-edge New Zealand architects and in an energy efficient way. To support businesses, a green investment bank could be set up with government putting in initial funding. This could have a focus on creating employment and decarbonising the economy. The German National Investment Bank, KfW, was key in boosting solar energy innovation. It could provide much-needed funding to innovative New Zealand projects and enterprises.

Strengthening our social infrastructure

There is a risk that investment in shovel-ready physical infrastructure benefits occupations over-represented by men, and neglects care work and our social infrastructure. Political parties could commit to addressing longstanding issues of pay and conditions in elderly care work, including through promised Fair Pay Agreements. Workers in care environments have to show enormous patience, emotional intelligence, and skill, often under difficult conditions. Arguably any party can show kindness in governing by committing to lift pay for those doing this vital care work. Caring work is typically low-carbon work: caring jobs are green jobs.

Perhaps we need bolder conversations, too – about integrating the care sector and health sector, to ensure there aren’t holes in our health service towards the end of people’s lives. Another neglected area of our health service is dentistry: this could be made part of our public health service through a commitment to restoring free dentistry. There are associations between dental care and rheumatic fever, still a major problem in New Zealand, after a spike in cases in May. Guaranteeing free dentistry could demonstrate a commitment to expand the public services available to all in New Zealand free-at-the-point-of-use. A recent ActionStation survey of over 1,000 low-waged workers and people on benefits revealed free dentistry as the number one policy that would help respondents most financially.

Widening access to public services must also include a commitment to disability justice. Lockdown has taught us all that a stronger commitment to disability justice might have made our cities and communities more liveable for everyone before Covid-19; there is no excuse now not to build this into every aspect of thinking about designing public services for the future. The prime minister said she wanted to lead a government “that brings back manaakitanga”. If manaakitanga underpinned the systems that govern our lives, disabled people would not have to wait for a pandemic to get changes that many have been demanding over decades, including increased access to working and learning remotely, as well as reliable food delivery services.

If the government had listened to disabled people and built a physically inclusive and accessible society, we also would have been better prepared for living in Covid-19 lockdown. For example, if gaps between store aisles were wider, as they are meant to be for wheelchair users and others, everyone would have found physical distancing easier. The same goes for footpaths.

Rethinking social security

With unemployment likely to rise significantly, there is also an urgent need for an agenda for those not in work. There is widespread agreement that the $250-a-week Jobseeker Support payment is not enough to live on, with many arguing that the government’s new higher income support payment for those losing jobs because of Covid-19 is a sign that it recognises the inadequacy of Jobseeker Support levels.

Jobseeker Support was boosted by $25 a week at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, but the Welfare Expert Advisory Group – hardly a set of wide-eyed radicals – recommended a $100 a week increase for the Jobseeker Support single rate. Implementing that recommendation could be a chance for the Labour Party to redress what it left out of the 2020 Budget. For the National Party, which did lift benefits in government, this could be an opportunity to demonstrate that it acknowledges the needs of people living in poverty. National leader Todd Muller has said he would continue to increase investment in the welfare safety net. Individualising all benefits would be a sensible reform alongside this commitment, which matches Muller’s commitment to self-determination for individuals.

The Green Party has acted already, promising a $325 a week guaranteed minimum income, which still may not be enough for many to live on in a country like ours with high housing and food costs, but seems to be a move in the right direction. Any changes need to be accompanied by reforms to housing policy, so that increased benefits are not simply passed on to landlords.

Other asks in social security have been given prominence by advocates such as Auckland Action Against Poverty, Susan St John, and Chloe-Ann King. The social security system should be brought into the 21st century by ending the current penalisation of people on benefits. Access to benefits should be open to migrants, who contribute to society and should not be allowed to fall into destitution because of their citizenship. Finally, we should call the system what it is: “social security” or “income support” – a form of support that society should be proud to give to assist those in need.

The Māori Language Petition of more than 30,000 signatures calling for the teaching of te reo in schools is brought to Parliament, 1972.

