Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Aucklanders.
Ardern has this morning been speaking with Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Brett O'Riley and toured an engineering factory, before visiting a Pacific youth vaccination event in Māngere. It is her first trip to the city since lockdown was imposed in August.
In the stand-up, Ardern says the reason she was delayed in visiting Auckland was limitations in Parliament.
"As soon as those measures lifted, I found the first available time to come home. Tāmaki Makaurau is my home and today's been really important for me to reconnect with those I've been keeping in contact with at a distance - business representatives, health providers - but also to have a chance to talk to Aucklanders about their experience."
Opposition parties have been urging Ardern to visit Auckland for weeks but she previously refused, saying Parliament's rules would have prevented her from doing her job.
However, the rules changed last week, and Ardern soon made plans to visit.
She will be returning to Auckland again, she says.
"I will be coming home, I will take the opportunity to come back and continue to talk with those who've been affected throughout this pandemic."
Ardern says today was a chance to meet not just with one business but business representatives, and she took the chance this morning to informally catch up with some businesses that remain closed and some that are reopening today.
She says there is no way to understand from afar the experience of having been in lockdown in Auckland, and one visit does not replicate that either. She says talking to people allows her to get some insight into what it's been like.
"At the same time I've got to balance all of those competing demands."
She believes the government has got that balance right throughout. The Auckland Cabinet has remained in Auckland the entire time, she says.
She says today's visit is a shortened programme because of the demands of the upcoming APEC conference.
Meantime, there is a "light at the end of the tunnel" for Aucklanders, she says, with the traffic light system set to come into play soon.
She says businesses raised concerns the government is aware of, and with MIQ the government is moving into a new phase with trialling at-home self-isolation.
"And in the new year expecting to use that much more broadly which will take the pressure off our border system."
On vaccine mandates for teachers and health workers, she says there were strong reasons to use mandates. For education, it was contact with a large population of children who are not yet able to be vaccinated. She says working alongside employees who are hesitant can help lift vaccination rates.
She says the restrictions that are being eased in Auckland today are the lowest risk things.
"We want to prevent illness, we want to prevent people losing their lives."
Her advice for people who are feeling nervous about the vaccine is to talk to someone they know.
Asked about timeframes for allowing travel out of Auckland over summer, Ardern says the government also has to be mindful about vaccination rates outside of the region. She says the date will be announced next week.
Ardern says the government's perspective on Auckland's situation has been supported by the presence of government ministers there the entire time.
"I would never speak on anyone else's behalf but some of the sentiment I picked up is that people can see of course that we're easing restrictions ... and we've given that strong expectation that the 29th November decision, our expectation that we'll be able to move into the Covid Protection Framework, and that gives businesses the certainty they've been looking for."
She says the government will continue to work to get as many people vaccinated as possible when the 90 percent milestone has been reached.
"Of course the scale will be determined by how many we are still trying to reach."
She says security protocols have not particularly changed as a result of what has been seen recently.
"We will of course make sure that we're doing everything that we can to keep people safe but I'll start with the same message that this whole pandemic started with - regardless of your views, regardless of your position, there's a place for everyone's voice to be heard. Please just make it kind, be kind to others even if they take a different perspective to you. Everyone ultimately wants the best for their community."
Ardern says she will return to Auckland "in the not too distant future".
She says the reason she has only met with a couple of local businesses and a business representative is because time is restricted.
Her trip also comes on the first day of lowered restrictions in the city - to alert level 3, step 2 - which allows retail and public facilities like museums, zoos and libraries to reopen.
Hospitality remains closed for now.
RNZ
