“ACT has been saying for weeks that the Government has given up on elimination, this morning on the AM Show Jacinda Ardern finally admitted that is the case,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“The Prime Minister admitted the Government’s latest plan has only just gone before Cabinet. We wonder if she pulled an all-nighter on Red Bull listening to Lofi Girl to get the new plan ready.

“One thing’s for sure, the Government has done almost no preparation for any situation it now faces. It appears it never considered the possibility that a city like Hamilton would have a case, now it's proposing a voluntary border.

“Auckland and the Waikato are in limbo. The Government keeps telling us it has a plan, but it’s been eight weeks and the “short sharp” lockdown is now two months of misery.

“People in the Waikato are rightly offended by the Prime Minister telling them Level 3 is necessary because not enough people are vaccinated – they know it’s because her Government’s stroll-out has meant they haven’t had a chance.

“We keep being told that the Government is following the health advice. The advice was changed to wait six weeks between the first and second vaccine, now Ardern is casually telling people they can bring their vaccine forward, not because it’s the right thing to do but so it boosts her stats.

“The Government has made much of following the science. If it thought that its strategy was working, it would have put the Waikato into a ‘short, sharp’ lockdown to eradicate the virus there. It knows that doesn’t work anymore.”

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