Universal te reo Māori

Training and retraining opportunities must be available as New Zealand navigates its way through the fallout from Covid-19, but there is also a need for educational investment that reflects our country’s unique position in the world. Integrating te reo Māori into the national curriculum and making it available to everyone would be an example of that investment. We know that learning te reo Māori makes people more adept at learning other languages, and it would help to deepen understanding of New Zealand history, which is to be increasingly taught in New Zealand schools. Many high schools are already implementing te reo Māori curriculums; a government commitment to te reo Māori in all schools at all levels would ensure consistent learning for everyone.

To ensure it is not just younger generations benefitting, the government could fund adult education in te reo Māori, through iwi, local councils, community groups, trade unions. Te reo Māori should be taught in context, with an understanding of its links to colonisation and decolonisation. This would support ongoing debates about relocating or removing statues of imperialist figures, and adding public holidays like Matariki that recognise New Zealand’s history and values. It would also avoid rifts growing between a younger generation that may learn te reo Māori and New Zealand history, and an older generation that has not had access to that same education.

Māori could determine collectively how funding is allocated for universal te reo Māori to ensure the language thrives. If there are concerns about sufficient teachers, universal te reo Māori could be phased in over time, with access for Māori prioritised, so that teaching is high quality. What is important is that a commitment is made and a plan adopted.

Public transport for all

As a result of the pandemic, New Zealanders have had a taste of free public transport. Greater Wellington Regional Council made all trains and buses free until the end of June. In Auckland, no charges were imposed for buses, trains, and ferries, although passenger use was monitored with the expectation that only essential workers would use it. Even though this was a time of reduced demand, this experiment showed that a world of free public transport is not an impossible fantasy. It could be feasible, with political will and proper funding. That was confirmed when Luxembourg committed to free public transport for its population in late 2018, which it said would save money on collecting fares and policing ticket purchases. Luxembourg is smaller than New Zealand, with a population of around 600,000 (though more commute through Luxembourg daily because of its shared borders with Belgium, Germany, and France). But it shows that a country can make universal public transport its mission.

In New Zealand, making public transport free would be easier to deliver with council-administered bus companies alongside public rail and ferries. It would also, clearly, come at a cost to government, which we discuss further below. But it would reduce emissions, save people money in petrol bills, support people getting to work or to job interviews, and improve air quality and pollution. It could be a flagship commitment – a new universal basic service of which all New Zealanders could be proud.

Striking teachers wait for a bus to take them to a rally on August 15, 2018 in Auckland. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

Supporting rights at work

Covid-19 has reminded us that it is workers (including unpaid care workers) that sustain our lives in a community. Essential workers have kept supermarkets open, transport running, public services operating. It’s time now to put an end to offensive distinctions between “low-skilled” and “high-skilled” work and to do what we can to give people the security at work they need. During this crisis many workers have rediscovered the importance of trade unions, which are able to represent members in difficult moments and provide collective strength so no one is left alone to fight their corner. One way to elevate rights across the board would be for political parties in the lead-up to the 2020 election to commit to boosting unions.

A nudge in favour of trade unions would be to make union enrolment a default part of any employment contract, which people could opt out of if they wanted. Nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders support this move, according to a Law Foundation study. The study suggested that New Zealanders in all walks of life supported the move, including 60% of managers and 62% of employers. There is evidence that higher union membership can improve productivity, and help to secure stronger protections for workers – such as more sick leave, a priority under the spotlight in the wake of Covid-19.

Black Lives Matter March For Solidarity in Auckland on June 1, 2020 (Photo: Jihee Junn)

We haven’t discussed every area of possible policy action. In the realm of criminal justice, the Black Lives Matter uprisings have shone a light on institutional racism in New Zealand, and should prompt an ongoing rethink about the role of police (including in activities that require more dedicated mental health expertise). Many of Moana Jackson’s recommendations from his 1988 He Whaipaanga Hou report are still relevant and continue to be ignored. They should be revisited.

