PM: 20% pay cut about showing leadership

The Prime Minister says the decision for government ministers and public sector bosses to take a 20% pay cut for the next six months is all about leadership.

Jacinda Ardern make the announcement at the Covid-19 media briefing on Tuesday, saying she knew the decision to take a pay cut would not affect the government books, but leadership had to come from the top.

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"If there was every a time to close the gap between different positions, it's now. This is where we can take action, which is why we have.

"And while in itself won't shift the Government's overall fiscal position, it is about leadership."

She said public service leaders felt acutely about the struggles many New Zealanders were facing."It also stands alongside many actions taken by many people - private sector, citizens - to tackle the health and economic challenges of Covid-19.

"Neighbours looking out for one another, rent freezes and landlords who are supporting tenants. Things like the winter energy payment and benefits that are helping those who are on restricted incomes to keep warmer and well.

"New Zealanders who are staying home to save lives. The student army who are delivering groceries to over 65s, and Ministry of Health officials who are in charge of mandatory quarantine which I have received a message about their professionalism and exceptional work.

"So many examples of people showing what others meant to them and doing their bit in our effort to stamp out Covid-19 and show a little bit of kindness along the way."

The Prime Minister's annual salary is set at $459,739, meaning a 20% reduction over six months would see her sacrifice $45,573 to earn $414,166.

Deputy PM Winston Peters' $326,697 salary would now be cut by $31,670 to $295,027.

The Government's senior politicians, the Cabinet ministers get $288,900 each year and now faced a $28,890 pay cut to $260,010.

National Party leader Simon Bridges said he would also take a pay cut. He gets $256,000 annually and will take a $30,000 cut.

Watch full media briefing

20 NEW CASES 

There have been 20 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand in the past 24 hours, but no further have been deaths reported.

The new cases are made up of six confirmed cases and 14 probable cases, bringing the total number of cases in this country to 1386.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said today there are now 16 significant clusters related to the coronavirus. The latest cluster is connected to an aged care facility in Auckland.

He said 13 people are in hospital today. Three are in intensive care - one each in Dunedin, and Auckland's Middlemore and North Shore hospitals in . Two of these ICU patients - in Dunedin and North Shore - are in a critical condition.

"We now have 728 reported cases of people who have recovered from Covid-19 infection, that's an increase of 100 from yesterday," Dr Bloomfield said.

There are three new cases today in the Southern DHB area, after just one new case was announced yesterday. The total number of cases for the SDHB area is now 213, the highest in the country.

The cases today comprise two in Queenstown Lakes and one in Dunedin.

While Dr Bloomfield said there were no further deaths confirmed, he was waiting for more information on a man who died in Invercargill last night. The New Zealand Herald understands the man is believed to have died of Covid-19, but Dr Bloomfield said the cause of death had not been confirmed.

Dr Bloomfield said 115 Covid-19 cases in New Zealand are health care workers, but less than five people were confirmed to have been infected by a patient they were caring for.

He said 2100 tests were processed yesterday.

HEALTHCARE WORKERS AND COVID-19

The Ministry of Health says it is working on further analysis of data involving healthcare workers and Covid-19 infection.

In a statement this afternoon it said that do date, in cases of domestic transmission involving healthcare workers, only a relatively small number of cases involve transmission from patient to worker.

"From yesterday’s figure of 107 healthcare workers, we asked how many had been infected outside the workplace - that is, because they had travelled overseas, or were a household or non-household contact of a case outside of their workplace.  The answer was 56.

"We also asked how many healthcare workers were infected in the course of their work, and, of these, how many were infected from exposure to a colleague who was infected outside the workplace, and how many were infected by exposure to an infected patient/resident.   That combined total was 46.

There were five instances where it wasn’t clear where the infection came from and these will be investigated further.

"What this means is that there are a relatively small number of cases involving healthcare workers which are due to transmission from a patient or resident to a worker. In the majority of these transmissions within healthcare settings, more staff have been infected than patients."

The Ministry said this analysis reinforces the way healthcare providers are working hard to prevent and manage infections across the sector.

As an example and following an earlier outbreak, one provider has now successfully prevented any further cases for 17 days. 

MEDIA RESCUE PACKAGE

The Prime Minister  said a media rescue package would be considered soon by ministers, and there was also longer-scale work that would come out further down the track.

Jacinda Ardern said the Government was spending a lot of money advertising about Covid-19, but had to be where the people were - and that included social media.

"Whether we like it or not, that's where the public are, and we need to reach them."

She did not want to give any more details about media packages ahead of them being announced, but said they would not be a surprise to the sector.

 - additional reporting NZ Herald