Jacinda Ardern

[Ohokaman 5,825]

9 hours ago, Idolmite said:

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.....

No comparison Idol.....both have leanings, one more than the other but one flat out lies and promotes conspiracy theories while the other asks questions and fact checks everything.  Personnel hell of a lot more credible too......versus Hannity, Carlson, Gutfeld, Pirro etc.....??!!
Have to say Neil Cavuto, Wallace and Shep Smith, before he went, were trying to balance the coverage lately.

Exhibit one...

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/01/politics/kayleigh-mcenany-first-press-briefing/index.html

[Ohokaman 5,825]

Exhibit two....

 

[6xes 699]

11 hours ago, Idolmite said:

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.....

 

heres a part of the picture you have failed to understand.... This has become prevalent in America... but also in many other countries..

The times of standing on the fence is OVER!!

The division of one side or the other has become more pronounced!!

This was shown in the 2016 USA election cycle, where you either Hated Trump or supported him...

.... The divide has only increased with Trump supporters. ie they Love him more.. or you hated him more...  there is no longer a fence to stand on!!!

 

this has carried over to the Media... and all other mountains of influence...  ie. Schools/entertainment/Government/Churches/Businesses and family

what we have been witnessing is.. in part is  Matthew 10:32-42 & Matthew 25:31-46   

The Lines have been drawn in the sand!!!!

[6xes 699]

Consider this scripture Joshua 24:14-15  then tell me where Trump Stands after watching this Clip!!!!

 

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

Mike Hosking has stated that Ardern’s department is actively contacting media (including his own program) wanting them to change editorials and news reports that appear negative to her or the Government. This happened before the lockdown but apparently it is now happening more than usual.

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Luke

[Ohokaman 5,825]

36 minutes ago, 6xes said:

Consider this scripture Joshua 24:14-15  then tell me where Trump Stands after watching this Clip!!!!

 

 

[crustyngrizzly 1,700]

To see how Parliament is going head to ''interest.co.nz'''and look for the heading

''We passed the wrong multi_= billion dollar deal'''''.

Great article.

[rdytdy 5,341]

We Don’t Just Deserve Answers, We Demand Them.

By Idbkiwi

While frustration grows over the massive damage to both our civil liberties and our economy, damage caused by the over-reactions of Ardern’s Covid emergency-level management and her obvious failure on early border control, more and more voices join the chorus, saying – where’s the data you relied on, Ms? Where’s the justification? Why are we here?

Summed up succinctly by Michael Reddell on croakingcassandra:

 

“Perhaps most or even all those decisions were the right ones – something that will probably be debated for the next 100 years, as aspects of the 1918 flu or much about the Great Depression still is – but no one can argue they were normal, routine or inconsequential matters. And yet the government and its agencies have revealed only what suits them, when it suits them, exposes itself to little serious scrutiny, and treats the public like children, or subjects, not citizens.”

This, from the ‘most transparent’ government the country has ever seen.

The nonsense slogans calling for the saving of “tens of thousands of lives” had to have a seed somewhere, surely, but it certainly wasn’t in the official advice from the Health Ministry, over-cautious as they were in planning for a “most plausible” R₀ of 2.5, so where, oh where, do we find the basis for the appalling decision-making? Well, the answer was in plain sight; in the forest, behind the trees; and you won’t like it.

Ardern, April 9th:

“Modelling provided to my office by [Mystery] on the eve of the lockdown suggested New Zealand was on a similar trajectory to potentially Italy and Spain and that our 205 cases on the 25th of March could have grown to over 10,000 by now”.

From 200 cases to 10,000 in two weeks? Did the ‘modelling’ that Ardern spoke of come from the Health Ministry, Treasury maybe, MBIE, infectious disease specialists or epidemiologists, the WHO, the CDC? No, the Prime Minister regurgitated the expert knowledge from none of those sober and serious specialists: it came from Rodney Jones. Who?

Rodney Jones:

“Soros manager regrets attack on HK dollar“.

Amy Nip, The Standard, Thursday, 5 July 2007 –

An asset manager who represented George Soros, one of the predatory speculators who laid siege to the Hong Kong dollar and attempted to manipulate the stock and futures markets, has admitted making a blunder. In an interview with mainland paper China Business News, Rodney Jones, the former managing director of Soros Fund Management in Hong Kong, admitted: “We made a mistake.” He said Wednesday the markets could have collapsed, “if the Hong Kong government hesitated any longer.” (From ‘gurufocusdotcom’)

Are you angry now? I am. Because now we know that: Not only does our leader make lock-down decisions based on the advice of a nong-book friend, or friends, but she justified, numerous times, her decisions to plunge the country into reverse, undoing years of economic gains, based on made-up numbers from a non-specialist, an ‘economist’, a ‘predatory speculator’.

No: this is not a joke. Far from it.

Look at Ardern just days prior to her ‘stopped 10,000 cases’ in a fortnight bulldust, claiming 3,000 cases were prevented in the first week alone:

The BFD.

“Data modelling provided by” this ‘expert’ who predicted 100,000 cases in Sweden by the end of April:

The BFD.

There’s so much so very wrong here, questions of transparency, accountability, national interest, self-interest. This is not just a can of worms; it’s a stinking, rotten, compost-pile-full.

We don’t just deserve answers, we demand them.

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

Big Sister Is in Control

By George

 

What the hell is wrong with our country? It feels as if our backbone has been stripped from our spine. If the polls are anything to go by, this country is a dead man walking. We are currently governed by a group of student revolutionaries who are physically adults whilst being emotionally trapped in their juvenile activist minds. They zealously pursue their political careers in order to preach and promote a doctrine which is fundamentally opposed to the very environment they have chosen to call home.

 

Their endeavours have been historically moderated by democracy but when they see an opportunity to act, they do so with unrelenting vigour. If ever there was an undesirable combination that could destroy the country we have grown up in and made our home, it is the Covid-19/Ardern Labour-led Government.

For the last six weeks, we have been living in a one-party state. The Labour-led Government has imposed a vice-like grip on the behaviour and activities of an entire population and, with that control, has selectively turned us into a police state — except for the chosen few.

The BFD. Snitch Culture. Photoshopped image credit Boondecker

In the name of socialism, racism can be tolerated, as can blatant lying. Turning neighbour on neighbour is a critical tool used to control civil disobedience. The daily political broadcasts on every medium are essential to remind us that big sister is in control.

Money does, in fact, grow on trees if the socialists tell you so, and private enterprise can continue only provided that it obeys the how, when, where and why dictated by the state.

All this has happened under the umbrella of COVID-19. And it has been managed to perfection. The saddest thing about it all is that the majority of the population are falling for it. Quite frankly, they deserve the country they inherit. Are we seeing the country we loved being consumed by a brain-dead majority? Those who have never experienced reality, those who have been shielded from responsibility and those who are star struck by the choreographed performing superstar of socialism.

 

[Ohokaman 5,825]

And the PM’s popularity soars according to the latest “poll”......so everything is fine......

[eljay 1,719]

Big smile on TV automatically makes you a great prime minister - policies & running a country and it's economies?     Nah!

[rdytdy 5,341]

 

It’s All about Her

By George

Ego, confidence, cockiness or whatever you call it, can be seen as an advantage by some and a hindrance by others. It is about money/mouth stuff. There is a tolerance if the money matches the mouth, but ridicule if the mouth is its master, or in the case of the PM, is its mistress. The amount of mouth we have had to endure from our PM over the last six weeks has been excruciatingly excessive. The money is Grant Robertson’s domain.

 

The daily appearance of our PM conducting her orchestra of brain dead journalists is as appealing as sitting through a primary school orchestral recital at prize-giving, but without the cuteness and with the knowledge it will only have to be endured once.

The BFD.

Why on earth is this daily pantomime continuing? It is becoming increasingly obvious that the PM is systematically wallowing in her exposure. For weeks she has added absolutely nothing of substance that could not have been delivered by Ashley Bloomfield. Her body language on stage is akin to a strutting peacock with its tail at full plumage, and testimony to this is that her feathered earrings have become the focus of our enquiring media. That is how sad our lives have become.

When our PM parted with these words of wisdom, “It’s as much up to every New Zealander as it is up to me,” she was only kidding. It’s all about her lock, stock and barrel.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

 

By Barry Soper

As a nation we have been like a flock of sheep for the past six weeks with orders being barked from the Beehive.

Given the fear that this country's been thrown into, being frequently told from the start we should treat everyone as though they have Covid-19, it's hardly surprising everyone we pass in the street gets a sideways glance and a wide berth.

We have all accepted it and have frequently been congratulated by Jacinda Ardern for achieving so much as part of the team, even though membership of the team is hardly voluntary.

Criticise the captain and vice-captain of the team, Ardern and health director general Ashley Bloomfield, though, and you do so at your peril, knowing the social media trolls will massacre you with the vilest vitriol imaginable.

But we still live in a democracy and we're all entitled to have a say, no matter how unpalatable it might be to some.

If we accept it's permissible to allow someone to die alone, it's a democracy that I'm not happy to live in. That's what's been happening since the lockdown and that's what some of us have been publicly railing against with little or no sympathy from some quarters.

