2020 Election: Jacinda Ardern Describes Covid Recovery and Business Support as Top Priorities

Jacinda Ardern wants more support for small business loans and $ 300 million in cash incentives to hire the unemployed before the end of the year.

And while he is revealing little about a possible government deal with the Greens, he is emphasizing the “strong mandate” given to Labor and the need to retain voters who may have turned to Labor for the first time.

“I have said that I want to talk to the Greens and I will next week, but … that mandate exists for Labor,” the prime minister said yesterday.

LISTEN LIVE:
6.35 am the Green Party co-leader James Shaw; 7:05 am Labor Campaign Manager Megan Woods; 7.10 a. M., Act Party Leader, David Seymour; 7.35 am Judith Collins, leader of the National Party.

It follows the overwhelming Labor victory on Saturday, with more than enough for a parliamentary majority.

Ardern said he hoped to form the next government within two to three weeks, and saw the election victory as an endorsement of Labor’s Covid response and the recovery plan in particular.

“What was the message, particularly [from] Those New Zealanders who may have voted for Labor and have not done so before?

“I think they were backing the work we’ve done at Covid and supporting the plan we have to move forward.”

First priorities

She said the first of the blocks will be the flexible salary scheme and changes to the small business cash flow loan scheme.

The first would subsidize companies an average of $ 7,500 and up to $ 22,000, if they give unemployed Kiwis a sustainable job; The $ 311 million plan is estimated to support up to 40,000 jobs.

The latter would extend the loan scheme until the end of 2023, while doubling the interest-free period from one year to two years. The criteria would also be extended beyond basic expenses to include investment in new equipment or digital infrastructure, or to help adapt to the impacts of Covid-19.

Ardern said Labor plans for the loan scheme had not received the green light in the previous coalition.

“We can go ahead with the implementation.”

He added that the community case of Covid-19 in the dock worker, revealed yesterday, was an example of the operation of border controls as they should.

“There is nothing to suggest the need to change any of the restriction levels.”

He said he would go ahead with everything in the Labor election manifesto, but there was also license to go further in some circumstances.

“There will always be problems that will arise over the course of a term.”

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Finance Minister Sir Michael Cullen encouraged Ardern to embrace the center.

“The reality is that elections in New Zealand are won in the center,” Clark said.

“I think he will want to continue governing in a way that includes a fairly broad spectrum, and with regard to where the economy can go from here, [she] I would definitely want to include the voices of those in the business community on how to rebuild. “

Cullen said the election result was a mandate for action on, among other things, climate action and transportation infrastructure.

But it was not an invitation to lurch to the left in terms of tax or welfare reform, he said, and any attempt to leap in that direction could risk losing “middle voters.”

Ardern will be heading to Wellington today and meeting his group today and tomorrow.

It seemed to pour cold water on any governing deal with the Maori Party, whose candidate Rawiri Waititi won the Waiariki seat by a slim margin of 415 votes.

“As I seek to be a consensus builder

I also want simple arrangements for this next term. “

She said the leaders of Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Canada had contacted her to congratulate her, but had not heard from Donald Trump.

“I don’t usually have those direct communications with the president of the United States,” Ardern said.