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.
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