As the pandemic looms, in praise of Jacinda Ardern as our leader

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
32
1491

So many of us are not prepared for what happens next – we want to panic buy but after checking our bank accounts realise all we can afford is fear.

I’m less concerned with your self-isolation virtue signalling struggle on social media and far more concerned with the workers who do not have the luxury or privilege of staying home.

Thanks Christ for Jacinda being Prime Minister in the dark days ahead. Just pause to consider her leadership during the Christchurch atrocity and White Island eruption to this unprecedented pandemic. At each crisis, she has stood unflinching with compassion, empathy and courage, she is literally reshaping our definition of leadership in front of our eyes.

In the frightening weeks and months to come, when Government has to make very hard calls, I am deeply grateful that she is the one sitting at the top of the table making the final call.

As for Simon Bridges, this pandemic is calling for bi-partisanship, not pointless rancour.

History is watching how we are tested here Mr Bridges, your country needs you to step up, not stand over right now.

The time for genuine co-operation is now comrades, the very fabric of our society and culture is at threat, we must work together, there is simply no other option.

Kia kaha dear friends.

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32 COMMENTS

    • The Pied Piper of Helensville scarpered 4 years ago and does the speech circuits these days. Only those who blindly worshiped him during his 9 years of nothingness pay to see him dribble his empty rhetoric.

    • @ Helena Jordan … Jacinda Ardern is providing strong confident leadership, guiding the nation, reassuring Kiwis, encouraging us to all do our bit to help contain CV19 in NZ.

      So what do you suggest PM Ardern do during a crisis, if not rise to the challenge and lead? Do you have an alternative?

      • Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s now Mini-Me became ‘America’s Mayor’ with 9.11. It’s a straightforward role.

        She prates about poverty but implements 9 of the 200 (don’t know the numbers just the feel of them) of her own poverty report. No stomach. All CV.

  2. Better for us if Michael Baker were calling the shots. Jacinda does the calm emphatic leader role, well. Don’t get carried away with that Bomber – you tend to revert to a keen disciple. We can’t ignore the weaknesses in her plans.

    Checks on self-isolation are random. It is critical to have systematic monitoring and surveillance to check the spread of the virus.

    Schools must be closed. Infected children spread the virus. Also, recent evidence reveals the virus is affecting young people more aggressively than at the outset.

    We need to be vigilant.

    • PM Ardern will be communicating sound advice from health professionals and scientists, to NZ. Perhaps Dr Baker is one of her advisers.

      Her announcement this afternoon, sets out the four levels of CD19 alert processes put in place, so we are able to follow and see for ourselves where we will be heading with this virus. A common sense move IMO.

    • Addition to my earlier comment:

      A TV programme on covid-19 presented by Sioux inviting viewer comments revealed teachers pleading for school shut downs and parents revealing they were off work to keep their children at home. So some are ahead of the government. Sioux was not phased, apparently she is more advanced than Prof. Baker in her understanding of the virus and how it works! So reassuring to know she is an advisor to government.

      My second update is to reiterate my comment on monitoring and surveillance, because if we know where the virus is in the community, those are the places to target. This is what happened in the Asian countries that stopped the spread of the virus.

      Raising critical points Kheala, is not an attack on Jacinda. We are making progress but we need to do more.

      • Sioux = Siouxsie Wiles, my apologies.

        This is an attempt to apologise to anyone I have upset over my intensity re Covid-19 research and govt. lethargy to accept the advice of the best scientists
        .
        I am a social scientist not a physical scientist, a doctorate in Sociology, not a medical doctor. Obviously I’m not an expert on the virus and I should be naming the experts I get my ideas from.

        Altho critical of the limitations of current govt policy on Covd-19, I am following their advice. Stopped visitors – 2 nursing students coming to do research (on elderly with restricting long-term medical conditions). They interviewed me on the phone. Now we will not visit relatives, as advised. A stop to our weekly one hour drive to see our daughter and granddaughter (who live in an isolated rural environment). She’s a lively 7 months, alert and responsive, the joy of my life. Protecting her is more important than seeing her. We will try to set up Skype.

        Already i withdrew from my MS water walking class, now they are cancelled thruout Akld.

        Also acknowledge the govt is monitoring the disease by trying to track the sources of infection using the generalised self-isolation to locate them.

        • The Govt effort is under resourced and so the procedures are leaky at this stage.
          Follow up and responding to information given by the public seems to be overloaded with very long phone waiting times and inaction.

          Lets hope that improves and sick people can get attention in spite of their not knowing if they have had contact with a covid19 suspect or overseas visitor.
          If covid19 is in the community then more wide spread testing must not be conditional on knowing where you might have picked it up from.

  3. She fronted well after the Chch shooting but went on to give police free reign writing new laws on gun ownership, censored information and is bringing in hate speech laws- attacking the freedoms of kiwis while saying “they are us”
    Don’t know what she did at White Island, should have given free reign to volunteers immediately after to get people/ bodies off.
    And too slow and reactive over Corona virus – today we see cases of coronavirus unrelated to travel , turns out we hadn’t been testing for community spread so it can’t have been happening..
    They were refusing tests to symptomatic people who didn’t have a history of travel.
    Her health officials were still spreading the word it’s not contagious if you didn’t gave symptoms..

    I don’t expect perfection and yes Bridges would be terrible but other than fronting well (she has a communications degree doesn’t she?), Jacindas government action/ information is a day late and a dollar short.

      • There is a difference between being cold hearted vs looking at a situation rationally.
        I agree with this professor
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120467455/coronavirus-were-underestimating-covid19–experts-debate-govt-response
        “Now’s the time to implement maximum measures and we’re being far too conservative, he said.

        Baker believes we should already be at alert level three or four.