In this modern day and age, with all the medical technology available, surely it's not impossible to make the environment safe enough to visit? That's most certainly the case of Oliver Christiansen who came back from Britain to be with his father who was dying, not with Covid-19, but of brain cancer.

Oliver did what was expected of him by going into mandatory quarantine, expecting to stay there for 14 days. His father became desperately ill and he wanted to be with him before he died.

Several appeals to the Health Ministry on compassionate grounds failed and out of desperation, and no doubt a lot of cost, he took a case to the High Court and was rightly given permission to see his dad, who is now dead. What makes it even worse is that the father wasn't even in hospital, he was at his home so there was little risk to the public.

Ardern initially told us 24 people were wanting to see their dying loved ones but 18 had been approved. Within hours, she was correcting that, saying she'd been misled by the ministry.

In fact, not one had been approved.

The cases are now being reviewed, Bloomfield tells us, by the ministry's lawyers. By the time they have made their decision, it's likely some, if not all, of them will have died alone.

That is unacceptable, just as it was unacceptable cancelling 30,000 elective surgeries, keeping hospitals free for the Covid-19 tsunami which, thankfully, hasn't eventuated. It's also been said 60,000 referrals to specialists by GPs have been put on hold, not to mention the more than 6000 scans that were said to be scheduled by hospitals but haven't taken place.

Hospitals are firing up under alert level 3 but they are being told to delay treating non-urgent surgeries for obese people or people over the age of 70 or those who have heart, lung or kidney disease. That's presumably to assist with clearing the backlog.

The result of all of this hardly needs to be contemplated. It will inevitably see more deaths here than Covid-19 would claim.

Having lost four family members over the years, for the state to prevent me from being with them, would not only have been unacceptable but unkind, heartless and inhumane.

New Zealand is surely better than this.

 

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

Govt's lack of humanity during Covid 19 coronavirus pandemic has been found out

Mike Hosking

Surely one of the most compelling things we've seen this week is the court decision around Oliver Christiansen.

He travelled halfway around the world to see his dying father. He wasn't allowed to, until a court overruled the cartel currently running this country. We have 24 cases, no exemptions.

The beauty of the court decision was it was able to do what so many of us haven't: truly hold this lot to account. They were made to act, to change their minds, and made to review their procedures.

It'll be fascinating to see once they do that, just how much their approach will change. How many of those 24 originally turned down would have, or will have, the chance to do what they were initially denied?

It brings into sharp focus the Winston Peters comments of last week, the advice from the Ministry of Health to lock New Zealanders out of New Zealand. It shows a blind obsession with health outcomes and literally nothing else.

As we told you at the time, the advice, although free and fair and the sort of thing departments do all the time, was never, could never be acted upon because of immigration law and a United Nations Convention we've signed up to, making it illegal to leave people stateless.

This, of course, is of no concern to the ministry. But are we not in seeing this advice and witnessing their actions around the 24 cases, a department that has basically hijacked this whole mess, and turned it into their own experiment?

And it's endorsed, tragically, by a Prime Minister short on real world experience. She's so desperate for a safe harbour of perceived wisdom and experience, and as a result a convert to what is turning out to be an economic catastrophe, masquerading as a health victory.

Ashley Bloomfield, the man responsible for the approach as director general of health, is answerable to really no one, so has got away with it, given his calm demeanor and good general knowledge. But he's been badly exposed by a court who has seen what most of us could see, but didn't have the judicial authority to fix.

What makes this really ugly is we have a Prime Minister who has coated herself with the varnish of humanity. Being kind is what she is, and what she does. But having told us 18 of the 24 cases had been given exemptions was, she was embarrassingly and yet again, let down by the ministry when it turned out the reality wasn't 18, it was zero.

The woman who put teddies in windows and made the tooth fairy an essential worker, stands beside and behind a ministry that turns out to be heartless, cold and driven by little more than statistics.

er saving grace was heart. The magnet for the apparatchiks was kindness.

And yet 24 people will tell you a whole other story. A story we would never known about it, if it hadn't been for Oliver Christiansen and his three attempts to see his dying father.

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

Ardern Has Been Cruel, Not Kind

By George

 

The emotional bond that develops between two people can be as simple as a close friendship or as complex as falling in love with a partner including the expansion of that unconditional love extending to the children that may issue from that bonding. When any relationship ends through death, the emotional suffering can only be measured by those left behind. This is why society, as a whole, shows compassion and sympathy. We witness their grief but can never experience their pain.

 

During the level four lockdown, approximately 3,500 deaths occurred in New Zealand. The families were forbidden from spending the last few precious moments with their loved one or to attend the funeral or to congregate and celebrate the life of the one they cherished. What society can be so indifferent and insensitive at such a time? Apparently we can. COVID-19 is the convenient excuse to overrule our every physical and emotional response.

It was only a year ago our PM and the media exploited the tragic deaths of fifty-one victims of the Christchurch massacre. For days, we as a nation were exposed to our PM exhibiting overwhelming grief whilst extending hugs, kindness and compassion. The world was put on notice. No one does grief like Jacinda Ardern. The queen of compassion demonstrated that during a time of bereavement there are no barriers that should hinder the comforter, not even photographers. Except for when she says so.

To those 3,500 people who were deprived of their simple, personal, and legitimate moment to farewell their love ones, your PM has relayed the message, ‘Just do as I say, not as I do’. There is no more graphic example of hypocrisy. Her grief in Christchurch was the exploitation of her political profile. The denial of the rights of those to farewell their loved ones at this time is also the exploitation of her political profile. Kindness? Wellbeing? She wouldn’t know the meaning of the words.

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Boondecker. Concept credit: Juana

 

[jack 429]

By Jehovah

[Ohokaman 5,825]

21 minutes ago, jack said:

By Jehovah

Think the labels have been reversed......

[eljay 1,719]

Who is running the country?

Ardern

Robertson

Clark

Labour Cabinet

Labour Party

Coalition Caucus

Peters

Bloomfield

?????

[tripple alliance 1,026]

2 hours ago, jack said:

By Jehovah

Getting a little carried away aren't you Jack , by the time the election arrives comrade cindys appalling lack of judgement will be completely exposed , the effects of her lack of judgement are going to be felt by many for along time ., 

Great to see Bridges return to form , his GST policy is what people expect from competent operators , business people see the logic of it . He's getting stuck into the real issues as well .

The Epidemic Response Committee heard a range of testimonies on Wednesday , Wellington mum Rebecca Burgess who was forced to be alone after giving birth , Her testimony left MPs in shock, with Opposition leader Simon Bridges admitting it was upsetting, while National MP Louise Upston held back tears telling Burgess how "amazing" it was that she had the courage to share it. 

The Opposition-led committee also heard about a woman who found out about a miscarriage while her husband was forced to stay in the car park outside, and parents who were not allowed to see their son's body in peace after his suicide. 

If this is the type of thinking and leadership that's running the country at the moment we should all be very worried , and those 20 people who were being denied a visit to dying relatives , disgusting , hopeless decision making , un humane . 

[rdytdy 5,341]

I’m a Perfectionist

By JC

All has been revealed. Now we know why Jacinda went home to Mummy to get the cabbage leaves to practice wrapping fish and chips. In her very own words, not letting her ego get in the way, on Monday afternoon with her now-defunct Woman’s Weekly cover smile, she announced to the nation – I’M A PERFECTIONIST. If you were drinking at the time you would have risked wetting yourself, maybe in more ways than one. If it was a hot drink the damage might have been worse.

Three words that sum up the Prime Minister, but not in the way she would like. Rather they sum her up for the real person she is. A person who is a great communicator but what she communicates is a mix of drivel, banal platitudes, cliches and downright mistruths. She has proven, since being given the role, that she is anything but a perfectionist. The dictionary meaning of the word perfectionist is someone who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection. This is where her excellence in communicating gets her into trouble. The problem she has is the inability to engage the brain? (the question mark is deliberate) before the utterance.

 

If she is such a perfectionist then the following questions among others must be asked:

Why did Clare Curran virtually have to sack herself?

The BFD. Clare Curren. Photoshopped image Pixy

Why is Phil Twyford still a Minister?

The BFD. “I kept telling Jacinda I had no idea what I was doing, oh well, maybe your motel will be warm and cozy” (Note, not the woman concerned, just a picture found on the interweb. Not a real quote either, it’s just for LoL’s!)

Why was the investigation into the Labour Youth shenanigans such a fiasco?

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit: Luke

Why are iwi permitted to operate roadblocks?

The BFD

Why is Shane Jones still a Minister?

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit: Boondecker

Why does she scrap targets rather than meet them?

The BFD. Kiwibuildless. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

Why are the Police asked to risk breaking the law to do her bidding?

Why is David Clark still a Minister?

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Luke

Why did she not act sooner to close the borders?

Why is there so little financial support for businesses?

Setting herself up as a perfectionist in politics shows naivety of the highest order. It illustrates that Ardern has lost sight of how the game she is in operates. It also shows traits of a narcissistic personality which has been apparent in the context of how the COVID-19 event has been handled. The daily afternoon circus is nothing more than a “look at me” opportunity.

What this country needs now more than ever is real leadership from someone who understands the need to weigh up the health risks along with the economic risks. Someone with the maturity to strike the right balance in terms of getting the economy back up and running.

It is all too obvious that person is not Jacinda Ardern.

[jack 429]

By Jehovah

[crustyngrizzly 1,700]

Hosking and Garners job is to hold the Governments feet to the fire just as they did with Key.

Seymour has introduced the End of Life bill amongst many others

Bridges has done plenty.Litigation Lawyer

              Crown Prosecutor

               Ousted Peters from Tauranga

               Interened at the British House of Commons

Yes at times they speak shit just as all Members of Parliment have done for years including the fish and chip wrapper.

[rdytdy 5,341]

In Her Quest for ‘Perfect’ Ardern Misses ‘Proportionate’

By Wendy-Geus

 

Cautious, self-confessed ‘perfectionist’ Ardern was never going to allow Winston’s Aussie ski bunnies to frolic on our slopes this winter. (But the publicity of attending Morrison’s cabinet meeting by Skype was useful for her global brand building. Never mind that he almost forgot to cover it in his post-cabinet press conference.) 

The perfectionist is paralyzed by fear and is being held captive by the Ministry of Health’s unassuming Dr Bloomfield who is not averse to a bit of spin himself and is putting the fear of death into our unworldly PM: He of the: “We’re not out of the woods yet”, and “This is NOT a moment in time, That was yesterday”… Keep up!

 

Along with our global superstar, he also has his sights set on the record books when historians will tell our legendary tale of going hard and early to vanquish the virus. (Not true. “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”, is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels.) She appears to rely on his advice, often.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

The problem our great leader has is her self-confessed habit for ‘perfectionism’ which can lead to tunnel vision, striving for great results in one area, e.g. COVID-19, and ignoring other equally important considerations, like the ongoing economic and personal health issues of her invisible team of five million. As a Prime Minister that can have catastrophic effects, which are building before our very eyes. 

This happened with her government’s harsh decision to deny returning kiwis the right to visit dying relatives. When ruling in the high court, the judge, on reversing the MoH decision, said it was not “proportionate” to the circumstances. And so say all of us.

Jacinda has a large dollop of egg on her face for announcing they had given 18 people visiting rights when there had been none issued. Oops, but blame attributed elsewhere followed by a stream of rhetoric and a suitably concerned face, covered that one off nicely. Next question, please!

Proportionate is what she is not being in continuing to keep us all in lock down, and preventing retailers from trading whilst watching their livelihoods slip away with the prospects of having to let staff go. A one size fits all is not the way to deal with this. 

The Opposition has been beating the proportionate drum for weeks. Simon Bridges is right. Daily assessment of COVID-19 figures, which let’s face it are exceptional, should be made in the light of other crucial factors.  

How could Ardern not make contingency plans when she shut down New Zealand? The fact is life goes on; operations are needed, babies are born, people die, and the devastation is immense from the loss of jobs and businesses failing. 

For example, lawn mowing contractors would have been fine to continue working throughout. Their work is non-contact and they perform a valuable service. An agile government would have made exceptions for them and others.  

There is no shame in changing tack midway to get the better outcome, it shows flexibility. But that is not an option for this government.  Insecure and threatened, driven by ideology and lacking in principles, they are inflexible and lack vision.

Bridges said before Anzac weekend, they were not ready then. Same applies now.

Also, Ardern’s temperament is holding her back. Cautious, even timid does not cut it during a crisis like this. Bridges may have a “stilted communications style” according to one commentator but word is he has nerves of steel. Riddled with anxiety and preferring working groups to decision making, Ardern could do with a bit of that.  

A decision has to be made to leave level 3 and a risk taken, a calculated one. A true leader in possession of all the facts would make the right call for the good of all the country, not just a perfect Covid outcome.

Bloomfield has her ear, and of course there may be other matters of which we are unaware. 

Bridges suggested to Dr Bloomfield during an ERC hearing this week, much to Michael Wood’s horror, that the Director-General is slow to respond to National’s OIO requests because the government wants to keep control of the narrative. Shocking, but I believe, very true from this most ‘open and transparent government ever’! 

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

Barry Soper on the Government’s Spin on Illegal Lockdown

By CS

After Thursday’s release of previously secret Crown Law advice the government has hit the spin cycle. On top of that they have been trying to bully media organisations to remove the story, and have even set some journalists on the trail of trying to identify the leaker.

Barry Soper is a bit peeved at the machinations of the government and David Parker in particular. He echoes my article on the same topic.

 

The Beehive was spinning hard last night over leaked Crown Law advice to police over the lawfulness of the lockdown. The fact that it’s in draft form is to me irrelevant.

Police seemingly accepted the advice, agreed with the advice, and then used the advice to inform its response.

The draft advice was read by Police in-house lawyer Bill Peoples who then forwarded it to Police Commissioner Andy Coster, Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement and Chief Advisor to the Commissioner Travis Mills on the morning of Saturday, March 28, saying “this is consistent with our internal advice“.

Within 90 minutes, Clement summarises it, saying “Police do not have the power to detain individuals, stop vehicles, enter property, search individuals or property, or conduct surveillance over individuals or property in order to enforce the isolation campaign”.

That email was sent to Police Area Commanders and to Coster and Mills. Clement describes the advice as “CL (Crown Law) advice to Police about legal powers”.

There is no mention he or Peoples consider the draft nature to be a concern.

Succinctly put and slays David Parker’s claims that the Crown Law advice was a draft. David Parker could clear all this up very quickly though, by simply releasing the “final” Crown Law advice, if such a thing exists.

That there was a problem with enforcement was no surprise to Professor Andrew Geddis, who after seeing some of the leaked advice, surmised police didn’t have the power to enforce the lockdown in the way they were.

Enter a man who I believed was clearly panicked – Attorney-General David Parker – last night. He says the Crown Law advice is in draft form, despite evidence the police treated it as anything but.

He issued a statement that said the documents were not the “considered advice” of Crown Law:

“Recent speculation that the Government’s legal advice had thrown doubt on the police enforcement powers under Level 4 is wrong,” he said.

“That speculation is based on draft views provided to agencies for feedback. That was not the considered advice of Crown Law, which was that there was no gap in enforcement powers.”

Parker, and the rest of the Government including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, have steadfastly refused to release the Crown Law view.

But, in a sudden twist, Parker has revealed he will introduce legislation to Parliament to cover off level 2 of the lockdown next week.

He was offered the same course of action by the National Party for levels 4 and 3 but declined the offer.

One has to wonder: If the legal case was watertight why would he need to legislate for the much more relaxed level?

Exactly. If there are no “gaps” in the legal position why the need for urgent legislation to close gaps that supposedly don’t exist?

For the public this may mean little.

So what if Crown Law told the Government what it was doing wasn’t by the book?

The public complied with the rhetoric, stayed inside and avoided each other, hardly anyone ended up in hospital and 89 per cent of those who caught the virus have recovered.

The fearful public had been repeatedly told by the Prime Minister to treat everyone as though they had Covid 19.

So what if the law didn’t support what have been the most draconian regulations ever imposed on New Zealanders?

Well, if we accept we are required to live by the rule of law it’s vitally important.

The rules can’t be used to instil fear with threats of arrests that may not be lawful.

There was ample time and opportunity for the Government to prepare the necessary paperwork.

If they failed to do so, it raises questions of why not. Is it arrogance or sloppiness?

Either way, if they have done it properly – through proper rule of law – is to take this country to a place that none of us would want.

Again, spot on. If we are willing to let the government act ultra vires on this then what is there to stop them acting in an ultra vires manner to do something else…like…making a select ethnic group wear a yellow identifying patch on their clothes?

The Prime Minister should have called a press conference and apologised for breaking the law and explained it was done for our own benefit. If she had done that the public would probably have accepted her apology. Instead she channeled her internal colectivo and went into cover-up mode.

To prove that, late on Friday afternoon the government dumped hundreds of documents into the public arena, claiming that it was a “proactive release”. They also claimed that “a small number of documents and some parts of the released documents would not be appropriate to release and, if requested, would be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982”.

One could rightly argue that those unreleased documents are precisely the ones needed to be seen.

This is nothing but flannel, to try to bury the rather embarrassing fact that the government illegally locked us down and in the process destroyed jobs, businesses and the economy.

I suspect they know how much trouble they are in with the judicial review and are trying to hoodwink us all into thinking, wrongly, that they are open and transparent.

The BFD. Cartoon credit BoomSlang

 

 

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New Zealand at a Crossroads

The Government Either Micro-Manages the Economy Picking Winners and Losers or It Transforms the Economy with Reforms That Embrace the Virtues of Freedom, Lower Taxes, and Less Regulation.

 

By Dr Muriel Newman

 

“Marxists get up early in the morning to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.”  

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 1978

New Zealand is at a crossroads. This is the moment that will define the next generation. Will our future embrace freedom and liberty, or are we staring down the barrel of increasing State control?

 

Some say we are already on a totalitarian path – our personal freedoms taken away by ever more powerful politicians and organs of the State.

Defined by the Oxford Dictionary as a system of government that is centralised, dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the State, ‘totalitarianism’ certainly describes the actions of Jacinda Ardern’s Government since mid-March.

At that time, the Prime Minister used the extraordinary powers reserved for use when the nation is under threat, to lock down the economy and confine people to their homes. The decision to abandon the protocols of the Pandemic Management Plan – last used by John Key to guide the country through the Swine Flu pandemic – appears to have been taken capriciously on the basis of grossly exaggerated modelling.

In his article What Price Liberty and the Virus, the former Judge and Law Lecturer Anthony Willy, explains that “For the first time in our history inalienable liberties and freedoms set out by the New Zealand Bill of Rights – freedom of association, freedom of movement, the liberty of the person, and the right to live in a Parliamentary democracy – have been suspended.”

“In a sinister twist, loss of these rights is backed by an apparently highly popular government encouraged scheme of dobbing in one’s neighbour for possible infractions. At the time of the fall of the Berlin wall it was estimated that the membership of the Stasi was about 80,000 but that many times this number were unpaid informants assisting the Stasi to protect the state from infection with the very ideas and principles the government has suspended.”

The PM’s ‘dob in your neighbour’ campaign is particularly galling in the context of her “be nice to each other” mantra, but when combined with high profile pro-active policing, it ensured widespread subservience.

The BFD. Snitch Culture. Photoshopped image credit Boondecker

In fact, the only groups to openly flout the lockdown rules and seek on-going publicity for their law breaking, were tribal activists running illegal blockades to promote their separatist agenda. Instead of enforcing the law, the Government turned a blind eye, empowering others claiming race-based mandates to follow suit.

In his article Maori monarch declares waterways off-limits, journalist Bob Edlin explains how the Maori King used COVID-19 to justify placing a rahui on the Waikato River: “we think the river needs time to rejuvenate and regenerate its spiritual self as well.”

It’s appalling that such naked attempts to exert tribal supremacy are taken seriously by anyone at all, and its politically corrupt for such actions to be endorsed by the Prime Minister and the Police Commissioner.

The BFD

Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking is scathing: “So the fundamental dishonesty continues… you can set up a roadblock, pretend to call it a checkpoint, and get approval from the Prime Minister and the Police Commissioner. And worst of all it’s political. The Labour Party are beholden to Maori for the Maori seats. They would sell every non-Maori out to offer a level of tacit support for illegal activity the rest of us wouldn’t stand a hope in hell of getting away with. Why are we putting up with this?”

Another hallmark of totalitarianism is the State’s response to those who challenge the leadership. While some regimes forcibly silence their critics, in New Zealand they are discredited. 

Attempts have been made to discredit a group of New Zealand academics and public health experts who openly opposed the lockdown. They argued, “the government’s strategy was over-the-top and likely to cause greater harm than the virus to the nation’s long-term health and well-being, social fabric, economy, and education.”

To their credit, they have carried on claiming the Government’s restrictions were a mistake. They believe that most working people and children are at such a low risk of harm from the virus, they should have been at work and school, with only the high-risk groups, namely the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, in isolation.

Also attacked was the former Reserve Bank economist Ian Harrison of Tailrisk Economics, who exposed the gross inaccuracies of the models that spooked the Prime Minister into her Captain’s Call to lock down the country. In a new paper he outlines why his analysis is correct and his critics are wrong.

A crucial point he makes is that the new daily COVID-19 case numbers peaked towards the end of March, which was too early to have been impacted by the lockdown. This means that the Ministry of Health’s Pandemic Management Plan, which we had been following before the PM closed down the country, was working. 

Dr Steve Elers, a senior lecturer in journalism at Massey University, who used his weekly Stuff opinion piece to criticise the Prime Minister for her misleading claims, was also targeted. He revealed that after his article was published, the Prime Minister’s office emailed the newspaper asking them to make a ‘correction’: “I’m concerned this is undue influence from the Prime Minister’s office on editorial content… because it didn’t suit the Prime Minister’s agenda.” With media companies currently seeking bailouts from the Government, he believes there’s a serious imbalance of power.   

After National’s leader condemned the extension of the level 4 lockdown, an orchestrated Facebook attack by Labour activists successfully changed the narrative from a criticism of the PM’s decision, to questioning Simon Bridges’ leadership. It can be no coincidence that Labour’s internal polling showing poor public support for Simon Bridges as a future Prime Minister was “leaked” shortly afterwards.

Creating a climate of fear to suppress criticism and control the narrative is a tactic commonly used by totalitarian governments. 

With an election only four months away, the big question now, is to what extent will the Government try to control our future. Given the unprecedented destruction of the business sector caused by Jacinda Ardern’s lockdown, will New Zealand once again become a free market economy, or will we lurch down a socialist path to ever more state domination?

Robert Muldoon, of course, ruled New Zealand in a dictatorial fashion after the oil shocks of the 1970s. His ‘Think Big’ era of central planning brought the country to its knees.

After winning the 1984 election in a landslide, the new Labour Government – under the guidance of Finance Minister Roger Douglas – moved New Zealand from a highly regulated society to an open and competitive, free-market economy.

Sir Roger Douglas is this week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator. He believes the situation New Zealand is facing today is dire:

“The Covid-19 outbreak has not only precipitated a health emergency, but also an economic crisis, unparalleled in modern history. For New Zealand to emerge from that crisis in a relatively healthy state, the Labour government will need to provide a clear framework for recovery, implementing policies which clearly prioritise those most affected.”

Sir Roger believes “a clear understanding of the kind of New Zealand we all want in the future” must underpin an economic blueprint, and he sets out some ideas: “Ultimately, we have a choice.  We can either muddle through as we are – relying on policies that haven’t worked since the 1950s and which are ill-suited to our quickly changing world – or we can opt for a reset, introducing social and economic policies that will make New Zealand not only a richer but more equitable place to live; a country where every New Zealander has the chance to take control of their lives and secure a better future for themselves and their families.” Sir Roger’s paper can be viewed HERE.

Already there are disturbing signs that rather than fast-tracking reforms that will reduce bureaucracy and red tape to speed up the recovery, the Government is preparing to micro-manage the economy and pick winners – those industries which will be doomed and those which will thrive.

Indeed, if central planning is a sign of what’s to come, then Labour may try to use this virus crisis to embed their socialist world-view deep into the heart of our democracy. They don’t seem to realise that collectivism does not lead to economic success. No-one can imagine what ideas Kiwi go-getters will pursue on the road to recovery, but we can be sure they will be more imaginative, more practical, and more successful than the ideas coming from out-of-touch bureaucrats and career politicians in Wellington.

This is not the first time in modern history that a nation has had to decide whether to go down the path towards socialism or free enterprise. 

In 1948, after three years of economic crisis following the Second World War, West Germany’s Economics Minister Ludwig Erhardt introduced sweeping reforms. Virtually overnight, the bureaucracy was curtailed, taxes were flattened, and the country was transformed into a free-market economy.

To encourage hard work, tax on earnings from hours worked over 40 hours a week was abolished. And to incentivise exports, taxes on all profits earned through exports, were eliminated.

Released from the shackles of an overbearing bureaucracy and excessive taxation, innovation flourished, productivity soared, and exports skyrocketed. The country prospered. It was not long before Germany, the vanquished, overtook the victorious UK to become one of the world’s strongest economies.

In the years after the War, Britain, meanwhile, took the other path. Comforted by victory, the state assumed more power, virtually ruining the economy until it was rescued by the daughter of a green grocer.

When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, the country was run-down and racked by stagflation and labour strife. To reinvigorate the economy, she planned to roll back ‘the frontiers of the state’, restoring a culture of entrepreneurship and respect for private property: “I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society – from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.”

Her reforms, which embraced the virtues of freedom, lower taxes, and less regulation, transformed the economy. 

For New Zealand, determining the path forward is a crucial decision – it must not be the subject of another Captain’s Call by Jacinda Ardern and her close knit group of sycophants.

History is clear. The best way to grow an economy is for the Government to get out of the way and let businesses do what they do best: create jobs and wealth. New Zealand’s future should harness the entrepreneurialism, energy, and expertise of Kiwis wanting to build a good future for themselves and their families.

Until our borders re-open, many believe New Zealand’s future lies in exports. Everyone who produces goods and services needs to be given the opportunity to deliver for the export market. The Government could facilitate this by removing barriers to progress: replacing the consenting roadblock of the Resource Management Act with enabling legislation, ensuring any fast-tracked infrastructure projects expedite trade, and incentivising exports – along the lines of West Germany.

Perhaps an imaginative Sam Morgan type will create the bridge between local producers and the international marketplace via a “Kiwi Market” fashioned on ‘Alibaba.com’, a world leading e-commerce platform.

Most importantly, during this difficult period, its crucial to remember that with good ideas and motivation, the internet can deliver extraordinary results.

Just look at Captain Tom Moore, a British 99-year-old who decided to walk 100 laps of his garden before he turned 100, to raise £1,000 to support the National Health Service during their time of crisis.

Thanks to the internet, he became a household hero around the world, raising over £30 million for the NHS. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Colonel Tom, as he has now become, “A point of light in all of our lives”.

His inspirational story reminds us that anything is possible – and from our own back yard!

The BFD New Zealand is at a crossroads. The government either micro-manages the economy picking winners and losers or it transforms the economy with reforms that embrace the virtues of freedom, lower taxes, and less regulation.