Jacinda Ardern

[tripple alliance 1,026]

Plenty of lies being told , remember flu vaccine assurances given by comrade cindy and the fwit clark , we have plenty .

(1) The professional body for doctors has labelled a flu vaccine shortage for GPs a "total disaster". Baddock told the select committee, which is acting as a replacement for Parliament during the lockdown, the flu vaccine supply issue was "a complete debacle". Her practice was unable to get vaccines for 10 days and it had 4000 vulnerable patients. It was a "total disaster," she said..

(2)  The Scenic Hotel Group is mothballing some of its 17 hotels as it faces losing up to $14 million in revenue during the coronavirus pandemic. "We've worked out different scenarios, and from best to worst case we are losing $5m or $14m. There is no upside," he said. the company pay wages to the 900 staff working across its 17 hotels. The company's annual wage bill was about $30m. 

(3) An end to fees-free tertiary education and an increase in the pension age may be needed as New Zealand recovers from an economic hit that could push 240,000 more people into unemployment, ANZ says. 

Based on this and our understanding of activity under the various alert levels, we expect GDP to fall 22 per cent to 23 per cent in the first half of the year and to be 8 per cent to 10 per cent lower over 2020."

Despite the Government stimulus – it has put more than $10 billion into the economy through the wage subsidy scheme – the ANZ report said it expected unemployment to reach 11 per cent.

That would mean an extra 240,000 people out of work. "This is expected to be seen alongside a fall in labour-force participation. If that did not occur, the increase in unemployment would be even greater." 

Does anyone really think we have a government with the ability to solve these problems , NAH  

 

 

[Gruff 2,800]

1 hour ago, chevy86 said:

Not everyone Gruff. At the very least she needs to pop back to Morrinsville College where Mr Inger can organise some remedial speech lessons, mostly alerting her to what are "Ts" and what are 'Ds". And after nailing that she can practise wiping that stupid grin off her face which acts as her mask to disguise her shortcomings.

When Working at the Morrinsville Takeaways somebody should of warned her about people like Aunty Helen, as a person shes great but ... ‘shes a cherry old card grunted Harry to jack ... 

[tripple alliance 1,026]

Jeez even the media are starting to question comrade cindy on the effects of her decision to keep NZers in prison . TV 1 news tonight was the first time she was under real pressure .

A 900% increase in people needing  food banks , 900% effing amazing , never ever been seen before , Dentists in despair , A man banned from visiting his dying wife in hospital , married for 50 plus years , how cruel is that , A local airline going bust , hospitals nearly empty yet elective surgery is still closed , what the eff is going on , this is madness .

This is a real mess , if there's a 900% increase in those needing food banks today what's it going to be like in a couple of months . 

I  watched Andrew Bolt tonight he showed a graph proving Australia is level pegging with NZ on the virus issue , he also pointed out Victoria has the most extreme lockdown rules in Australia but are not doing as well as many of the states that are operating much more freely . Australia's new infections today 4 , zero in Queensland , population 5.1 million .

[Gruff 2,800]

8 hours ago, tripple alliance said:

Jeez even the media are starting to question comrade cindy on the effects of her decision to keep NZers in prison . TV 1 news tonight was the first time she was under real pressure .

A 900% increase in people needing  food banks , 900% effing amazing , never ever been seen before , Dentists in despair , A man banned from visiting his dying wife in hospital , married for 50 plus years , how cruel is that , A local airline going bust , hospitals nearly empty yet elective surgery is still closed , what the eff is going on , this is madness .

This is a real mess , if there's a 900% increase in those needing food banks today what's it going to be like in a couple of months . 

I  watched Andrew Bolt tonight he showed a graph proving Australia is level pegging with NZ on the virus issue , he also pointed out Victoria has the most extreme lockdown rules in Australia but are not doing as well as many of the states that are operating much more freely . Australia's new infections today 4 , zero in Queensland , population 5.1 million .

Imagine the Crime wave  this will produce, all because of a bad  Flu ... if this thing killed everyone it came in contact with these measures would be acceptable.... f£€kin crazy. Winter soon, and everyones falling over each other to vaccinate 

[rdytdy 5,343]

New Zealand’s Democratic Vacuum

Ardern Is Using the Virus Crisis to Impose Her Socialist World-View on Our Nation.

By Dr Muriel Newman

The Government’s state of emergency has created a dangerous political vacuum. Decisions that profoundly affect everyone’s lives are being undertaken in an autocratic fashion without any attempt at democratic involvement.

Even the typically reserved Law Society has raised concerns about the lack of transparency and consultation associated with the lockdown:

“As far as possible, there should be an ongoing attempt to replicate the normal policy and law-making process… People affected should be consulted where feasible. Decisions that affect peoples’ rights should be reviewable in some way.”

As a consequence of the democratic vacuum created by the suspension of our civil liberties and Parliament, New Zealanders have little awareness of the profound implications of the political decision made by our Prime Minister to eliminate COVID-19 from New Zealand.

By attempting to eliminate the virus, New Zealanders will never gain natural immunity to the disease. That means until a vaccine is available, it will not be safe for New Zealanders to travel overseas. And while everyone is very bullish about the prospect of a vaccine being produced before the end of 2021, COVID-19 appears to be a fast mutating virus, with many strains now emerging, which make vaccine development more difficult.

Nor will it be possible to re-open our borders without some form of heavily-regulated quarantine process, since any viral outbreaks could force the country back into a lockdown.

As a result, the international tourism sector, which employed more than 300,000 people, catered for around 4 million overseas visitors, and accounted for 10 percent of our economy, will be decimated.

Instead of trying to eliminate the virus, other countries are managing the outbreak. They are using strategies similar to that outlined in the Ministry of Health’s Influenza Pandemic Plan, which involves protecting those who are vulnerable and progressively imposing restrictions to ensure the disease does not overwhelm the health system. The aim is to enable the economy to continue operating, allowing natural immunity to be built up in the population as a whole so that restrictions – including those at the border – can safely be lifted.

New Zealand enacted a similar strategy in January, in response to warnings from the World Health Organisation about the rapid spread of the virus. But the Prime Minister made a unilateral decision to change from managing the virus to eliminating it in mid-March. Exaggerated computer models predicting tens of thousands of deaths, were used to spread the fear and alarm needed to justify a total lockdown of the country – even though such extreme restrictions were not necessary.

Former Reserve Bank economist Ian Harrison found the models used by the Prime Minister “grossly overstated the number of deaths… The decision to lockdown all ‘non-essential’ workplaces was an overaction that was not supported by evidence.”

Pharmaceutical scientist and former New Zealander of the Year Sir Ray Avery also warned of the danger of basing major policy decisions on inaccurate statistical models – and of the folly of trying to eliminate a flu-type virus: “In the history of all humankind, we have only ever eliminated one major infectious disease; smallpox”.

He believes that attempting to eliminate COVID-19 is impossible and, as a result of the Government’s flawed approach, “this virus will have caused more economic damage, loss of livelihoods, increased suicides, disruption to our education system, inhuman treatment of our elderly and irreversible social changes than actual deaths…”

With major questions arising over Jacinda Ardern’s judgement in adopting the elimination strategy and imposing one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, the lack of scrutiny of her decision-making is disturbing.

Treasury has quantified the devastating cost to the economy of the PM’s extremist approach. As a result of four weeks of lockdown, unemployment is expected to rise from 4 percent to 13.5 percent – increasing the number of unemployed from 111,000 to 371,000. It’s anticipated that a further $20 billion in Government support will be needed to cushion the blow – in addition to the $25 billion already spent fighting the virus.

According to the OECD, the Prime Minister’s lockdown will result in New Zealand suffering one of the biggest declines in economic activity in the world – almost 30 percent.

In comparison, Australia’s decline will be lower at around 22 percent, as a result of Prime Minister Scott Morrison adopting the best practice approach of managing the outbreak while preserving the fundamental integrity of their economic system.

Unlike here, Australian families have been able to visit each other, schools have remained open, people have been able to buy food from butchers and greengrocers as well as supermarkets, they’ve been able to have haircuts, public transport has continued to operate, and weddings and funerals have still gone ahead albeit with reduced numbers. Throughout the period, while working from home has been encouraged, businesses have remained open.

The only industry sector that has really been restricted is hospitality, where pubs, casinos and clubs have been closed, with restaurants and cafes only able to operate takeaways.

Despite their more liberal approach, the results in terms of COVID-19 case numbers per head of population and the number of deaths, is about the same in New Zealand and Australia.

While New Zealand faces a greater financial burden as a result of the PM’s lockdown, the cost is far more than economic.

A new report released by Auckland University’s Centre for Informed Futures and co-authored by former Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman outlines the social impact of the lockdown: “Family violence, depression, anxiety and other issues can be expected to rise as people face loss of income, unemployment and simply being in close proximity with others.”

They predict the country’s already high rates of depression and anxiety among young people will increase, along with the suicide rate, and they believe that up to 10 per cent of people affected by income loss, unemployment or ill health during the outbreak are likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder.

But there’s another consequence of the lockdown that’s worrying health professionals – and that’s the fallout from the disruption of medical services and the cancellation of elective surgery.

Under Government orders, hospital wards were cleared, surgeries left idle, and Emergency Departments emptied ready for the influx of patients predicted by the Prime Minister’s exaggerated computer models – which proved to be as inaccurate as they were terrifying. 

While an estimated 30,000 New Zealanders who need surgery have been suffering at home, hospitals have been running at around 50 percent capacity for over a month.

Medical specialists are increasingly concerned the lockdown is costing lives through people failing to seek the treatment they need. A massive drop in pathology testing means serious diseases are going undetected. Patients whose operations were cancelled, risk more serious complications.

And as a result of the Prime Minister’s relentless message that the only way to keep safe is to stay at home, many people who are feeling ill now think they’re not allowed to go to ED because hospitals are only for COVID-19 patients. They also worry that if they did go to hospital, they might catch the virus and die.

International research shows that in Italy, non-coronavirus deaths have been rising at an alarming rate – the total death count was up six-fold from previous years, with coronavirus accounting for barely a quarter of the increase. An analysis from Spain showed that while mortality rates in some regions had almost doubled, only a fraction of the increase was officially attributed to COVID-19.

In 2016 a study reported in The Lancet connected at least 250,000 cancer deaths to the 2009 recession. An investigation of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa found that more people died from the indirect effects of the disease than from the virus itself.

Without a doubt, the fallout from our Government’s response to the epidemic will be considerably worse than the disease itself. Especially if there are new virus outbreaks, since Jacinda Ardern’s elimination strategy is based on the Government’s on-going ability to order more lockdowns. 

The Prime Minister has taken New Zealand down the path to State control so far and so quickly, that there’s now a very real risk that the architecture of a socialist state will underpin the rebuild. As a result, freedoms that have previously been taken for granted are now under serious threat.

The signs are already there. Finance Minister Grant Robertson is on record saying: “We must not allow inequality to take hold in our recovery… We need to take this opportunity to tackle those long standing divisions…”

He sees the state providing strong leadership going forward: “The importance of the role of the state has been underlined by this crisis. It is through a well-funded, highly functional public service, that we have had the ability to coordinate and provide leadership for New Zealanders.”

And while there appeared to be a slight glimmer of hope of much-needed reform, when he indicated that the Government intends changing the Resource Management Act to stimulate economic activity, according to this week’s NZCPR Guest Contributor economic commentator and former local body councillor Frank Newman, sensible reform is unlikely to materialise.

Frank explains that while getting rid of the RMA is the only real way to stimulate economic activity and get New Zealand working, the Government will probably exempt itself and leave everyone else to struggle:

“Although liberating businesses from the RMA is the obvious answer, political self-interest is likely to head the government down a different path. Rather than reform the RMA in a way that benefits business, they are more likely to exempt themselves from its restrictions. This is totally consistent with their view that what they do is for public benefit and what the private sector does is for personal gain.”

Going forward, it’s now clear that just as Jacinda Ardern used the Christchurch tragedy to impose her gun control agenda onto New Zealand, so too she will use this virus crisis to impose her socialist world-view onto our nation.

There are already calls for tax rates to be hiked up to 70 cents in the dollar, to force those who are “better-off” to pay for Jacinda Ardern’s lockdown. And it won’t be long before a capital gains tax, estate duties and other tax instruments everyone thought were long dead and buried are resurrected as well.

This is a very dangerous time for New Zealand.

Parliament should never have been closed down during this period of emergency rule. At times like this, when a democratic government starts acting like a dictatorship, the voice of the opposition becomes more important than ever.

National’s leader, Simon Bridges, fell into a political trap when he agreed to chair the Epidemic Response Committee. While there’s no doubt it’s engaging in important work, that role has left the Leader of the Opposition less effective in holding the Government to account.

He should never have agreed to the suspension of Parliament. He should have recognised the inherent dangers of autocratic rule and demanded that the House reconvene at 2 pm each sitting day for a virtual Question Time. That would have allowed for the proper scrutiny of the decisions being taken by the Prime Minister – especially her plan to eliminate the virus.

Dr Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician who advises the Australian government, questions whether eliminating the virus is even possible: “The reality is this virus is everywhere, it’s all around the world. So even if you’re successful for a short period of time, how long do you do this for? Six months? Two years? Invariably, you’re going to get the virus re-introduced.”

He points out that Australia is doing better than New Zealand without extremist measures.

There are two clear dangers for New Zealand.

The first is the virus – or more specifically, the Prime Minister’s strategy of eliminating the virus; how many lockdowns can we endure?

And the second is our Prime Minister, who fundamentally believes in state control, and is being given a free rein to embed her agenda deep into the heart of our democracy. 

The BFD. Cartoon credit BoomSlang

 

 

[rdytdy 5,343]

Foodbank Usage Quadruples

People are Struggling Already and It Is Not Over Yet

By Christie

 

It is interesting how, now that we have a Labour government, the reports on people living in their cars have completely dried up, and yet the housing crisis is worse than ever. Now, with the government’s generous wage subsidy package, we could all be forgiven for thinking that Jacinda is looking after us all. But although the wage subsidy package is generous, in the sense that taxpayer’s money has been allocated to provide people with incomes during lockdown, it goes without saying that these programmes never go far enough. $25 per week to beneficiaries costs a whole lot to taxpayers, but provides little relief to a beneficiary who cannot afford food. Similarly, a programme giving $545 per week to people who normally earn $1000 per week (both figures are before tax and deductions) costs taxpayers a huge amount but will not provide enough for families to live well. Poverty beckons for more and more people, and if there was ever evidence of this, look no further than the foodbanks.

RNZ reports:

 

After four weeks in lockdown, food banks around the country say there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people needing help to put food on the table.

The number of food grants made by the Ministry of Social Development has also skyrocketed under alert level 4 – hitting close to 70,000 in just a week.

Auckland City Missioner Chris Farrelly said the eight days before Christmas are usually the busiest of the year.

But over the lockdown period, he said the mission has been handing out about 1200 food parcels – double the usual demand.

“We’ve now been doing this day in, day out, already for 25 days. It’s Christmas on steroids, and we know this is going to continue.”

The numbers vary around the country but the basic story is the same. People are struggling. Under lockdown, with reduced incomes, those who never used to need to use foodbanks suddenly find themselves queuing for food parcels.

“And just about all the calls we’re getting in at the mission now are relating to food. Yes, there’s a few other things, but it’s essentially food.”

And some of those people needing help have never been to a food bank before, Farrelly said.

“Now we have this new group who have been affected by business closures, reduced hours, pay cuts, some of those in precarious work arrangements, who’ve just suddenly found themselves unable to feed their children.”

Some of these people will return to work next week, and hopefully will be back to normal soon, but many will not, and some jobs will simply not be there when we get back to Level 2. Jobs in tourism, hospitality, personal care and retail will start to disappear, if they have not already vanished.

Gerry Walker from the Salvation Army said they distributed almost 6000 food parcels around the country last week.

That’s more than four times the number they were handing out in early March.

But some places have been hit harder than others – and in Wellington and Palmerston North there’s been a more than 900 percent increase.

Walker said no one can predict how long this might last.

“But right now, looking at these figures, it’s very concerning, and each one of those [parcels] represents a person, family or wh?nau who are really struggling at the moment.

I constantly hear Grant Robertson telling everyone that they have a package in mind to get the economy moving again, but I am struggling to see what they can do. Governments cannot create jobs or businesses and they cannot keep paying for everything. The wage subsidy scheme has cost in the region of $12 billion. These are eye watering numbers, and we have only just started. I do give the government credit for trying to support New Zealanders, but if foodbanks are finding demand quadrupling already, I think many of us are in for a rough time ahead.

Like him or not, this is where I agree with Simon Bridges. Our COVID-19 case numbers do not justify an extra week of lockdown, and the economic carnage of what is effectively 3 more weeks of it will cripple us for decades to come. We need to start looking at the economy now, rather than try to eradicate a disease which will only come back in waves, as it has done in other countries. The government may have good intentions, but it can’t pay for everything. We need to stop this madness and, as a country, get back to work.

 

 

[Boss Hogg 320]

Cindy and her motley crew have put all the homeless in at least 7 motels in the golden mile of Rotorua in Fenton St including some of the big motels . They have been given a 12 month contract , not a bad place to be Sky Tv, Netflex , meals payed for. local Supermarkets pick up the shopping trolleys that they leave on the street .  Cheers BH

[rdytdy 5,343]

Ardern Struggles to Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

She Will Destroy the Economy and Many Lives.

By Wendy-Geus

The four alert levels were introduced by the government to deal with the impending coronavirus crisis, which at the time worked. They are not a ‘thing’, just an invention which has outgrown its usefulness. 

Ardern’s daily media stand-ups, or to quote Andrea Vance’s ‘How Jacinda Ardern is using soft propaganda to beat Covid-19’ has got people fearful about leaving level 4.  It’s like the four alert levels have some kind of ‘biblical significance’ when they don’t.

 

Ardern is keeping a strangle hold on the public and our economy in paralysis by retaining the four levels. Other countries come out of lock down with behavioural conditions attached, but with much less drama. 

She lacks the agility and intellectual rigour to change and adapt to changing circumstances; she will destroy the economy and many lives.

Esteemed epidemiologist Sir David Skegg said in his inimitable way, “Sometimes the way down the mountain will be different from the route up.”

With 3 new cases on Wednesday, the lowest ever, we appear to have reached the summit and ‘knocked the bastard off’. 

That is an infinitesimal number compared to our population of 4.7 million and one of the reasons Dr Bloomfield is increasingly confident about the smaller numbers of children going back to school. 

With the ability to trace infection source at almost 100% and labs testing over 6,500 people on Wednesday, the future looks bright. 

Still the PM insists on propagating fear, by telling us the future is in our hands. Nope PM. We have kept our part of the bargain, your government needs to step up. 

Greater emphasis by the MoH should continue to go on retaining our low (or zero) infection levels, through effective border security, testing and ‘gold standard’ tracing, and let the public get on with their lives (whilst retaining the learned safeguards).

The ball is now well and truly in the Ministry of Health’s court, to keep us safe and deliver PPEs and flu vaccines to where they are needed on time.

Is it any surprise this government which delivered 15 Kiwi Build homes in February (according to Hosking) has cocked some of this up as well? They just can’t help themselves. 

Contrary to the left and some of the media’s opinion, I believe Simon Bridges is right to point out we are still in lockdown because they have not done the work. There seems to be an unspoken understanding by some (ie. it’s politically incorrect) to criticize the PM. 

After his interview with the Opposition Leader on Breakfast this week, Haydon Jones said its Simon’s job to hold the government to account, (wonder how long he’ll last). Jenny May Clarkson replied she did not think it was appropriate to criticize the government. Just gobsmacking, but the right comment if she wants to retain her job at TVNZ. 

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

The Opposition Leader speaks for me and many others who don’t have a voice and who disagree with some of the government’s recent decisions. He is not in my (humble) opinion tone deaf.

And yes, Australia’s epidemic response provides an excellent example of walking and chewing gum at the same time (to quote Bridges). They got their testing and contact tracing functioning at a superior rate early on and border quarantine in place two weeks earlier than us, whilst leaving part of their economy going, hairdressers open and takeaway coffee and food available. 

I agree with him, we were ready to go to level 2 a couple of weeks ago. Keep speaking out Simon, annoy the heck out of the compliant Jacinda loving media and feral left as we move through these unprecedented, dark times.

And no, Grant, ‘shovelling money out of a helicopter’, to quote Shadow Finance Spokesperson Paul Goldsmith, while continuing to ignore the plight of small businesses, is not the way to rescue an economy teetering on the edge of a cliff.

 

 

[rdytdy 5,343]

Level Zero, What’s the Plan Prime Minister?

Why Aren't We at Level One Already?

By Expfc

I have been saying for a few weeks now that I think there is no need for the continuation of this lockdown, or indeed even a lockdown on a lower rung. So let’s look at just what these levels are, or at least what they currently are, as I do not believe that this government knows what it is doing and I think they are simply making this all up as they go along. Therefore, expect to see changes depending on which way the wind is blowing.

The definition for Level Four is that

 

• Community transmission is occurring
• There are widespread outbreaks and new clusters

Right, so we clearly don’t have that. At this point, community transmission is highly debatable and there are simply no widespread outbreaks or new clusters, and there haven’t been for some time. Their own stats prove this to be true. So that’s level four gone, there is clearly no reason to still be under this ridiculous home detention.

Level 3.

• Community transmission might be happening.
• New clusters may emerge but can be controlled through testing and contact tracing.

Ok, so you could make a claim for this as it is pretty vague, and of course vague is good as that means that your government can make things up as they like. But remember what the restrictions are for Level 3. The main one is that you are still forced to stay at home, you are “instructed” no less. You are still under lockdown, meekly awaiting permission from “Dear Leader” Jacinda Ardern to make a living, as under this level it will still be virtually impossible to generate enough income from most businesses to pay the rent let alone buy your family food. Of course, your provisional tax is still due on May 7th so that will probably have to come before food anyway.

And all this because community transmission might be happening and new clusters may emerge! Clearly Level 3 is also not warranted.

The BFD

Level 2

• Household transmission could be occurring.
• Single or isolated cluster outbreaks.

Again, there’s those vague words, household transmission could be occurring. You might think that when making decisions to destroy people’s livelihoods the government might like to use actual measurable science. Oh well, at least we will be able to kind of go to work as most businesses will be able to open, and if you’re safe, you might even be allowed to talk to a customer face to face. Of course if your business isn’t one of the ‘most’ businesses, you can go and get stuffed; you will find an application for the dole on the website. The good news is you only have to stay one metre away from everyone under level two so you will at least be able to converse without shouting. Don’t even think about hugging your friends though, that’s still right out.

Level 1

• The disease is contained in New Zealand.
• COVID-19 is uncontrolled overseas.
• Isolated household transmission could be occurring in New Zealand.

TheBFD

Now I’m no scientist, and if you ask my long suffering wife, she might say that I think too much, but isn’t this actually where we are right now? Why aren’t we at level one already?

Under Level 1, there are still plenty of requirements and regulations:

• Border entry measures to minimise risk of importing COVID-19 cases.
• Intensive testing for COVID-19.
• Rapid contact tracing of any positive case.
• Self-isolation and quarantine required.
• Schools and workplaces open, and must operate safely.
• Physical distancing encouraged.
• No restrictions on gatherings.
• Stay home if you’re sick, report flu-like symptoms.
• Wash and dry hands, cough into elbow, don’t touch your face.
• No restrictions on domestic transport – avoid public transport or travel if sick.

Probably all pretty sensible but still being controlled by Ms Ardern and her friends, so I ask this. At what point do we no longer need to be under a State of Emergency, and perhaps more importantly, when do we go to Level Zero?

Do we really need to be in a State of Emergency under Level 3 where we might have a problem? How about under Level 2 where we could have household transmission and we’re only getting single cases popping up?

And there must be a Level Zero, because a few months ago we had no border restrictions. I could jump on a plane, go on holiday overseas and not be subject to harrassment on the way back in. I didn’t have the State declaring that I should still not shake hands with my mates or business acquaintances. I would like to know what the criteria are for getting back to that state, our natural state if you will?

Do Ms Ardern, Mr Peters, and Mr Robertson actually have a plan for when and how we will return to freedom? Is there a document somewhere that says when we can go back to relying on the rights ensrined in the NZ Bill of Rights and not having to just accept that the Police Commissioner and Head Health Guy know what’s best for us?

The BFD photoshop by ExPFC.

So an open request to the Prime Minister. Please explain exactly what scenario must exist for you to give up all these controls on our liberty, and when can we expect to live with the amount of freedom that we used to have?

I shall humbly and meekly sit locked up in my house, still under the extremely onerous Level 4 restrictions while you formulate your reply. Please be quick, my wife is sick of me. 

 

 

[rdytdy 5,343]

An Orchestrated Litany of Lies

By GP

 

COVID-19 has given Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and their government colleagues the opportunity to take lying, hypocrisy and scapegoating to a whole new level. 

 

Let’s examine the case for lying about cash support for businesses via a make-believe court case with a judge interrogating the defendant (the NZ Government).

Judge:

On the 17 March 2020 you (the Government) announced a “$12.1 billion economic rescue package” with “the lion’s share” going to businesses.  What business bills can be paid with this cash?

NZ Government:

All that money is for employees.

Judge:

There are add-on costs to payroll, for example, ACC employer and Worksafe levies plus GST. Can employers use the subsidy money for these costs?

NZ Government:

No.

Judge:

So businesses that are closed with no income have to find money to pay to Government and ACC?

NZ Government:

Businesses could borrow or use spare cash.  

Judge: 

A closed business should borrow or use spare cash to pay a fee and GST to the government? 

NZ Government:

Yes, or they could pay some taxes later or get tax refunds earlier.

Judge:

But they would have to pay those taxes or would get those refunds anyway, wouldn’t they? The only difference is when?

NZ Government:

Yes.

Judge:

If businesses did not pay these subsidies and laid off their employees instead, what could their employees do?

NZ Government:

They could apply to WINZ and not have a stand-down period.

Judge:

So the taxpayer would still be funding the employees?

NZ Government:

Yes. And WINZ would have to do all the work of administering the entitlements plus government and ACC would miss out on the employers’ add-on costs, i.e. ACC, Worksafe. GST also tax on employers’ Kiwisaver contribution.

Judge:

Businesses have other costs besides payroll, costs that continue even when they are closed. Has the government provided any grants to assist with these?

NZ Government:

No. Businesses can borrow or adjust their tax dates. 

Judge:

So no billions from the government for businesses? Just a bill for those that pay the subsidy to their staff? 

NZ Government:

Businesses can obtain help from banks. Also, the Government is paying people to advise businesses.

Judge:

Will advisors have funds available to provide to businesses to help with business costs such as insurance, leases – oh – and those employers’ ACC, Worksafe levies and Kiwisaver, also GST?

NZ Government:

No

Judge:

So no billions from government for businesses then? Has government provided any grants to businesses?

NZ Government:

No

Judge:

We looked at the publically available information for one sector, the Early Childhood Sector to get an idea of the money that could be coming to Government. Based on the subsidy they claimed, BestStart, a mere 6% of the Early Childhood Sector will have a bill of $176,918.88. $23,076 of that is GST.  Gross that up to 100% excluding public sector kindergartens. From just one sector the government could be getting close to $3 million not including tax on Kiwisaver employers’ contribution. The income for the government, ACC, Worksafe and Kiwisaver tax from all sectors will run into many many millions?

NZ Government:

Wait, we forgot. “Some immediate relief” is being provided to the media worth about $50 million in cash.”

Judge:

The media. The same sector that one assumes the government is also paying for the saturation advertising about COVID-19?

NZ Government:

Yes

Judge:

In conclusion, then, there are no grants to help businesses who are closed completely and could be for some time but still have ongoing costs. There is however cash support for the media even though they still have some revenue. 

Judgement:

NZ Government – you have been found guilty of a particularly vile form of lying.

Firstly by implying that billions of taxpayer funds are being used to assist businesses when they are not. 

Secondly, you are increasing the costs to those businesses.

Thirdly you are using the media (whom you are also using taxpayers’ money to assist) to continually attack businesses the majority of whom are decent people doing their best in an unprecedented situation where information is scarce and the rules keep changing. Well done. How kind. 

 

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• MIKE'S MINUTE: DEBORAH RUSSELL EXPOSES JACINDA ARDERN'S WEAKNESS

Mike's Minute: Deborah Russell exposes Jacinda Ardern's weakness

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Publish Date

Tue, 28 Apr 2020, 9:49AM

 

 

Play Video

• 'That's not Jacinda's way': Why Labour MP wasn't told off for hurtful comments

Come on in Deborah Russell. 

Having been largely absent for over two years of government, the previously invisible Labour MP lobs up at the Epidemic Response Committee, tells small business that if they're having trouble surviving the lockdown maybe they're just a bit useless at business.

This is the most welcome advice from a titan of small business herself. Not.

She, of course, is publicly chastised by the Prime Minister and Grant Robertson, who know full well their party already has credibility issues with all sorts of businesses, far less SMEs.

Willie Jackson, who made equally stupid comments, appears to have been let off lightly, given Russell grabbed all the headlines.

But then in a “the gift just keeps giving” kind of way, Russell lobs up on the Newstalk ZB Drive show on Friday and drops an even bigger bombshell. Turns out the Prime Minister did what we always knew she does but would never admit to publicly, not actually take Russell to task for the original crime.

Ardern is famous now for being unable to be bold, make a decision off her own bat, far less actually deal to incompetence. We'd barely moved on from the David Clark sort of sacking, the sacking you have when you don’t actually sack anyone. That, of course, went into the Ardern pantheon of other non-decisions like Iain-Lees Galloway and the Sroubek saga , Clare Curran and RNZ, and the gold medal non-sacking, the promotion of Phil Twyford to Economic Development Minister having cocked up Kiwibuild in a way they’ll write about for years.

No, Ardern put on her best stern face at another of those afternoon bingo sessions of how many cases, how many in hospital, and how many are linked to overseas travel. And she left us under illusion Russell had misspoken.

She then, according to Russell in her ZB Drive "throw Ardern under the bus" session, got a call from Ardern. And she told her not to do it again? No. To pull her head in? No. Not to think before she speaks? No. But to hang in there, you'll be alright.

When asked whether Ardern had actually told her off in anyway Russell gave the Ardern game away, she said "that’s not Jacinda's way."

And sadly, no it isn't. And in that is the credibility issue, what Ardern says she does, and what she really does in circumstances like this are two very different things. Matthew Hooton calls her one of the world's best symbolic communicators. That’s spot on. Sounds great, says nothing.

Tells people off, but doesn’t tell people off. Sacks people, but doesn’t sack people.

Big stern face, leaves you with the impression someone's in for it. And yet, what really happens is "hang in there, you'll be alright."

And yet, what really happens is, "hang in there you'll be alright."

Because that’s not her way.

So what's been exposed here is not just the government's profound incompetence in an increasing number of matters, but basically Ardern's fraudulent portrayal of a leader who does what she says she'll do.

We are being played. Some of us have known this for a while but thanks to Russell, she's exposed the trick, for all its shabby superficiality.

 

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What Y2K and COVID-19 Have in Common

A Cavernous Discrepancy between the Threat and the Reality

By Justin Knight

 

For anyone too young to remember Y2K, it was a very expensive non-event invented by IT charlatans to scare the world into paying them a significant amount of money to fix precisely nothing.

 

The argument went that when the year 1999 ticked over to 2000, all the computers would malfunction due to not being able to roll ‘99 into ’00. Planes would fall out of the sky, ATMs and IT mainframes would shut down and the world would fall into turmoil. Years of testing and nonsensical modelling and fixes preceded the big event each with an eye-watering budget attached.

The BFD. Y2K

When the big day came and the year 2000 rolled in, zero planes fell from the sky, ATMs and computer networks still worked perfectly. Governments, Corporates and the dons of the IT industry hailed their foresight and planning and declared themselves planning and crisis management geniuses who had allowed everyone to dodge a mega bullet; an asteroid that was going to explode mother earth.

It was never mentioned, explained or acknowledged that countries who had zero budget allocated to Y2K and its fixes also had no issues with planes falling out of the sky, ATMs or their computer networks.

The Y2K problem never existed; there was no need for panic or fixes or massive spend. It was the biggest scam I’d seen in my life time until a couple of months ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to the COVID-19 world coronavirus crisis. There is a key difference in that COVID-19 does actually exist, it just exists along with numerous other coronaviruses that are present and always have been present. The comparison to the Y2K invention is with regard to the cavernous discrepancy between the threat scenario – fueled by the media and the Government, versus the reality that it’s barely registerable as a threat to one’s life.

Jacinda Ardern has misled New Zealand severely; impeding the future of the next generation with an extremely large debt anchor whilst simultaneously impinging on the human rights of the country; bankrupting small business owners and creating a mental health and domestic violence crisis.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

The initial and continued scare tactics and modelling undertaken to underpin the government’s actions need to be fully investigated post-crisis with appropriate repercussions where wrongs have been committed.

Warning of 34,000 deaths and using that as a basis to ruin the economy and people’s lives is simply not morally defensible. The reality is in the actual numbers if people would care to look at them. New Zealand has had 14 deaths with most not being able to be tagged as COVID-19 given the other morbidities of the patients at a worst-case mortality rate of 0.1%. As a point of reference in the same time period COVID-19 has been in New Zealand, approximately 5,500 people have died of various other causes. Another reference point is that over the Easter weekend in 2019, 17 people died on the roads. These were young people in their prime, not people in palliative care. New Zealand didn’t shut the roads after Easter 2019. 

For the many articles and references pointing the finger at Singapore as the next scare tactic of what could happen with the famous “second wave”, Singapore has had only 11 deaths over a longer time period of infection than New Zealand with many more positive tests and thus an even lower mortality rate.

The spike in Singapore cases reflects a better and more thorough testing program and will only go to prove how innocuous COVID-19 is as the true mortality rate will tumble even further as testing continues to widen. The lack of balanced reporting in New Zealand is at the core of the issue. The media have failed as a safeguard to a free and open society. The media are failing in their core role of fostering a democracy that’s accountable to all its citizens. There’s more truth in the excellent and independent Pyongyang Times than any of New Zealand’s publications or media other than just a very few reporters who actually attempt to bring some balance to much public derision.

New Zealand publications troll for the latest sad case to publish, interviewing those in grief, simultaneously looking for some outpost article on what a wonderful leader New Zealand has. No one in the world truly gives a hoot about Jacinda or what she is doing to New Zealand, as even the half-educated have worked out there is little to no risk. Sweden is a month away from herd immunity after doing precisely nothing. Brazil is fine. There never was a crisis.

The BFD

Let’s talk about the Y2K equivalent Covid specialists. The most commonly wheeled out rent-a-quote specialist New Zealand has is Siouxsie Wiles. You have to be wary when you take one person’s opinion and put that above all others or give it more weight, a lot more oxygen and far too much airtime. Remember that this is a career academic fighting for both funding and relevance, and this is her moment to shine in the spotlight and shout about how relevant and clever she is. Except she’s not. Siouxsie scaremongers and makes up scenarios that don’t exist and even attempts to talk about how actual numbers can trick you.

A death is a death, Siouxsie, it is the only reliable data we have. There is research that undoubtedly links obesity and a lack of vitamin D to the rare death of younger patients of COVID-19. In this aspect, Siouxsie Wiles is talking her own book and you can see why she is fearful, but that doesn’t mean she should punish the nation or put her needs in front of all others.

One of the many health professionals I refer to is Stanford professor of medicine Dr John Ioannidis who has concluded in a new study that the risk of death from COVID-19 for people under 65 years of age, even in global “hotspots“, is equivalent to the risk of a fatal car accident for daily commuters.

If you take the data from the best-studied countries such as South Korea, Iceland, Germany and Denmark, the overall lethality of COVID-19 is between 0.1% and 0.4%. The reality is there has not been a spike in mortality in any country across the world year on year. COVID-19 has not caused a mortality spike anywhere. COVID-19 is a statistical non-event. 

My early research into COVID-19 centred around the articles of Doctor John Lee (Professor of Pathology and NHS Pathology Consultant), Doctor Richard Schabas (Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of health for ten years and Chief of Staff at York Central Hospital during SARS crisis in 2003) and Nobel prize winner Peter Doherty. I have also covered hundreds of other specialists given my background isn’t medical just as Grant Robertson’s isn’t business. We are both attempting to educate ourselves and take in as many viewpoints as possible to ascertain what the real threat is here.

To fully encapsulate and understand the threat, we need to determine the actual percentage of total deaths COVID-19 is causing. Going through numerous articles I ascertained three main points. The first being that prior to COVID-19, the cause of infection when someone died of a respiratory illness generally wasn’t recorded. The second being that the low number of tests are skewing the figures. In most countries you are only tested for COVID-19 once in the hospital, so the true mortality number isn’t being baked into the actual mortality rate. The third point is to focus on what has happened (facts) rather than what might happen (modelling).

The facts are what New Zealand is sorely missing. The reporting has been one-sided without a counterbalance to provide people with information so they can make informed decisions. What is a fact is that the mortality rate is low and those dying have had multiple morbidities making it difficult to ascertain what really killed them. Globally total mortality hasn’t risen from 2019 numbers. Currently, the worlds COVID-19 deaths represent 0.14 percent of the total of global deaths. There is no spike.

To be truly informed as a nation we need to be provided with the following information. How many people died at the same time last year of respiratory illnesses over the same period? How many people died of suicide? Sepsis? Heart disease? Car crashes? Flu? A weekly table of total deaths compared to historic data should suffice, so people can make an informed decision on what the threat really is.

Jacinda is a massive problem and her cult rather than her results will shape the future of New Zealand for many years to come in a very bad way. It took all previous Governments 164 long years for New Zealand to accumulate 57 billion of debt, during that time building roads and infrastructure and schools and hospitals, providing for treaty settlements and looking after the beneficiaries. Jacinda will double that 164 years of debt in a couple of months by paying money to businesses that can’t open so will go bankrupt regardless, for a crisis that only exists as a vanity project, with rules that make no sense other than providing a daily pulpit to sprout lies, fear and smugness with a healthy dose of faux concern.

This is a PM that loves a crisis because she can’t achieve anything running the country day to day. Kiwibuild was a failure. The caring and genuine Jacinda threw the victims of a sex scandal which happened under her nose under the bus, denying knowledge when all evidence pointed to her knowing exactly what was going on. Pledges on mental health are a long way off what was promised. It isn’t surprising that Jacinda is spiralling New Zealand into a mental health crisis.

The BFD. Look at me. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

Jacinda’s cards were on the table early when she went to the United Nations with her baby in the most blatant cry for attention since Michael Jackson dangled baby Prince Michael II off a Berlin balcony in 2002. The United Nations is Jacinda’s ultimate goal as it’s the bastion of getting nothing done accompanied with long compassionate speeches and equally compassionate faces whilst a million African children die a year because of thoroughly fixable sanitation issues. Jacinda will play that faux-concerned face role exceptionally well. She should be encouraged to go as soon as possible so New Zealand can start cleaning up her mess.

Jacinda has enhanced a culture of taxing or crippling anyone who has worked hard so that beneficiaries can benefit, and she is now in control of a money-printing machine with a finance minister who majored in Arts. These actions will have repercussions on generations to come. Farmers, entrepreneurs, property owners, small business owners, basically anyone with capital at risk has felt the wrath of being punished for hard work and putting their own hard-earned dollars to the test.

It wasn’t long ago that the Ardern government was trying to put a capital gains tax on anyone who had actually had the wherewithal to grow a business and employ people. The bandwagon is circling and the message is loud and clear, don’t risk your capital, grab a benefit. The crack in their plan is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of thinking about what businesses will survive to pay tax to fund the benefits. It must be an Arts background thing.

Jacinda has lied to New Zealand. No doubt Jacinda’s PR team will spend the next few years spinning a different light on what actually happened, but Jacinda has clearly and methodically misled about the magnitude and threat of COVID-19 and she has recklessly reached into the pockets of the future generations to fund the resulting actions. That money isn’t hers to spend nor is it the Government’s; it’s the future workforce and economy of New Zealand and it’s being recklessly and criminally spent.

Jacinda’s so brazen she even lied as she extended the unnecessary lockdown for a week and then called it two days. The arrogance with which she batted that away when challenged by Mike Hosking was breathtaking, effectively dismissing every business owner in New Zealand.

Moving forward, reporting needs to change to give perspective and allow Kiwis to make informed decisions around the mortality of COVID-19 infections versus the rest of the deaths in New Zealand. We need a media that safeguards a free and open society and fosters a democracy. A media that’s accountable to all its citizens. If we are going to forecast doomsday scenarios of how many could die from COVID-19, we also need mental health experts forecasting how many may take their own lives when their business goes under and how many jobs are being lost each week. Lastly, post this event we need to have an independent enquiry into whether this lockdown had safeguards in the New Zealand Bill of Rights and if it was in fact even legal. There need to be independent investigations into the decisions made by Jacinda Ardern and her influence on the media to impinge on human rights to such a large degree, whilst bankrupting the next generation, when the threat was never so great as that which was, and still is, continually portrayed. 

 

 

[Gruff 2,800]

 

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Backlash Brewing

By JC

Bob Jones, in a recent article on The BFD, had this to say:

It’s a sorry scene ahead of us and I say again, by election-time the Jacinda lustre will be replaced by despair and anger with the obvious electoral outcome.

I agree wholeheartedly. The backlash has already started.

 

In just over a month the Queenstown district has been flipped upside down. Queenstown Lakes District Mayor, Jim Boult, says it’s gone from the most successful region to potentially one of the poorest in little over a month. Unemployment could reach 30 per cent.

Those on the medical frontline have clashed with the Prime Minister over funding, rest home testing and availability of flu vaccine. Many GP practices are living hand to mouth and some may not survive. The distribution of the flu vaccine was labelled a disaster. The Pharmacy Guild was still waiting for ongoing financial support, and dentists are warning of a dire public heath problem with around 400,000 having missed appointments.

A construction company director is saying that the new compliance costs and rules are almost unworkable. He says clueless committee members set the rules which he calls “bullshit”.

More people are going into poverty under the lockdown. Food banks are noticing a dramatic rise, far busier than at Christmas. The Ministry of Social Development has given close to 70,000 food grants in a week. The Salvation Army distributed 6,000 food parcels in a week. In Wellington and Palmerston North, there’s been a 900 per cent increase of those requiring food parcels.

Owners of independent cinemas around the country are unhappy they are not getting Government support while being forced to close.

Small to medium sized business owners have vented their dissatisfaction with the Government response at the Epidemic Response Committee. One mall owner called the Prime Minister’s remarks insulting.

Talkback radio is awash with voices disagreeing with how the Government is operating. Most are saying we should be in level two. That, of course, doesn’t suit the strategy or the narrative of Ms A and Dr B at one o’clock. They are living the dream while we are living the resultant nightmare.

Every day at 1pm school convenes as we the pupils (if we are game enough to turn up to class) get a lecture from the Headmaster and Headmistress about how we should behave. Who we are allowed to see. How many we are allowed to see. Where we are allowed to go. How far we are allowed to go. What we are allowed to purchase. Where we are allowed to purchase it. How far apart we are allowed to stand. Who is allowed to leave their home. Under what circumstances we are allowed to leave our home.

The lecture over, the baa baa flock of journalist sheep get the opportunity to show what dags they are by asking one inane question after another. You have to ask who’s trying to pull the wool over whose eyes? At the end of the excruciating daily carry on you are left wondering if there aren’t more intelligent dags hanging from a sheep’s bottom. The whole charade is nothing short of an exercise in self grandiose narcissism which the silent majority, who are now starting to speak out, can see right through.

As Simon Bridges points out, this situation has gone on too long and the country must get back to work. The economist Cameron Bagrie agrees, saying the damage to both the economy and small to medium-sized businesses is massive. The couple at one o’clock, who appear joined at the hip, can carry on playing their little game but I think they are fast approaching their last throw of the dice. If I’m reading the overall mood correctly it won’t be long before the game is well and truly up.

The longer she persists with this nonsense all Jacinda is achieving is hurting those she is supposed to represent. But around the world, modern-day Labour left the workers behind some time ago in favour of the academic, Chardonnay drinking, leftist elite. Now it appears under COVID-19 it’s bubbles that are all the rage.

The BFD. “Here’s to the destruction of NZ’s economy, Cheers!”

 

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Ardern Ignored the UN’s Own Advice

There Was No Evidence to Support the Effectiveness of NZ Government Interventions

By L D Brady

Last October – just one month before the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Wuhan – the World Health Organisation issued advice to governments on “non-pharmaceutical interventions” in the event of a future influenza pandemic.

Conspiracy mongers will have a field day with this, but it really does seem a coincidence. Given that WHO has hardly covered itself in glory lately, its advice must also be taken with a grain of salt.

 

But what’s really significant about WHO’s advice (which does seem to have been genuinely based on scientific research) is that it flatly contradicts what even its most fervent champions have actually done. In particular, the Ardern government has ignored nearly everything WHO advised.

Hand hygiene and “respiratory etiquette” were recommended at all times. Yet there was precious little evidence for any of the other vast array of interventions governments have enacted[…]

Evidence for the effectiveness of workplace and school closures, in particular, was “very low” and they were ethically problematic given the imposition on parents and a significant fall in “the economy and productivity of a society”, the WHO argued.

One particular surprise is that WHO mostly rejected travel restrictions. Mostly. Here’s where it gets interesting for New Zealand:

“Border closures may be considered only by small island nations in severe pandemics and epidemics but must be weighed against potentially serious economic consequences,” it said.

“Entry and exit screening for infection in travellers is not recommended because of the lack of sensitivity of these measures in identifying infected but asymptomatic travellers,” it added.

The analysis was aware of the possible benefits of such measures, but equally concerned about their economic and social costs.

Taiwan is the perfect example of a small island nation which rapidly closed its borders. Taiwan also screened all travellers with temperature sensors.

While New Zealand, as another small island nation, had a golden opportunity to quickly close its borders, it did not do so with any alacrity. No matter what Jacinda Ardern might say. New Zealand didn’t close its borders until March 20. This was over two months after the world was alerted to the virus, nearly eight weeks after Australia’s first cases were reported, and a month after New Zealand’s first case.

No matter which way you cut it, that’s not “hard and early”.

Where Ardern did go hard – the draconian and economically devastating Level 4 restrictions – she directly contradicted the advice of her beloved WHO.

There was nothing on the benefits of restricting groups to two or 10 people, let alone banning professional sport or outlawing golf[…]

[Australia’s] excellent performance in keeping COVID-19 at bay has blinded some to the lack of evidence for stage-three lockdown restrictions[…]

In New Zealand they didn’t let people outside for more than an hour a day and basically shut all businesses, but it has had more deaths per capita than Australia, and with no Ruby Princess.

That hasn’t stopped Ardern banging her little drum, to adoring coos of delight from the mainstream media. But the economic chickens are yet to come back to roost en masse. Ardern’s claim to “eliminate” COVID-19 is frankly garbage – unless she plans to keep borders sealed until a vaccine is developed months if not years from now. In which case, say goodbye to New Zealand’s critical tourism industry, which contributes approximately 10% of GDP.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared victory this week as her government wound back restrictions to something more akin to Victoria’s. Even if parts of the devastated economy quickly recover, it’s not clear tourism will, which last year was the country’s biggest export earner at 20 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. If everyone has to quarantine for two weeks on ­arrival in New Zealand, not many will visit. It could be a Pyrrhic victory[…]

Sweden meanwhile, the bete noir of the global lockdown movement, is experiencing the same number of new infections each day as it was a month ago, making a mockery of forecasts of disaster if it didn’t put its people under house arrest for weeks.

So, rather than following scientific advice from the very UN which she constantly lauds, Jacinda Ardern instead relied on her little circle of friends. Trashing New Zealand’s economy and trampling its citizens’ rights in the process – for likely no real advantage.

 

 

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We allowed the virus to be walked into the country

OPINION: So many accolades have been thrown the way of the Prime Minister and Dr Ashley Bloomfield for their management of COVID-19.

But the truth is, our health system was woefully under-prepared.

Have a listen to this:

"We were not adequately prepared for a pandemic, despite the recent experiences of SARS twice, MERS and so on. It's self-evident we need an explicit, tactical pandemic plan that is overseen by an adequately-resourced national agency," said Auckland University professor of medicine Des Gorman.

"I think we squandered our major advantage, which is our geography, because we did not have an early hard border closure. If the pandemic response strategy was, and is, to 'keep-it-out and stamp-it-out' - then the hard work we have had to do to stamp it out, clearly shows we materially failed to keep it out."

So the face-palm moment... Gorman, widely respected, [is] talking about 'clusters' - not the Marist variety - or even the Bluff wedding. This time, the word 'cluster' has another word attached to it - but I can't repeat it.

And because of this, we had to endure a Gestapo like approach to level 4. And a level 4 approach to level 3.

But business is suffering, Kiwis are losing jobs and if we'd had a proper plan, the damage could have been more contained.

We didn't have enough ICU beds - just three per 100,0000 people. Australia has 10, Germany has 33.

We didn't have enough ventilators, personal protection equipment and we didn't close our borders until it was too late

We squandered our natural advantage. The ocean is our moat and yet our borders remained open to the virus for simply too long.

When they finally closed the door, the virus had walked in and spread.

We allowed the virus to be walked into the country.

It even turns out the Government was formally told by Bloomfield to completely close the borders in February.

They said 'no thanks', and the compromise came way too late.

Now, for the record, the Prime Minister says, 'didn't we do well' for an underprepared nation?

I say she misses the point.

We could have been in and out of this in a much less painful way - if people had done their jobs properly in the planning stages.

 

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Yet Another Captain’s Call

By Dr Muriel Newman

 

In his recent article The Coming Economic Crisis and its Political Consequences, Sir Bob Jones predicts New Zealand will have a change in government: “Have an election today and the government would bolt in, primarily because of Jacinda’s star power induced by the media’s obsession with her. But the election is six months away and then, I’m picking a change of government.”

 

He points out that as an island nation with a younger and sparser population, New Zealand has largely avoided the high density living that helped to create the COVID-19 firestorm that has swept through so many countries. In itself, that’s an excellent reason why the obsessive promotion of high density living pushed by Green fanatics in councils across the country, should be rejected.

We now understand more than ever that forcing people to live on top of each other creates dangerous health risks. It also shows that New Zealand’s traditional ‘quarter acre paradise’ – a home with a garden and room for the kids to play – is important, not only in helping to keep us safe, but keeping us sane as well!

Sir Bob believes Labour will lose the election because their response to the virus has been too severe. Forcing all businesses to close down for over a month was unnecessary – many will go broke, and the widespread economic and social fallout will be massive.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMIn

In fact, the lockdown illustrates just how little this Government understands about small business. At a recent Parliamentary hearing Labour’s Finance Select Committee Chair, Deborah Russell, even appeared to blame small business owners for the dire situation they are in:

“We are seeing a number of small businesses really struggling, after only a few weeks… which must speak to the strength of those small businesses going into this lockdown. It worries me that perhaps people went into small business without really understanding how you might build up a business or capitalise it in the first place, so you have the ongoing strength to survive a setback.”

As economic commentator Frank Newman explains in his Oh dear: Deborah Russell blog, “Deborah Russell is apparently a tax expert… but based on her comments about the collapse of small businesses she does not seem to have much comprehension of what it’s like to run a business and nor does she seem to have much empathy with people who actually contribute the wealth that she and her colleagues consume.”

In reality, the country did not need to go into a full lockdown. We were on the right track in early March when the Prime Minister asked everybody who was older and had underlying health problems to go into isolation.

As we’ve seen overseas, and from our own case statistics, while COVID-19 can have such a mild impact on those it infects that many don’t even know they have it, for that vulnerable group, it can be deadly. They are the ones that needed to be quarantined – especially those in rest homes – not the whole country.

For everyone else, strong border controls, effective testing and tracing, and a requirement for anyone infected to self-isolate – along with the general requirements for good hygiene, and appropriate social distancing – should have been enough to keep them safe.

Back in January when reports first emerged about a highly infectious outbreak of a new coronavirus in Wuhan, China, New Zealand adopted the Ministry of Health’s Influenza Pandemic Plan.

It’s a mitigation strategy designed to manage an influenza epidemic in such a way as to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, whilst minimising the impact on society and the economy.

It was last applied in 2009 by John Key’s Government to counter the global swine flu pandemic. Altogether 3,175 cases of H1N1 were recorded and 19 deaths. While border controls were introduced, and some schools and businesses were temporarily closed, the economic and social disruption was minimal.

Those leaders did not panic. They did not impose a lockdown. Instead they followed the Ministry of Health’s strategy. That’s not the case today.

After the Pandemic Plan had been in operation for two months, it’s reported that in mid-March Prime Minister Ardern was presented with alarmist computer models claiming that unless the country was put into a lockdown ‘tens of thousands of New Zealanders will die’: “The Government relied on seven different models to inform its decision-making. One is an Imperial College London paper that estimated millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Brits would die without severe suppression measures like a lockdown. The paper altered policy in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand as well.”

When former Reserve Bank Economist Ian Harrison examined the models he found that grossly inaccurate assumptions “led to an explosion in the number of cases and deaths.”

Instead of questioning the accuracy of the models, and balancing them with proper cost-benefit analyses of the economic and social consequences of locking down the country, the Prime Minister appears to have been spooked into making another of her disastrous Captain’s Calls.

We first heard about Jacinda Ardern’s Captain’s Calls during the 2017 election campaign, when she unilaterally announced a Capital Gains Tax would be introduced if she became PM. Criticism over the vagueness of her policy forced her to propose a Tax Working Group would decide the detail. In the end, public opposition, killed the proposal.

The BFD. Carnage continues. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

Her second Captain’s Call was her disastrous decision to close down the oil and gas industry without any consultation or even Cabinet approval. At the time, she appeared oblivious to the devastation that her decision would cause to lives and businesses – not to mention the wider economy.

This latest Captain’s Call – to lock down the country and ‘eliminate’ the virus – required the declaration of a State of Emergency. At the time of her announcement, in spite of only two possible cases of community transmission – both of which were still being investigated – she claimed these as her justification: “If community transmission takes off in New Zealand the number of cases will double every five days. If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated, and thousands of New Zealanders will die.”

Australia’s approach to fighting the virus is similar to the strategy we were using prior to the Prime Minister’s change in direction. Their experience shows the wisdom of that approach – they have a far more open society and a much stronger economy than New Zealand, with fewer cases and fewer deaths per head of population.

According to the Worldometer website Australia has 265 cases of COVID-19 per million people, and 3 deaths per million, while New Zealand has 306 cases per million and 4 deaths per million.

The PM’s “go hard” approach to eliminate the virus confined everyone to their homes for almost five weeks, suspended our democratic and civil rights, and devastated our economy with billions of dollars in bailouts and hundreds of thousands of expected job losses.

She also created a looming medical crisis.

As a result of those exaggerated computer models, the PM emptied hospitals ready for a projected tsunami of COVID-19 cases. They never arrived. But instead of correcting the situation and re-opening hospitals for operations, scans and diagnostic tests to clear the backlog, they have remained idle for almost six weeks.

The Cancer Society is amongst the many groups warning that hundreds of deaths may result from the lockdown.

These matters should be part of an inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 crisis by the Prime Minister and her Government – especially the decision to replace the Ministry of Health’s proven Pandemic Plan with a strategy based on exaggerated computer models.

Questions should be asked about why robust cost-benefit analyses of the economic and social consequences of a four-week lockdown were apparently not obtained to inform decision-making.

According to Otago University’s Law Professor Andrew Geddis, the legal legitimacy of the lockdown and the limiting of civil liberties on such a significant scale, should be questioned as well: “The tenuous legal foundation of the lockdown regime represents a significant constitutional problem that needs to be addressed. ”  

The role of the media has also been questioned.

Dr Steve Elers, a senior lecturer in journalism at Massey University, believes the Prime Minister has not been held to account for “misleading New Zealanders”: “During the Covid-19 daily briefings I’ve found myself yelling at the TV screen and sometimes even throwing things at it. Why? Because our journalists seem far too chummy with the Prime Minister instead of fulfilling their role as the watchdog for society… A healthy democracy requires the news media to hold power to account, regardless of who is in power, and to question government decisions.”

Dr Bryce Edwards, a political analyst at Victoria University is also critical of the lack of scrutiny of the PM: “Senior journalists complain that under the new crisis conditions, authorities and politicians no longer provide the public with adequate information.”

He believes the concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s office has been dangerous for democracy – and decision-making – and he explains that there’s a massive disconnect between what the public is being told, and what is actually happening on the ground.

This was a concern raised by the Leader of the Opposition in response to the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Level 4 lockdown was to be extended. On his Facebook page, Simon Bridges accused the Government of not being adequately prepared for Level 3: “The decision for New Zealand to stay locked down in Level 4 shows the Government hasn’t done the groundwork required to have us ready…”

His post, which criticised testing and tracing, as well the on-going chronic lack facemasks and other protective equipment for front line health workers, attracted some 29,000 comments on a site that would ordinarily attract a couple of hundred. Many claiming to be National supporters, also called for his resignation as party leader.

It was clearly an orchestrated political attack: Politics 101 – and it worked a treat. Instead of stories critical of Labour’s extension of the lockdown – and the impact on our economy – the news bulletins focussed on Simon Bridges’ leadership.

It revealed how Labour’s well-organised PR machine is deeply penetrating social media, attacking anyone who dares to criticise their ‘Supreme Leader’.

Questions are also being asked over the Prime Minister’s failure to crack down on the vigilante road blocks run by groups claiming a territorial mandate, that are springing up around the country and intimidating motorists.

This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, freelance journalist Karl du Fresne asks why this brazen attack on the rule of law has remained unchallenged:

“Private citizens going about their lawful business have been stopped, detained and intimidated. And the police, who are entrusted to uphold the rule of law have looked the other way.”

With reports that gang members have been manning the roadblocks, Karl believes the wider implications for New Zealand are sinister:

“Viewed against the backdrop of a long push for Maori nationalism, it should be seen for what it is: an attempt to advance a race-based separatist agenda.”

For the PM, it appears politics and a desire to retain the seven Maori seats, is overriding her duty to protect New Zealanders from tribal bullies.

With the country on the cusp of greater state control, New Zealand needs champions prepared to speak out and promote freedom and liberty.

I will leave the last word to former Prime Minister Sir John Key, who did just that, during a recent interview on Rebuilding Paradise with Paul Henry:

“It’s crucially important we get to a freer, more open economy. I don’t think the Government should wake up every day and say are we in level 3 and I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks if we move to level 2. I think they should get up every single morning and say what could we do, how could we get the economy growing faster, how could we get people back into work and into their businesses and do that in a safe way.”

 

[eljay 1,720]

Government have been very quiet on the Tangi with over 100 attendees.     Or is that too politically sensitive.     Robertson mentioned private weekend parties today on TV but not what their reaction was to the Tangi..     

[Idolmite 2,560]

3 hours ago, eljay said:

Government have been very quiet on the Tangi with over 100 attendees.     Or is that too politically sensitive.     Robertson mentioned private weekend parties today on TV but not what their reaction was to the Tangi..     

I watched it on the Herald website as the TV1 coverage always cuts off half way through the media questions. God knows why. The tangi was raised, and from memory he expressed the Government's disappointment. 

[eljay 1,720]

Thanks for that Idolmite - yes, they always cut off.   Coronation Street or something like that.      Disappointment but no action I presume.   They may well have set a precedent here.     

[Idolmite 2,560]

57 minutes ago, eljay said:

Thanks for that Idolmite - yes, they always cut off.   Coronation Street or something like that.      Disappointment but no action I presume.   They may well have set a precedent here.     

There's a pretty good story about it on Stuff. The whanau are pretty embarrassed. The organised a live stream over social media and invited ten people to attend, apologising to all others that they could not come and asking them to watch the live stream. Because of the size of the immediate family even many of them had to stay home and watch the stream........and then all of these other hangers on just turned up after being asked not to. I hope if any action is taken against anybody, it's not against the immediate whanau of the deceased. From what I've read, they did everything right. 

[tripple alliance 1,026]

23 minutes ago, Idolmite said:

There's a pretty good story about it on Stuff. The whanau are pretty embarrassed. The organised a live stream over social media and invited ten people to attend, apologising to all others that they could not come and asking them to watch the live stream. Because of the size of the immediate family even many of them had to stay home and watch the stream........and then all of these other hangers on just turned up after being asked not to. I hope if any action is taken against anybody, it's not against the immediate whanau of the deceased. From what I've read, they did everything right. 

Good on the  Whanau , this lockdown is a monumental disgrace , a 2 week lockdown would have been enough for people to position themselves and time to protect the vulnerable . The real cost to peoples lives is beginning to show but Comrade cindy continues to milk this for all it's worth and telling porky's  about flu vaccines as well . 

And this .

The World Health Organization has changed its tune on coronavirus once again after it appeared to endorse Sweden’s relaxed lockdown policy.  

Sweden chose not to enforce a full draconian lockdown, keeping many parts of its economy open, allowing children to continue attending school and advising voluntary social distancing measures.

Despite pressure and criticism from other countries, the policy appears to be working. Sweden has a lower per capita death toll than the UK, which enforced a full lockdown in March. As a result, Sweden is on the way to developing “herd immunity”.

Having initially advocated against quarantines before praising China for imposing its strict crackdown, the WHO seems to have changed its tune once again.

Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, pointed out that Sweden’s healthcare system has not been overwhelmed and that their government was correct to trust their citizens to self-regulate.

[100 1 1,386]

2 hours ago, Idolmite said:

There's a pretty good story about it on Stuff. The whanau are pretty embarrassed. The organised a live stream over social media and invited ten people to attend, apologising to all others that they could not come and asking them to watch the live stream. Because of the size of the immediate family even many of them had to stay home and watch the stream........and then all of these other hangers on just turned up after being asked not to. I hope if any action is taken against anybody, it's not against the immediate whanau of the deceased. From what I've read, they did everything right. 

why would you read corrupt Stuff?

unless you want to stay brainwashed ?

Did they mention Gen Flynn today? Worlds biggest story not reported?

[Ohokaman 5,842]

13 minutes ago, 100 1 said:

why would you read corrupt Stuff?

unless you want to stay brainwashed ?

Did they mention Gen Flynn today? Worlds biggest story not reported?

Huge....Not....

If you want the real story on this corrupt prick mate of Trump, read this.....

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/30/politics/flynn-trump-conspiracy-theories-pardon/index.html

[Idolmite 2,560]

1 hour ago, 100 1 said:

why would you read corrupt Stuff?

unless you want to stay brainwashed ?

Did they mention Gen Flynn today? Worlds biggest story not reported?

FFS, grow up man. You are so fucking unbelievably stupid, and love reconfirming it every day just in case we'd forgotten. 

The fact that you'll believe all news from Source A, but disregard al news from Source B, or rubbish everything said by Politician A while praising everything by Politician B, shows what a fucked up conspiracy theorist you are. The truth is ALWAYS somewhere in between. The shite you promote, well, you can tell it's shite because of the screaming headlines, capital letters and exclamation marks. "Look at me, look at me, look at me" they scream, while the rest of the world just gets on with its daily business. The cure is on the way, they are corrupted, the cure is on the way, biggest story not reported, the cure is on the way. 

The only thing on the way is you. I'm just not sure where you're going......

P.S. it's quite amazing watching an hour of Fox then an hour of CNN. You'd think the reporters were livings on seperate planets from each other, or in different time periods. And who are you to tell us which one is right and which one is wrong? Facts is, they both have their moments of madness and their moments of clarity. What makes you think you know so much? Convince me.....