This is no time just to muddle through. Covid-19 has forced societies to pause and reflect all around the world on inequalities exposed by the pandemic. In ours, the pandemic has shone a light, again, on the damage done by capitalism and colonisation. It is right and democratic that political parties set out in advance of an election what they plan to do about the problems that have been exposed.

But at a time of insecurity and risk, we all need to be reassured that bold policy ideas can be delivered in a way that isn’t going to make people worse off. It is important, for example, for political parties to identify how each of the above proposals might be paid for. Some of them, such as a commitment to constitutional transformation or opt-out union membership, can be delivered at little cost. Others, such as public or social infrastructure investment, can be funded through borrowing – since it is generally acknowledged by economists that we can borrow to invest, with certain investments paying for themselves over time through increased incomes and tax revenues. But others still, including universal te reo Māori, or transformed social security, or free public transport, may need tax changes to be paid for.

Political parties should be willing to have a conversation about tax justice. The longer governments hold off on shifting our tax settings, the harder any change will ever be – and our view is that our tax system is not as progressive as it could be. Those with the broadest shoulders can afford to chip in a little more to pay for our public services, whether through slightly higher rates of income tax for those who earn higher amounts and/or a net wealth tax for the super-rich (both proposed by the Greens in their recent announcement).

These ideas are not just a wish list. They are suggestions we think could deepen our public political debate and ultimately make us better as a country. Getting political parties to commit to them, much less implement them, will not be easy. It will require challenging vested interests, including those opposed to expanding trade union rights, those who might be initially resistant to wider te reo Māori teaching, and embedded ideas about social security and the role of government. It will require organising to make the positive case for these changes, as well as holding politicians to account. It’ll be up to us in the weeks and months ahead.

Thanks to Anna Sturman, Anne Waapu, and Natalie Jones for comments on this piece.

Keep going!

Image: Toby Morris

PoliticsJuly 13, 2020

Live updates, July 13: SFO investigating Labour donations; 30 deportees returning this week

The Spinoff

Staff writers

Image: Toby Morris

For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.

The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here

8pm: The day in sum

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield returned from holiday to announce there were no new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

Health minister Chris Hipkins confirmed 30 New Zealanders were being deported from Australia this week and would spend their two weeks in managed isolation at a dedicated facility at an inner-city Auckland hotel.

The Christchurch mosque gunman sacked his lawyers and will now represent himself at his sentencing in the Christchurch High Court next month.

The Serious Fraud Office has commenced an investigation in relation to donations made to the Labour Party in 2017.

The woman who escaped from a managed isolation facility by climbing a fence has been charged with failing or refusing to isolate for the required 14 day period.

7.05pm: Amy Adams apologises over candidate confusion

Ever have the sensation some powerful force is thwacking your head over and over against your desk? That must be how the National Party feels right at the moment, with the latest example – after the Paul Goldsmith of Ngati Porou cock-up – ethnic confusion.

Senior MP Amy Adams “has apologised for wrongly claiming a party candidate, Catherine Chu, was Chinese”, reports Stuff. “Adams was interviewed on Magic Talk on Monday morning and, asked about who represented the Chinese community in the National Party after MP Jian Yang announced his retirement on Friday, said Chu was Chinese. Chu, the Banks Peninsula candidate for the 2020 election, is Korean.” In a statement, Adams told Stuff: “I got that wrong. I had thought Catherine was Chinese but I was mistaken. I have spoken with Catherine and apologised fully for my error.”

Read the full story here.

6.40pm: Labour responds to SFO investigation

The Labour Party has released a statement in response to a Serious Fraud Office investigation into 2017 donations (see 4.20pm).

“We have not been advised of the specifics of the inquiry, however the Labour Party will fully cooperate with any SFO investigations,” a Labour Party spokesperson said.

“For completeness, however, we note that we have already made statements to media in February confirming that two men who were then being investigated by the SFO and had made donations to the National Party, had also made donations to Labour.

“We will not be issuing any further statement while the investigation is underway.”

