New Zealand must match its Covid 'in this together' rhetoric with action on basic services | Max Harris

If the country is to honour the pandemic’s spirit of collective solidarity there must be a genuine commitment to healthcare and education

New Zealand’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been a master-class in inclusive communication. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the country as a “team of six million”. The top public health official, Ashley Bloomfield, said: “The virus is the problem, not people ... people are the solution”.

But the policies arising out of the pandemic, especially in the run-up to New Zealand’s election on 17 October, have not always been as inclusive as the communication. There’s a mismatch between universalist rhetoric in the pandemic response, and policy offerings that seem to give up on universalism in public services.

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from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HBQYbX