Last week a meme circulated of a befuddled Scott Morrison seemingly peering over Jacinda Ardern’s shoulder, scouring her work for the right answer.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two prime minister’s leadership styles couldn’t be more divergent. New Zealand’s Ardern has been her usual composed self, clear but compassionate, quick to act yet warm and unifying; meanwhile Morrison has been shaky and flustered, refuting state leaders then scolding the nation for not following conflicting advice.
Now, following a spike in coronavirus cases in New Zealand (but to date no deaths), Ardern has taken the significant step many Australians are holding out for. In a definitive statement, she shared that New Zealand would move to a near-complete societal lockdown on Thursday for at least four weeks. Military personnel and police will help enforce strict self-isolation, and all non-essential businesses will close, including – most significantly – schools. And whether you support that or not, her decisiveness is what a country needs right now.
“We need to act now, or we risk the virus taking hold as it has elsewhere,” Ardern told reporters, emphasising she understood the magnitude of her decision and the impact on her people. “I do not underestimate what I’m asking New Zealanders to do. It is huge. And I know it will be daunting … [but] it will literally save lives, thousands of lives. The worst-case scenario is simply intolerable. It would represent the greatest loss of New Zealanders’ lives in our history. And I will not take that chance.
“We currently have 102 cases, but so did Italy once.”
In Australia, we currently have 1709 cases.
Scotty from Marketing, there’s no time like now to plagiarise.
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