The two men referred to in the statement are brothers and businessmen Shijia (Colin) Zheng, who donated $1,940 to Labour in 2018, and Hengjia Zheng, who donated $10,000 to Labour through a silent auction purchase in 2017. The pair were previously investigated by the SFO for donations to the National Party and were criminally charged alongside MP Jami-Lee Ross and Yikun Zhang earlier this year.

5.50pm: Today case data, charted

With no new cases announced, today’s graphs remain unchanged.

5pm: Managed isolation escapee in court

A woman accused of escaping from an isolation facility before her mandatory quarantine period ended has appeared in court, reports RNZ.

Suzanne Marie Derrett, 43, was charged with failing or refusing to isolate for the required 14 day period at the Auckland District Court this afternoon. Derrett, who’s said to have climbed a fence at the Pullman Hotel after flying in from Brisbane, is one of the first people charged under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act.

She was remanded on bail without plea and will appear again in two weeks time. In total, there have been four escapes from managed isolation in New Zealand.

4.20pm: SFO investigating Labour donations

The Serious Fraud Office is very busy, at least as far as party campaign financing is concerned. Already Jami-Lee Ross and a couple of others are before the court after the SFO laid charges in relations to donations to the National Party. The SFO is currently mulling whether to lay charges over allegations levelled at the New Zealand First Foundations. There are investigations under way, too, relating to the Auckland and Christchurch local elections. And now – well, the press release is short, so here it is in full:

“The Serious Fraud Office has commenced an investigation in relation to donations made to the Labour Party in 2017. The SFO is presently conducting four investigations in relation to electoral funding matters. A fifth matter that the agency investigated relating to electoral funding is now before the courts.

“’We consider that making the current announcement is consistent with our past practice in this area of electoral investigations and in the public interest,’” the director of the SFO, Julie Read, said.

“In the interests of transparency and consistency, the SFO has announced the commencement of all these investigations. The SFO has no further comment to make.”

Earlier this year The Spinoff published a special series about political donations. Read it here.

3.00pm: Victoria records 177 new cases

The Australian state of Victoria has recorded 177 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. That’s lower than the 288 new cases recorded on Friday, but health officials warn the peak of the outbreak may be still to come. “I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers before I come and say I have greater confidence about the direction we’re going in,” chief health officer Brett Sutton said at today’s briefing. Of today’s new cases, 25 are linked to known outbreaks, one is in hotel quarantine, and 151 are still under investigation.

1.00pm: No new cases in New Zealand

There are no new cases of Covid-19 to report in New Zealand today, director general of health Ashley Bloomfield, back from holiday, has announced.

It has now been 73 days since the last case of Covid-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source.

The total number of cases remains at 1,194. Of those, 25 are active cases. None of those cases require hospital level care.

Bloomfield said 1,043 tests were processed yesterday – lower numbers than usual on account of it being a Sunday. It brings the total tests to date to 429,643.

Health minister Chris Hipkins said he and Bloomfield had visited a managed isolation facility, the Grand Mercure in Wellington, this morning, and were very impressed with staff commitment.

He said the government was committed to “doing the right thing” by returning New Zealanders, outlining the range of supports available to people during their stays in managed isolation, including health and wellbeing assessments, mental health resources and a 19-page booklet on what to expect during their stay at the facility.

“It’s important that we show compassion towards those New Zealanders who are returning and who are using these facilities, and acknowledge that they are doing their part in keeping our team of five million Covid-19 free,” Hipkins said.

He also repeated the request for all New Zealanders to keep a digital diary of their whereabouts using the NZ Covid Tracer app. “It is free, it is secure, it is your information and it is going to be a key tool for us if we ever reach the point where we have to do more widespread contact tracing.”

The app has had 594,000 registrations to date, Hipkins said.

On the 30 New Zealand-born Australian residents being deported (see 8.30am update), Hipkins said while the government is opposed to Australia’s deportation policy, it was working closely with its trans-Tasman counterpart to ensure the process was well-managed. He said Australia had assured the New Zealand government no more people would be deported without first ensuring we have capacity to receive them and the relevant logistical arrangements are in place.

