Labour should be grateful for Walker overshadowing another quarantine  failure

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New Covid case escaped isolation to go to Victoria St West Countdown

A man with Covid-19 left managed isolation in Auckland for more than an hour and went to a supermarket in the central city.

The 32-year-old man, New Zealand’s latest Covid case, arrived in New Zealand from India on July 3.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins said the man left his managed isolation facility at the Stamford Plaza and went to Countdown on Victoria St West last night.

The Government will be secretly grateful that the Walker-Boag dirty politics bombshell has overshadowed everything else, especially this latest breach of isolation.

It follows an earlier breach by some woman who climbed over a fence to abscond.

To date NZ has been relying on people put into isolation and quarantine to comply willingly with the process, this is partly because we aren’t arseholes but mostly because our underfunded joke of a system is focused on the cheapest possible ‘voluntary best practise’ bullshit because we don’t have the capacity to do much else.

These selfish pricks must be named and publicly shamed the second they are convicted once they are well enough to stand trial. Maybe knowing that they will be publicly shamed and made into social pariahs will force these arseholes to comply.

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We have not sacrificed so much to have spoiled clowns betray our good will and breach these  quarantines.

We really need to publicly shame this escapee who breached quarantine as soon as possible because the only way to make these selfie loving type of Kiwis to stay inside the hotel is the knowledge they will have their precious social media profiles denigrated if they don’t.

If this had occurred without the Walker-Boag bombshell, the Government would be facing another backlash, so for what must be the 10 billionth time now, for the love of Christ Labour, sort this shit out!

 

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35 COMMENTS

  1. Razor wire is relatively cheap -a hell of a lot cheaper than an eruption of Covid-19, like Victoria is dealing with (or not)!

    And there are no tourists to impress or offend.

  2. No one has sat down and thought the whole quarantine process through. It is only through good luck and not good management that we haven’t had a Victoria-like outbreak here. Indeed most of the same failings here have been evidenced over there. The only difference so far is the super-spreader that started the whole fiasco over there.

    Unfortunately these issues will continue as there to date has not been any consequences for those high up and there remains an appetite to leave the heavy lifting of implementation to the lower common denominators, in this cases the hotels, their staff and security contractors. Buckle in this ain’t over in the slightest….

  3. Labour: “We’re bringing in the Army, so everybody better behave.”
    Some Army we have!

  4. Agreed. Name and Shame.

    However, When. The . Fuck. is this government going to take border control deadly serious, because this disease is deadly to human life and our economy…remember?

    It’s no use hoping everyone is going to good little munckins. It’s no good being kind, Covid19 does not give a shit. Word is most of the hotel’s security systems are as porous as a sieve, ridiculously easy to walk out of and are 100% reliant on everyone being good. What kind if crap system is that?

    Hired security is a joke, it always is, poorly paid poorly trained personnel with no powers to do anything. But it’s cheap, right?

    Here’s the rules: You come back here at your own free will BUT if you do, you go into 14 days lock and key Quarantine, you are NOT free to go anywhere. You will submit to testing, with force if required. You are guarded in a secure facility and the staff will be joined by police to lock you up in the big house should you even think let alone do what this prick did on Tuesday night. Why, because this is life and death.

    Why is this so fucking hard for our government to understand? What are you going to do if this shitfest you call security allows another Victoria to happen? Maybe it has? Game over then Labour!

    Stop the hand wringing indecisive social working and the mindless kindness and protect your country like you claim you are and like you are supposed to.

    And I knew it was pointless using the military when they have exactly zero, nil, zip, NO powers of coercion. May as well put my cat at the front door to guard the border for us.

  5. I strongly disagree with this piece Martyn.

    You’re not comparing apples with apples. One situation reflects a quarantine system that by it’s very nature must not be a prison for prisoners or in other words, no reflection on the Government of the day. The other situation reflects a disgraceful and diabolical example of dirty politics from the usual suspects where for the first time they’ve had to own it.