        Workplaces and schools should be shut down as fast as practically possible, he said.

        Public transport should also be shut down at this stage, he said.

        “You want to think about the places that transmission is going to occur and it’s any place people go…it’s not enough just to walk around with your hand sanitiser.””
        “
        My view is that we’ve constantly underestimated the intensity of this infection as every other country in the world has.”

        We don’t want to face lockdown for months like other countries because we haven’t got ahead of the curve, he said.“

        You cannot get AHEAD of the outbreak by being reactive you have to act firmly before it spreads widely.
        Being emotive gets you nowhere in a crisis.
        Do you know who are the first people to help in a disaster or accident? Suits? Sometimes. Soccer moms? Seldom. Woke lefties? Never.
        Tradies, Farmers, blue collar workers every time.
        The woke can’t think straight under pressure, too emotional and self centred.
        Decouple what Ms Ardern is doing from what she says and how she says it.
        You are welcome.

        • My angry response is because you have a near infinite number of blog threads or pages in which to say this stuff.

          Once. Just once, someone saw fit to acknowledge what she, the human being, the woman, the mother, the leader who works 16 hour days minimum, who carries the weight of every one of us (and of many of her less than average Ministers – some are good, others cruise at her expense)…

          Yet you took this from us – this one solitary chance to jsut say, “Thank You, Jacinda.”

          (f you mate)

          • I guarantee the sun will come up tomorrow.
            I’m sorry I dont share your adoration of our leader, once you have seen untruth it’s impossible to unsee.
            Peace.

    • +1 Keepcalmcarryon

      Also too much individual responsibility and not corporate responsibility like supermarkets getting their asses into gear by stopping organised gangs if whatever has stripped off Auckland supermarkets suddenly.

      The media told everyone not to panic buy – yet those who followed instructions from Project, Seven Sharp etc, now have no toilet paper, pasta, rice, beans….. anyway that is what I last saw when I went out – it was fine for a couple of weeks, then zoom, panic.

      Possibly those that stripped the North Shore of Auckland went across the bridge and bought up everything from the supermarkets outside of their area in other parts of Auckland – it was weird because it happened suddenly.

      Also if you need 2 weeks of food in case of self isolation you need to buy extra. Should have had limits of 2 per customer strictly enforced and cameras operating to catch professional hoarders weeks ago.

      One comment showed video of people in OZ stripping the shelves of baby formula in spite of the 2 per customer limit, by justing coming back in until the supermarket was cleared out and that was probably before the crisis.

      Also let the over 65’s have first dibs at supermarkets aka shopping for them from 7am – 8am exclusive to them so they do not get infected from others and get the first stock in once they restock overnight.

      Probably would cause a riot if they let beneficiaries and working poor go next but I feel they should go in next because they can’t afford to constantly go back and forth and check to see if any food has turned up they can afford and only expensive stuff left!!!

      Maybe the poor, get it from special places like WINZ/libraries aka Rice, pasta, beans, flour just for them. In Auckland not much left of that I saw visiting 3 supermarkets – just within a day all those isles were empty after zero issues for weeks.

      At least we have plenty of fresh stuff still to buy so thank goodness for the growers!!! Hopefully the supermarkets are not ripping the primary providers off and can offer their workers more than a 0% pay rise while on the rich list. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1808/S00537/oh-thats-where-they-get-their-profits-from.htm

      • She dosnt just have to fight the virus Jacinda also has to fight everyone’s attitude towards centre left politics. Jacinda isn’t just fighting against the leader of the opposition and the national party but Jacinda is also fighting all the referees on Twitter.

        • Yes for some if the PM said black the’yd say white, if she said right the’yd say left. Intellect is sometimes left for the intellectuals.

  4. In the frightening weeks and months to come, when Government has to make very hard calls, I am deeply grateful that she is the one sitting at the top of the table making the final call.

    Jacinda’s courage and strength are extraordinary. She is right there on the very frontlines of this horrible war we are already fighting.

    I wish her, and Clark and Neve, all protection and strength through the times ahead. With all my heart.

  5. This from no right turn

    Now that there’s a pandemic, a lot of things we were previously told weren’t possible suddenly are. Raising benefits. Massively increased government spending. Renationalisations. Overseas, we’re seeing mortgage and rent freezes, and UBI-style fixed payments to keep people’s heads above water.

    The implication is that these things, and others, were always possible, with political will. And that what was stopping them was the reluctance of politicians to do the work and upset the cosy status quo they benefited from. When this crisis is over, we should remember that.
    http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/03/politics-possible-and-pandemic.html

    • ^
      l
      l
      l

      TAKE HEED TO THESE WORDS.

      LET THEM SINK IN.

      THIS IS WHAT HAS BEEN KEPT FROM US AND HOW WE HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!!!

      ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS AND NEVER LET THESE LEADERS FORGET IT !!!

    • @ M J You weren’t told by this government that it wasn’t possible, you were told they couldn’t do it all at once. Raising benefit rates were being considered for the May budget, they brought it forward. This govt had already announced a massive infrastructure spend of $12billion dollars prior to the Covid19 pandemic.

  6. Supermarkets are veritable conduits of disease. All gatherings forbidden except the one for necessities?! Why cholera runs riot in refugee camps.

    I wore my dirty garden gloves in there today, excusing the idiocy of that by it being at the end of a long day. I keep trying to work out the cleaning regime necessary to keep myself free. My uncle played a game of that ‘touched you last’ with his nephews with the walking stick he needed because of his shorter leg from Polio.

    Aint it 50 % who will come down with it?

  8. The “Coronavirus Effect!” 2019 General Election. A Labour & National coalition as Government! Greens are dog tucker & NZF might not make it!

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