12.45pm: Hipkins to give media briefing

Multi-portfolio minister Chris Hipkins will hold a media briefing at 1pm today, giving the daily Covid-19 update along with any other news from the country’s managed isolation and quarantine facilities. Please stand by for updates, and/or watch here:

12.30pm: Absconder bailed

The woman who allegedly escaped managed isolation at the Pullman Hotel on the 4th of July has appeared in court. A medical report was presented to the court outlining the woman’s mental health issues, the NZ Herald reports. She was bailed without plea to stay with family in Dunedin until her next court appearance in two weeks time.

10.45am: Terrorist sacks lawyers, will represent himself in court

The Christchurch mosque gunman has sacked his lawyers and will represent himself at his sentencing next month, the NZ Herald reports. The man pled guilty to all 51 murder charges, 40 attempted murder charges and a terrorism charge at the Christchurch High Court on the first day of level four lockdown in March. His sentencing is due to begin in Christchurch on the 24th of August.

The man’s lawyers told the Herald they were “not disappointed” at being sacked.

10.30am: Fewer deaths, upset tummies during lockdown

The number of deaths in New Zealand dropped markedly during lockdown, research by University of Otago epidemiologists has found, with 548 fewer people dying compared to the same period last year. Public health professor Nick Wilson said while the data only showed the number of deaths and not the cause, research had shown a reduction in respiratory disease. “Far fewer people were getting cough and fever symptoms. The lockdown did stop these viruses from circulating,” he told RNZ. This adds weight to the theory that people should stay at home when they have a virus, or wear a mask if they leave the house, he said.

Lockdown may also be responsible for a “significant drop” in stomach bugs and gastroenteritis cases in Auckland this year, Stuff reports. The Auckland Regional Public Health Service says its lab tests have detected far fewer “specific enteric pathogens” like salmonella, campylobacter and the evil giardia in recent months. Fewer people being out and about and eating in restaurants during lockdown was one possible reason for this, the ARPHS said.

9.00am: ‘Distinct smell’ to leaked Covid case info saga

Last week’s saga of Michelle Boag, Hamish Walker and the leaked confidential Covid-19 case information had the “distinct smell” of dirty politics, Nicky Hager says. “Of course, sometimes in politics things stuff up and go wrong and you don’t know what’s going on, but yes, this had a distinct smell from the beginning,” the Dirty Politics author told TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning.

“The distinctive things are you’ve got a party that is kind of in trouble, it’s not doing very well in the polls, it’s looking for a way to knock down its opponents rather than sort of win the arguments,” Hager explained. “You see, one after the other, tricky things start to happen. When we talk through it, I think it’s become pretty clear that this was an organised campaign.”

Hager said he didn’t think Hamish Walker sending the information to the press was part of the plan, describing it as “an act of thoughtless craziness”.

8.30am: Deported New Zealanders to isolate at dedicated inner city hotel

The 30 New Zealanders being deported from Australia on a charter flight this week will spend their two week mandatory isolation in a dedicated facility, Chris Hipkins has told RNZ. “It will be an inner city hotel”, the acting health minister confirmed, with “extra military and police at that hotel to make sure they are following the rules”.

Hipkins told RNZ he wouldn’t be naming the hotel out of concern for the deportees’ privacy. “At the end of the day I don’t want to see a whole lot of people exercising some form of vigilante justice here,” he said.

He also stressed that the government didn’t agree with the Australian government’s deportation policy, telling RNZ “we’re receiving them because we’re obliged to receive them but it would be wrong to say we’re happy about it”.

Megan Woods, the minister in charge of managed isolation, said there would be a break in deportee arrivals after the initial group of 30 this week. “This group will be a first go at it and we’ll see how that’s managed,” she told RNZ.

7.45am: WHO reports another record daily increase in Covid-19 cases

The World Health Organisation’s global total of Covid-19 cases has risen by 230,370 in the last 24 hours, the largest daily number of new cases since the pandemic began. The previous record was 228,102, recorded three days ago.

