"I'm now being accused of not enough scaremongering," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in Parliament as the Opposition unleashed on her over the lack of COVID-19 testing of border-facing workers.
Opposition leader Judith Collins took aim at Ardern on Wednesday over Newshub's revelation that the week before the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland more than 60 percent of all border-facing workers in the city had never been tested.
That was despite the Government announcing a new testing strategy on June 23 which outlined the prioritisation of testing of border workers and airline staff - those most likely to have been exposed to the coronavirus.
The new strategy included "regular health checks and asymptomatic testing of all border facing workers" - but the Government has since admitted that the amount of testing happening on the ground did not live up to its expectations.
"The testing regime is only one part of the re-emergence plan," Ardern responded in Parliament during Question Time. "When we saw that those numbers weren't meeting our expectations we took steps to continue to scale up that testing."
The value of the now-mandatory testing of border-facing workers was highlighted on Tuesday by the positive result of a maintenance worker at the Rydges Hotel managed isolation facility in Auckland - the first case outside of the original cluster.
Police Minister Stuart Nash came to Ardern's defence in Parliament, asking her if the Government had been accused of "scaremongering or playing politics" by warning New Zealanders not to be complacent about the threat of COVID-19.
"Yes," Ardern said. "That is something that was levelled at us multiple times when we produced resurgence plans when we continued to encourage people to get testing if they were symptomatic, when we asked people to prepare by having a mask at home.
"We were labelled as scaremongering. I ask for nothing more than a consistent approach, yes for us to be held to account, but for as much as possible a consistent approach to the public. These are anxious-riddled times."
She later added, "Apparently I'm now being accused of not enough scaremongering."
Ardern also faced questions from ACT leader David Seymour about her claim on Tuesday that border-facing workers had been refusing COVID-19 tests.
Ardern's claim was in contrast to Collins, who on Tuesday said she had been contacted by managed isolation facility workers who said they were refused tests.
"This was raised with me directly by health officials on the 5th of August. It had also been the subject of some discussion amongst Cabinet ministers as we reviewed details around testing numbers," Ardern responded in Parliament.
"It is important to note though that the Government is not interested in trying to apportion blame here, as I said at the time I raised the issue."
Ardern's response triggered jeering from the Opposition.
"Our focus is on finding solutions to the problems as they emerge and making sure that we are constantly addressing those issues," she added.
Seymour asked Ardern if she will continue to trust her officials given that Unite Union general secretary Gerard Hehir told Newstalk ZB he did not know of any union members who have resisted being tested.
"I am not at all getting to a place here where we apportion blame," Ardern said. "When it was raised with me, I did speak directly with at least one union, but did not have the opportunity to speak to all. They had not heard of that as an issue."
Seymour said in a statement Ardern "simply took health officials at their word, even though it has been denied by the workers and the unions" that represent them.
He asked her in Parliament: "If it's not about attributing blame, what role does accountability play in her management style of this Government when things go fundamentally wrong?"
Ardern said the Government has "acted immediately" to address any issues related to the COVID-19 response since it first appeared in New Zealand.
Testing of border-facing workers is now mandatory, and an additional 500 defence personnel are being deployed to the 32 managed isolation facilities to strengthen protections against community COVID-19 spread.
