New Zealand’s embattled minister of health David Clark resigned yesterday after security slipups at quarantine facilities where COVID-19 was detected just days after officials declared it had been eliminated from the country.
Clark’s departure, which also followed criticism of his personal breaches of strict lockdown rules earlier in the year, comes as New Zealand heads into a September general election.
“It has become increasingly clear to me that my continuation in the role is distracting from the government’s overall response to COVID-19 and the global pandemic,” said Clark, who was criticized for taking his family on a beach trip and driving to a mountain biking track.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who had earlier refused calls to sack Clark, citing his critical role in the nation’s response to the pandemic, said she agreed with his decision.
Ardern remains popular, lauded for her compassionate response to last year’s Christchurch shootings and swift handling of the coronavirus crisis. However, blunders by her ministers have drawn opposition claims that there is a lack of talent in her Cabinet.
Ardern’s popularity skyrocketed early in the pandemic as she took decisive action to limit its spread, imposing one of the world’s toughest lockdowns. However, opinion polls released last week show the conservative National Party has managed to trim some of Labour’s lead.
“She has no confidence in anyone else not to drop the ball,” National Party leader Todd Muller said.
Grant Duncan, an associate professor of politics at Auckland’s Massey University, said that the opposition had been granted an opportunity to “talk of the government’s failure to deliver and incompetence.”
Clark’s resignation would help dampen that rhetoric, he added.
Ardern early last month said that New Zealand had eliminated COVID-19, but warned that there would almost certainly be new cases, as she lifted social distancing restrictions.
Just days later it was revealed that two women who arrived from Britain and who were allowed to leave quarantine early on compassionate grounds later tested positive for the virus.
The country still has no known cases of community transmission, but there are 18 active cases at the border through returning New Zealanders.
Ardern appointed Minister of Education Chris Hipkins as interim health minister until the election.
It is the second time in 18 months Arden has reshuffled her Cabinet, replacing her minister of housing and urban development last year after he came under fire for the failure of the government’s flagship public housing project.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS