COMMENT
The Government is going hard out to prove there's a plan right now, and I don't blame them.
They were criticised in the House this week on the basis they didn't have a plan, and a day later I note Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used the word "plan" several times in her 1pm briefing.
Yes it's a "tricky" virus, but they've got a plan now. That plan now involves boosting the defence force's presence at isolation hotels.
Which is smart given one of the criticisms has been that the Ministry of Health had been burdened with too much logistical and practical work, above and beyond the scope of its ability. A ministry whose focus has been collecting and processing data, should perhaps not be dipping its toes into the avenues of software app development and implementation, distribution of PPE, and management of testing protocols.
Hence we now have the very wise decision to "give them some support" as the PM put it.
Senior civil servant Heather Simpson and veteran business executive Sir Bryan Roche have been put in to oversee things.
Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield rejected suggestions this was a vote of no confidence in him and his department, but I'm not sure how else you can view it.
The Ministry of Health hasn't done its job properly.
We have the examples with the lack of testing, the lack of controls, the lack of checks and balances, the flu vaccine fiasco, the list goes on. Disturbingly, at one of the press briefings this week we were told one of the reporting problems had been due to testing data numbers being "put in the wrong column". I kid you not.
Which is why we need more real-world experience assisting in our response here.
Business knows you need to delegate, and you need stringent checks and balances in place, you need follow up, you need targets and expectations met. The rigour this government talks about so much was just not happening, and that's the difference between the public and private sector.
The private sector knows how to run things because it knows the consequences. You are before the board explaining your actions faster than you can say "epic fail" if you stuff it up. You're likely to lose your job, your livelihood and your reputation. There's a lot on the line.
In the public sector it seems the rules are a bit looser, there is a lot of side-stepping on accountability, a lot of buck passing, there's fewer checks and balances. Which is why bringing in 500 more defence personnel, and two extra people to oversee the ministry, is a good start.
This response needs as many eyeballs as possible on it.
This "tricky virus" as the PM keeps calling it, needs the full weight of a serious and competent response.
Not a series of knee-jerk reactions made on the hop by ministers the Prime Minister continues to show little confidence in.
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