The biggest contributors to the record total were the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to the WHO’s daily report. South Africa has now reported more than 10,000 new daily cases for several days in a row.

Despite the increase in cases, the number of daily global deaths remains steady at around 5,000, the WHO reports.

7.30am: Updates from today’s edition of The Bulletin

There was another attempted escape from managed isolation over the weekend, bringing the total up to four in the space of a week. It sounds bad, but here’s a stat for you from this Stuff story – about 99.9% of returnees haven’t attempted to do anything of the sort. The most recent case involved someone who allegedly broke a window to get out, which indicates that security has been tightened up quite a bit. Meanwhile, Radio NZ reports Covid-19 research funding is being put towards technology that will allow police to track people with CCTV more easily, which instinctively feels a bit troubling.

There’s a convention in journalism called Betteridge’s law of headlines. Basically what it means is that headlines that end in a question mark can almost always be answered with a no. So it is with today’s Bulletin. In the strictest sense, National leader Todd Muller did not lie about his knowledge of whether former party president Michelle Boag leaked active Covid-19 case details to health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse. He was aware that Boag had sent some information to Woodhouse, but the case he made to One News on Friday was that “what Michael Woodhouse received was not the same information as what Hamish Walker received.” He also defended Woodhouse, who did not leak that information to the media, as Walker did – losing his political career in the process.

The thing is though, Muller learned about this from Woodhouse on Tuesday night, and then later gave a flat answer of no to questions about whether Boag had also sent Woodhouse information. And so while it isn’t a lie in that strict sense, Muller was given a clear opportunity to come clean with anything that might be pertinent to the story, and he chose instead to try and get through without revealing it. That meant that when it all came out on Friday, it suddenly became a very fair question to ask if Muller is hiding anything else, and whether his statements on the matter could be trusted. As press gallery veteran Patrick Smellie put it, “repeatedly asked whether he knew that other National Party MPs had received leaked information from Boag, Muller tried various formulations to avoid saying “no”, but eventually said “no” when he should have said “yes”. For a politician who has always presented himself as a straight shooter, being forced to admit that he “could have been clearer” doesn’t look like that at all.

There are also serious questions around Woodhouse’s actions with those emails Boag sent him. He told Radio NZ that he deleted those emails – sent in mid-June – at the start of the week, when it was becoming clear that there was going to be an investigation into how confidential Covid-19 patient information was getting out. “He also deleted the emails from the trash folder,” said the story, with Woodhouse arguing that he thought it was the right thing to do. It’s difficult to imagine how attempting to scrub all traces of potentially relevant information from your inbox when an investigation is about to get underway could be considered the right thing to do, but at this stage we’ll have to take his word for it that those were his motivations.

The issue has forced the party onto the defensive, right when they would have been hoping to focus on the upcoming election. Deputy leader Nikki Kaye appeared on Q+A over the weekend, and had to spend the whole extended interview talking about one aspect or another of the story, including her own close links to Boag. There was no chance to talk about National policy, or government mistakes, or her race in Auckland Central, or the price of fish, or anything at all apart from this scandal.

Senior figures in the press gallery have also made their views on the matter completely clear. There was a huge amount of commentary over the weekend from people with openly declared political views, so I’ll stick with a few neutral voices on it. Stuff political editor Luke Malpass said “the leaks really call into question one of the central ideas of the Muller ascendancy: that National is the party of the grown-ups”. The NZ Herald’s political editor Audrey Young said that Woodhouse’s reputation is “tarnished”, and that “the more that information drips out, the more that questions mount about Muller’s management of this crisis.” Interest’s Jenée Tibshraeny saw it as a case of the party “disarming” itself, on one of their strongest lines of attack. And One News political reporter Maiki Sherman described the story as “completely self-inflicted” for Muller and National. For now, it will be a nervous wait until the investigation by Michael Heron QC is completed, which is expected to land around the end of the month.

Read the weekend’s live updates here