    When the confession came from Walker and resignation from Boag, we knew we were seeing the biggest political story in NZ for many years. We all accept our media is running interference for the National Party and for National to win in September, NZ must lose the Covid battle. The biggest question now was how will our media sell what’s unfolded? Will they accept the National Party information breech is fatal for them in September and finally start reporting in a balanced manner? or will deflecting and minimizing the diabolical situation become the order of the day. We get the answer to that this morning via Luke Mallpass’s opinion piece on Stuff masquerading as a “NEWS HEADLINE”

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122074339/coronavirus-how-isolation-breach-trumps-nationals-privacy-botchup.

    Examine two aspects of just the headline alone.

    According to Mallpass, what one selfish dickhead did at a quarantine centre was a bigger political news event than the reprehensible conduct of the National Party and Hamish Walker. I don’t far king think so. Kiwi’s will be appalled by what the man who recently returned from India has done, especially when they see their own sacrifices to rid NZ of Covid-19. They will also be frustrated at people refusing to undergo a Covid test when they arrive back in NZ and for giving bullshit contact details. The fact tax payers are footing the bill for their quarantine stay and food etc in quality hotels that most other Kiwis will never see the inside of makes the situation even more frustrating……but, this is not the fault of the Government, it’s NZ Law. Does it need an urgent change to reflect the current situation and the risk to all kiwis? Hell yes! A law change is required but these things take time and will attract strong opposition from all the usual suspects out there who will claim the Government is turning NZ into China which was their plan all along bla bla bla.

    Quarantine centres are there for returning law abiding NZ citizens. They were never designed as Prisons. Things have now changed courtesy of a female who went walkabout on Saturday totally against strict instruction and the selfish shitheel who said fuck you to every kiwi and looked after only his own wants and needs despite very clear rules being in place. Fingers need to be pointed but only at the offending people. What those two people did as bad as it was does not Trump what National and Hamish Walker did and put that event in the shade. It was a news event for certain but in no way detracts from the diabolical conduct of the National Party. That is simply wishful thinking from the National Party and their supporters.

    The second part of the Mallpass headline that warrants examination is one word. “Botchup”. So what the National Party did with the diabolical information leak is now just a “botchup”. That minimizing terminology is right up there with that of Muller when he desribed it as an “error of judgment”. Is Luke Mallpass after Muller’s job? What unfolded with Walker, Boag and the National Party is light years from a botchup or error of Judgment. Boag herself knows that as does Walker, but apparently not Muller and not our media.

    Kiwis will not accept any politicians or “journalists” minimizing the conduct of the National Party with such important personal and very private details.

    • Jacindafan, the very nature of humans is a small percentage are arseholes. We cannot piss about being all polite and soft and let some shit like that person on Tuesday destroy all the good work done.

      If Megan Woods thinks you can enact laws without bothering the enforce them then she needs the go too!

      • Update, police are now involved in security management of the quarantine facilities. Good work Megan Woods and this government.

          • I noticed that Bert,

            They bleat that the quarantine centres are not being run like prisons….yet nek minute, the Police are going to add another level of security and peace of mind but the blue army and their soldier ants are now saying that’s a waste of police resources. They need to make up their mind.. Life will be perplexing for them when they are bleating about not having anything to bleat about.

          • It seems the complaints are coming from the police union saying they are not baby sitters. I thought they were there to protect us from people that could kill us .In my case with COPD at 40 percent the virus would be a death sentence.

    • My, how times have changed!

      In 1942 the American government (Roosevelt) issued an edict that resulted in tens of thousands of American citizens who posed no significant risk being interned behind in concentration camps and behind barbed wire, for the ‘crime’ of having the ‘wrong’ parents or grandparents or even ONE* great-grandparent.

      ‘Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges[1] or intent to file charges.’

      *’California defined anyone with 1/16th or more Japanese lineage as sufficient to be interned.’

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans

    • Yeah yeah. It’ll be fatal for National. So there. Happy now Jancidafan? Good!!
      Back to the issue of the day. If Covid gets hold again it’ll be a lot more fatal to a lot of people than your pathetic little National leak scandal. You’ll still be ranting on about dirty politics, like sending someone to Melbourne to dig for dirt…sorry…that was Labour….while people are keeling over with Covid.
      Letting people walk out through a construction fence is rank amateur…like our scary army. So how about you chatting to your St Jacinda about that one?

