Claire Trevett: Covid 19 - PM Jacinda Ardern's dive into level 2 a vindication

There was a rather "to the victor the spoils" air about the Prime Minister's announcement that New Zealand will be showered with the freedoms that level 2 affords from Thursday.

It will put New Zealand on the rare footing of having fewer restrictions than Australia – at least for the time being.

The level 2 that will kick in on Thursday will be more restricted than the original plan.
The most notable change is limiting any gathering of people to 10, instead of 100 people. That will be reviewed in a fortnight.

But overall, level 2 will see a return to something that is at least within cooee of normality for many people.

While Australia arduously makes its way through three stages of re-opening different businesses slowly, New Zealand is doing it almost all at once.

It seems incongruous for a Prime Minister who is notoriously cautious. Jacinda Ardern herself raised the risk of "silent" carriers of the virus, and of outbreaks taking hold again.

Yet despite raising the prospect of a gradual introduction to level 2 last week, Ardern has not just dipped her toe into the pool but dived in headfirst - possibly helped by a little shove on the diving board from NZ First.

There are practical and political reasons for this.

Politically, Ardern will have been aware of the scenes at Auckland and Wellington beaches last weekend which indicated many had already come to their own conclusions about whether it was now safe.

It would have taken a very compelling reason to convince people there was a need to remain in lockdown.

Getting businesses back up and running will also lighten the burden on the Government, which has already spent tens of billions of dollars.

Practically, Ardern had described level 3 as a "waiting room" at which we stress-tested whether the gains from full lockdown would hold under a small increase in social interaction.

They had held, and Ayesha Verrall, who had reviewed the contact tracing effort, told RNZ yesterday that she believed level 2 could proceed.

Quite simply, mission lockdown accomplished.

Ardern will be hoping that it stays that way: putting the country back into a stricter lockdown will be a monumental ask.

Ardern's battle will not be over. There will always be a risk the virus will take hold again. Ardern has pointed to "personal responsibility" as the main enforcer of the level 2 restrictions.

But she has also highlighted the consequences if it does not work: the timely example of South Korea where bars were clamped closed again this weekend after one person sparked an outbreak of 40.

It was the yo-yoing in and out of lockdown that she wanted to avoid.

Businesses and jobs will still collapse, the Government's books will take a hit. It will not be a short-term one, and Ardern may find it harder and harder to justify remaining restrictions as time goes by, especially on international travel.

But throughout the weeks of being asked why New Zealand was on a tighter leash than Australia, Ardern had said the policy of "go early and go hard" would mean that New Zealand could also emerge from it early as well - at least domestically.

The decision to move to level 2 rather vindicates her.

Ardern has discouraged comparing NZ to other countries, saying we should do what is right for us.

But she would be forgiven for being a little bit smug the next time she talks to Morrison.