'We've not set any date on its removal" - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the Auckland/Northland border.
OPINION:
This is an announcement of an announcement that would have been announced next week but now won't be announced until next year, possibly.
The Prime Minister was gearing up for the announcement that she would head off to Europe on November 15 to pursue a free trade agreement with the region. It's a deal that has been on the table for the past six years.
Jacinda Ardern came close to admitting she was planning the trip, appearing to justify it by saying the talks were reaching a critical stage, without ever saying it was on.
But it can't have been that critical, because the trip's now off. Those working to organise it have been told to down tools.
You would think the Beehive could have been more open about it.
It would have been inappropriate for Ardern to head off to Europe when the country is in such a state of chaos, and even more inappropriate for her entourage to come back to the country and claim MIQ slots, even though they had been arranged, when tens of thousands of Kiwis are going out of their minds waiting for their number to come up.
Ardern hasn't yet even set foot in Auckland since she locked its citizens down almost three months ago. Photo / Alex Burton
Her minders knew she would have received a lot of flak if she had gone, given she hasn't yet even set foot in Auckland since she locked its citizens down almost three months ago. That's happening sometime next week, we're told.
But like everything with this Government, it seems to me transparency is like mud in your eye.
Asked about her decision to can the European jaunt, the Beehive spin-doctors simply said: "Options have been looked into but nothing has been confirmed."
Perhaps they were waiting for an American diplomat to tweet her impending trip to Europe, as one did just before Trade Minister Damien O'Connor headed off to the UK last month. Until that point Kiwis hadn't been told he was about to climb on a plane.
This week has been a terrible one for this Government, culminating in the shemozzle over how Aucklanders are going to travel out of the city for Christmas.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Ardern set the ball rolling, saying the borders would remain in place but citizens have been told they can leave the congested city.
How the Government is going to manage it at the borders is beyond comprehension.
The minister of everything Chris Hipkins let slip they were thinking about having cars turn up at allotted times at the borders. Imagine it. Making it to the border on time, with thousands of cars before you, and thousands more following.
Ardern's 2IC Grant Robertson later expressed hope there wouldn't still be borders in place, and pooh-pooed the idea.
So where does all this leave the Christmas traveller?
Sitting in a traffic jam, the likes of which the city has never seen before - and that's saying something.