      • Herman,

        You’re clearly having another bad day. I could be ungracious and insincere by saying something like, get well soon, but I feel very confident you and many other blue trolls are in for many more bad days so I won’t say that 🙂

        Hows Muller working out for you? An upgrade or downgrade on Bridges if that’s even possible? You must be gasping for the Lord and saviour Chris Luxon to arrive on scene.

      • Forgot to ask Herman,

        If the Boag / Walker / National reprehensible release to media of highly personal confidential details that they had to own is only a “pathetic little National leak scandal”, what would you describe as a major debacle for the party? Does it involve AK47’s or something akin to the Guy Fawkes plot of 1605?

        Don’t you feel sad and even treasonous to know the only way your party can win in September is for a second wave of Covid-19 to hit here and know that’s diabolically what so many of your party ilk are actually hoping for?

      • You should be the last person Herman using ONE example of a MP going to Melbourne looking for dirt! Collin’s, Slater, Eade, Key. Now Woodhouse, Walker and again Boag.
        So it’s a slippery slope if you want to go there.
        I didn’t know they deliberately”LET” someone just walk out, that’s just bullshit on your behalf. The man broke the law, he put you and my health in jeopardy. Looking for political point scoring on covid disgusts me!

  6. So the police were in charge and they failed so the army were put in charge and they failed so we need the police in charge?
    Makes perfect government sense.
    What a bunch of muppets.

    • The police were never in charge. Healthcare workers were and then replaced by the military.

      If police were we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

    • So when the Muppet Muller was asked what he would do differently, he said” well its difficult”
      In other words he had nothing.
      If they put razor wire at the top you muppets would be screaming from the rafters.
      The irony here is the right wing talk about personal responsibility a lot, yet not once have they condemned the escapee. Blame, blame,blame,leak, leak and more leaking seems to be the rights go to message.

  7. It’s all wipe out everyone’s rights and ruin the economy for the lockdown, but 4 star quarantine/isolation accomodation is pussy footed about for the returning NZ visa holders, negating everyone’s sacrifice for lockdown.

    I’d like to see the taxpayer paid option for quarantine as being holed up in shared backpacker accomodation which is a lot easier to enforce. We all have to tighten our belts apparently on the taxpayer dime, and cubicle rooms just like we have to do in our health system in a hospital should be the standard used. After all they have just shared a bus drive and hours of travel with other potential cases but then somehow the 4 star experience paid for by others, starts at the NZ border.

    If the returnees require more luxurious accomodation, then they should pay their own 4 star stay, food and security.

    There should also be a criteria of those who are NZ citizens and strong ties to NZ coming home first (aka actually born and lived here for much of their lives), against the usual NZ neoliberal ‘bums on seats approach’ with people who bought Kiwi status on paper and obtained PR, visas and citizenship in the last decade, but after gaining their residency chose not to live here and now wants to come back with the relatives to shelter in NZ taking up the quarantine spaces while others can’t get in.

    Also highlights how selfish and or clueless some of the returnee’s are… if this person was a ‘Kiwi’ welfare beneficiary, their names would be plastered everywhere if they did something wrong.

    But anything to do with the pandemic and China and India, get’s covered up by the neolibs and their overdrive lobby groups as ‘racism, which works super well for criminal and fraud networks to prosper. Oh and now Covid, because remember we were not allowed to be prepared for Covid because it was just xenophobic hysteria based on racism… circa Feb media 2020.

    • Also the Nationals coming from India, Hong Kong and Korea, are allowed to be revealed from the overlords. China are not getting along with the above countries… hence ok to leak.

      As we all remember the NZ passport holder VIP’s from Wuhan were personally airlifted out on a government arranged charter flights months ago…
      Coronavirus: Air New Zealand charter flight evacuating New Zealanders from Wuhan leaving Monday night
      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/02/coronavirus-air-new-zealand-charter-flight-evacuating-new-zealanders-from-wuhan-leaving-monday-night.html

    • There should also be a criteria of those who are NZ citizens and strong ties to NZ coming home first (aka actually born and lived here for much of their lives), against the usual NZ neoliberal ‘bums on seats approach’ with people who bought Kiwi status on paper and obtained PR, visas and citizenship in the last decade,

      What an idiotic statement ….New Zealanders of all ethnicities have perhaps the highest percentage of its citzenry offshore enjoying all the benefits of globalism, than perhaps any other country in the world. Globalism works both ways.

