Intern stage manager Janaye Henry just had her first big gig running today’s alert level change announcement. Here’s how she went guiding Jacinda Ardern and Dr Ashley Bloomfield through the briefing.
Good morning and welcome to the first regular season Bulletin of 2021. In today’s edition: High alert as woman in Northland tests Covid-positive, house price inflation races ahead unabated, and schools grappling with new year after last year’s disruptions. Ministers and health officials were keeping their options open yesterday afternoon after a new case in … Read more
Summer reissue: The crowd’s attention wasn’t primarily on the ball when political editor Justin Giovannetti went to see his first rugby game. As the parliamentary team faced off against the local Centurions all eyes were on the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, starting at openside flanker. First published on July 26, 2020 Independent journalism … Read more
More and more community cases linked to the border have been detected in recent days, first in Christchurch, then in Auckland, and now in Wellington. Justin Giovannetti looks at what’s happening. Community cases of Covid-19 linked to quarantine facilities have been reported in New Zealand’s three largest cities over the past week, but director general … Read more
The director general of health is ‘increasingly confident’ the Auckland outbreak is contained – but his virtual dashboard isn’t quite at green. Last week, prompted by a question from The Spinoff, the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said his Covid-19 dashboard was flashing “orange”, as a result of growing cases in the Auckland community … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert level one still a long way away, parliament once again closes for the term, and thousands of primary health workers to strike today. Alert level one could still be a long way away, according to the country’s top health official. Dr Ashley Bloomfield fronted the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes rippling through architecture of local government, ‘yellow flag’ case causes concern about Auckland outbreak, and health select committee to reconvene. To lead us off today, a roundup of a few stories taking place at local government level. It keeps going while the rest of the … Read more
A man in his 30s turned up at hospital on Friday with symptoms. He’s now in ICU. Nobody knows how he contracted the virus. Amid the daily rush of numbers as Auckland’s tally of active Covid-19 tops 110, one new infection has given Ashley Bloomfield particular pause for concern. It’s another indication that the growing … Read more
What are the criteria and the scenarios, and when will the alert level decision be announced? On day 13 of Auckland’s alert level three lockdown and the rest of New Zealand’s level two restrictions, Jacinda Ardern and her cabinet meet today to make important decisions about when those statuses will change – and to what. … Read more
Covid-19 lockdown and alert level settings are being assessed today by cabinet. What decisions are they making, and when will those decisions be announced? This piece was first published on RNZ. Cabinet ministers will meet this morning to review the Covid-19 lockdown settings, but are not expected to make a definitive decision on whether to … Read more
A worker at a managed isolation facility has tested positive for Covid-19 after working for days despite showing symptoms. His case showcases another weakness in the border testing regime that has come under fire over the past week, writes Justin Giovannetti. The prime minister said people with symptoms should stay home. The director-general of health … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reaction to the election delay, questions continue over the information given over testing, and Watercare CEO resigns amid drought. As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the election will be delayed by four weeks. Here’s a report on that from Justin Giovannetti, who writes that it follows consultation … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Timeline for decision on alert levels released, updates on new cases and testing, and a failure of testing at the border has potentially severe consequences. Right now, we don’t know what the situation around alert levels will be at the end of the day. There was … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National dismisses horror poll as a “rogue”, new populist party draws huge crowd in Auckland, and family attempts managed isolation escape to see father’s body. There are two possible explanations for an astonishing political poll that came out last night. Conducted by Reid Research for Newshub, it … Read more
The crowd’s attention wasn’t primarily on the ball when political editor Justin Giovannetti went to see his first rugby game. As the parliamentary team faced off against the local Centurions all eyes were on the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, starting at openside flanker. People like Ashley Bloomfield just aren’t supposed to exist. To … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Why the relationship with China is so complicated, significant new NPS on urban development, and Stats NZ breaks down emissions by region. At long last, there has been a quiet enough day to introduce a more slow-burn topic as a lead story. So today, The Bulletin … Read more
New Zealanders can’t get enough of The Chase, so why can’t we have our own version? And what would a homegrown version of the quiz show look like anyway? If The Chase were a pandemic, we’d all have herd immunity by now. The British TV quiz show has never been more popular with New Zealand … Read more
With Covid-19 raging overseas but quiet at home, the view at the Beehive is that it was time for a health minister less prone to gaffes, reports Justin Giovannetti. New Zealand’s coronavirus response has been lauded around the world and yet, in the midst of a worsening global pandemic, the country’s health minister has resigned … Read more
Beleaguered Labour MP David Clark resigned as health minister during a press conference at parliament this morning. Alex Braae reports. With just 78 days to go before the 2020 election, health minister David Clark has resigned from the position of health minister. He will also be resigning from all of his cabinet roles. At a … Read more
A minister of health with a humility bypass creates a problem for Jacinda Ardern – especially when he’s contrasted with Ashley Bloomfield, writes Toby Manhire. With the cadence of a fingernail sliding down a blackboard, David Clark spent much of yesterday declining to accept responsibility. Speaking with Lisa Owen on Checkpoint, he spent several minutes … Read more
The lockdown might be over, but the strange obsession with New Zealand’s director general of health is not. Tara Ward scoured the internet in search of Bloomfield-inspired works of art. Heroes save us when we’re in trouble, like when Chris Warner rescued everyone at Shortland Street when it was under siege, or the time Jason … Read more
We still don’t know when we’ll be moving out of level three, but we do now know a lot more about what life will be like. Here’s what Jacinda Ardern has just revealed will change under alert level two. What’s all this then? As the slow march towards normality continues, we just got a lot … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Economic collapse of Queenstown looms, trade minister warns of over-reliance on China, and a must-read new edition of The Side-Eye. For a lead today, we’re going to focus on a part of the country that could end up wearing the Covid-19 downturn hardest. Before this, Queenstown … Read more
The Covid-19 crisis has propelled the field of public health to the foreground. A few simple public health concepts could help keep us on track as we near one month in level four, writes Louise Thornley. Public health is suddenly part of everyday conversation. Many of us have become addicted to the daily Covid-19 update, … Read more
Today New Zealand begins two desolate days without updates from Ashley Bloomfield. Here’s something to soften the blow. The daily briefings from Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the director general of health, have become a staple in many people’s lives, especially under lockdown. He’s hardly missed a day, but this Easter weekend is having an astonishing two … Read more
The 1pm briefing has become appointment viewing. But it is no substitute for transparent, timely information, even in such extraordinary times, writes Newshub investigations reporter Michael Morrah in this post originally published on Newshub. Like all journalists in New Zealand right now, I’ve been covering stories day after day, all of which relate to our … Read more
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 four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 7.00pm: … Read more
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 four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Conditions for leaving lockdown explored, nation’s first death from Covid-19 reported, and Australian govt continues to discriminate against NZers. When will the Covid-19 lockdown across New Zealand end? Short answer – when it’s actually safe to do so. Officially, the current state of level four restrictions … Read more