Category: Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern Cancels Her Wedding Amid New Omicron Restrictions

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has cancelled her wedding as the nation imposes new restrictions to slow the community spread of the Omicron variant, she told reporters on Sunday. New Zealand will impose mask rules and limit gathering from midnight on Sunday after a cluster of nine COVID-19 Omicron cases showed community spread from…


New Zealand Man Under Investigation for Taking 10 COVID-19 Jabs in a Day

A man is being investigated by New Zealand (NZ) health authorities after receiving ten jabs in one day on behalf of other individuals. The man is alleged to have visited several clinics and was paid to take the jabs, according to NZ-based news site, Stuff. Astrid Koornneef, group manager of operations at the COVID-19 Vaccine…


New Zealand Dispatches Troops, Police to the Solomons to Assist in Restoring ‘Law and Order’

New Zealand (NZ) will send troops and police to assist Australian, Papua New Guinean, and Fijian forces on the ground of the Solomon Islands, where rioting has left three people dead and several buildings burned to the ground. NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government was “deeply concerned” by the civil unrest in the…


‘Continued Border Uncertainty’: 20,000 Travellers Impacted by Axing of Trans-Tasman Flights

Air New Zealand estimates 20,000 customers will be affected after New Zealand’s (NZ) flag carrier axed 1,000 flights to Australia saying uncertainty around international border policy forced its hand. Leanne Geraghty, Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer, said that “due to recent statements by the NZ government that quarantine-free travel between Australia and…


New Zealand to Open Auckland Domestic Border in Mid-December

New Zealand will open the domestic border around Auckland in mid-December and let separated Kiwis back home for a Christmas reunion. Fully vaccinated people and those with a negative COVID-19 test result can enter Auckland from Dec. 15, by which time 90 percent of the country’s eligible population can be vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern…


Thousands March in NZ’s Capital Against Vaccine Mandates, Lockdowns

Thousands of New Zealanders have mobilised in a peaceful demonstration in the capital city Wellington, to voice their opposition to government-mandated health restrictions and vaccine mandates. Authorities have responded with extra security around the Beehive, New Zealand’s (NZ) Parliament, on Nov. 9. Protestors of the Freedom and Rights Coalition gathered against a range of COVID-19-related…


New Zealand Pledges to Halve Emissions by 2030

New Zealand (NZ) Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw have set the pacific nation an ambitious target to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2030. The move comes as the United Nations international climate change conference, COP26, gets underway in Glasgow, Scotland. The NZ government is setting itself a new Nationally…


New Zealand’s Prime Minister Agrees That Vaccine Passports Will Create Two Classes of People

New Zealand Prime Jacinda Ardern responded in the affirmative to a statement that her administration is creating two separate classes of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals with new mandates and passport systems. “So, you’ve basically said, this is gonna be like, well it’s almost like, and you probably don’t see it like this, as two different…


New Zealand Sets Ambitious 90 Percent Vaccination Target

The New Zealand government has announced an ambitious 90 percent vaccination target for its population. On Oct. 22, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed the new “COVID-19 Protection Framework” that will take over the current “Alert Level” system that has kept the country under tight lockdown for the last few months. Ardern said residents in NZ’s…


Australian Nuclear Subs Banned From Entering NZ Waters: Ardern

New Zealand (NZ) Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has declared Australia’s future fleet of nuclear submarines will not be allowed into NZ’s territorial waters. Establishing a nuclear-powered fleet in Australia, the first step of the newly announced trilateral security partnership AUKUS, will see the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States partner with Australia to “significantly deepen…