      Indeed NZ can be small and constrained and any young person with any sort of aspirations will look overseas for opportunities, and indeed do so in huge numbers and thrive. That is not a crime.

  8. If we look at what happened in Victoria, they used private contractors with (most probably) cheap labour that was not appropriate to the task. This included their security guards having sex with the guests, smoking together and then the security guards spread Covid around their communities… cheap workers who can’t follow protocol or possibly even understand the instructions, likewise similar cases with rest home workers in a profit model, should not be used to enforce a pandemic or be in a situation where they have a lot of responsibility for another vulnerable person’s wellbeing… while third parties can make more profits it is at the expense of society and the wider economy and safety.

    Australia coronavirus: quarantine guards spread disease, leading to Melbourne’s new lockdown
    https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3092257/australia-coronavirus-quarantine-guards-spread-disease

    “But instead of drafting in police to oversee the operation, as occurred elsewhere in the country, the state farmed the task out to security firms without even inviting tenders for the contract, according to local media reports.
    A litany of malpractice followed, the Herald Sun reported, including improper use of personal protection equipment, allowing families to mix in each other’s rooms, and even some guards having sex with quarantined guests.

    About 3,000 residents of public housing tower blocks are barred from leaving their apartments even for food.

    All it took was missteps in the handling of travellers returning from overseas and complacency in a handful of neighbourhoods to plunge Australia’s second-largest city into lockdown for the second time in four months.

    Even as life in most of the nation returns to normal with offices, schools and bars all open, from midnight Wednesday the 5 million residents of Melbourne will be back under stay-at-home orders that were first imposed in March. The state of Victoria is responsible for the vast majority of Australia’s new Covid-19 cases in the past month, plagued by a level of community transmission previously unseen in the country.”

    https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3092257/australia-coronavirus-quarantine-guards-spread-disease

    • Cutting corners and choosing the lowest-cost option almost invariably ends up being vastly more expensive in the long run SaveNZ.

  9. Quarantine relies on people coming in being adult and not behaving like Typhoid Mary. Who because she would not stop being a cook (as she was working class and needed a job to survive) ended up being confided to an island. The problem is that some people are idiots and can’t work out on line shopping

  10. Agree we should name and shame this completely selfish fucker

    I hope we don’t resort to a liberal soft cock penalty —-surely there are other laws that can be thrown at him – endangering public safety etc 6 months jail is pathetic

    I’d fucking deny the wanker treatment —this is one situation where I would support police violence
    Then deport the fucker.

    My daughter lives in the inner city —this is just so fucking selfish and outrageous

    • Mark,

      If you feel 6 months in the big house is soft cock, how are you going feel when he gets permanent name suppression because the anti toward him from the public made him feel unsafe….$750 fine and don’t do it again, bla bla bla. I’d wager a tidy sum on it. Will bet my hands he won’t do a minute in prison. …..but we get the compensation of knowing he’s really sorry.

  11. People need to stop the whinging we sound like a bunch of cry babies. We now have the Police complaining about being babysitters. Someone has to provide security and if the security does not have authority to detain people then we may have no choice but to pass a law to give them some authority. It is no good National OR THOSE WHO VOTED FOR THEM FOR 3 TERMS moaning about these new NZers when their policies allowed them to backdoor it into our country to beef up GDP and there surplus.

  12. People need to stop the whinging we sound like a bunch of cry babies. We now have the Police complaining about being babysitters. Someone has to provide security and if the security does not have authority to detain people then we may have no choice but to to either pass a law to give them some authority or what happened to using the army. Its a real pity we have to do this but you are always going to have some that spoil it for others. Our immigration policies have allowed people to backdoor it into our country to beef up GDP and government surplus and so called growth. We are paying for this now this is one of the consequences of such policy as is run down infrastructure. Growth comes at a costs.

  13. As of midday , Yet another breach. Labour have been doing well but the ongoing breaches are making them look silly.

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