MEDIAWATCH: The irony of Key’s fear and hermit kingdom claims

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I'm so fearful

Covid 19 Delta Outbreak: John Key’s pandemic response view an insult to New Zealanders, Chris Hipkins says

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has slammed former Prime Minister Sir John Key’s ideas to transform the country’s pandemic strategy as an insult to New Zealanders.

“I think it’s a great piece of politics,” Hipkins said on TVNZ’s Q+A programme on Sunday morning.

“Actually many things that John Key’s arguing are already happening.”

In an opinion piece in today’s Herald, Key said the New Zealand Government and public health officials needed to rapidly change their thinking and “the aim should no longer be to exist a smug hermit kingdom”.

He said the problem with this “hermit kingdom mode” was also that people had to believe the Government can go on borrowing a billion dollars every week “to disguise that we are no longer making our way in the world”.

Key made a five point plan, calling on Māori and Pacific health providers to get financial incentives for every person they get vaccinated in the next six weeks. Giving every person aged between 12-29 a $25 voucher of their choice if they get vaccinated before December 1 and allowing only vaccinated people into licensed premises were among his suggestions.

He said the Government should also tell New Zealanders when borders will reopen, and to “stop ruling by fear” and instead reassure people that living with the virus is possible, as long as they’re vaccinated.

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What’s most hilarious is his criticism that Labour are ruling using fear and is the smug hermit kingdom.

Firstly it isn’t fear mongering if it’s rational to be fearful. Professor Shaun Hendy’s modeling of 7000 dead and 60000 hospitalizations is based on the very parameters of 80% vaccination rates with no level 4 lockdown that the Right including National and ACT have been screaming for!

Professor Shaun Hendy isn’t fear mongering by modeling out what the Right have been calling for!

Secondly it’s rich that Key is claiming fear and using hermit kingdom metaphors when in fact it’s his very own National Party who under Collins has been accused of a culture of fear where no opinion other than Dear Leader’s is tolerated!

You can’t get more North Korean than National under Judith!

Key is the vacant aspiration of a NZ with no values other than making money. That he feels he can come back after Dirty Politics to lecture us during an actual public health crisis is an abomination!

John Key’s Government used the Police & Spy services to silence and attack critics while running a black ops team in his Office.

Key lecturing on fear is like Trump lecturing on feminism.

A former Prime Minister who signed off on a war crime has no place in the current dialogue.

 

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66 COMMENTS

    • The irony is; That in presenting the sort of attack on a Labour which National has failed to do, John Key presents a strategy which could save the Crusher he fired from cabinet for things she didn’t do.

      Hosking exposed the folly of Zero which I took up in my blog: Target Zero =Zero target next elections.
      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/09/21/guest-blog-ross-meurant-target-zero-zero-next-elections/

      John key too the case of Zero next elections for Labour a step further with his axiomatic deduction that endless borrowing is a debt someone has to pay one day.
      His strategy to open border for trade and mental wellbeing has (by my feedback this day, resonated with the wider public- who until now sat meekly – devoid of any leadership by National for a, “Live with it” recovery and plan.

      With the exception of Christopher Luxon, National is without leaders within their midst.

      Money’s John Key come back as a Lost candidate next elections.

      • My thoughts too God help NZ. His history as a derivatives trader – partial author of the real estate disaster in certain US states in addition to his wholesale slaughter of NZ’s real estate market as PM – not to mention Panama Papers, weird and sudden departure as PM, pony tails et al – render him most unsuited to political office.

      • I’m afraid Ross. You are wrong. National have absolutely no talent. Luxon is a conservative white male moron.

        Well, there is one guy but he hasn’t a shit show, why? Because he is a Mowree! S Reti. The only one with a history and talent in Health.

  1. Did SirKey draft this steaming pile himself, or was it “his office”? One thing for sure is that there is a co-ordinated business campaign with a script provided for media arse lickers, to promote the end of lockdowns and “living” with COVID–which obviously means many more dying of COVID.

    Problem for the “money before Grans life” lot–is 70% of New Zealanders still support the Govt. approach according to a survey released today on RNZ.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/452308/covid-19-poll-lockdown-supported-but-not-indefinitely

    The pony pulling, nasty little wanker can sod off. All Key ever did was represent international finance capital first and foremost, before Parliament, during his term as an MP, and afterwards. Hopefully enough NZers will see through him second time around.

    • Hear hear.
      John ANZ Key oversaw record debt increase, flooded the country with immigrants, and then scuttled away back to his true masters whilst his own followers stared and blinked.
      Shove your ill-informed reckons up your arse Mr ANZkey, and fuck off while you’re doing it.

  2. And what’s more John showed crass cultural sensitivity by violating the Sabbath. Time was, the Sunday papers contained weighty tomes which could provide hours’ interesting reading. Sunday is still a day of peace and quiet and family for many of us who still uphold family values , and who are reluctant to disturb the neighbours with grass cutting or mechanical noises.

    The last thing that I needed this morning was seeing’s Key’s bloated face and his insulting gabble assuming that we’re all thick and do not have a reasonable idea of what’s playing out here with covid. Tacky self- interested stuff from Mr Cheap and Nasty.

      • Paul S. Sabbath is Saturday in Judaism, and ok, Key is Jewish. In Christianity the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day has traditionally been Sunday – historically Catholicism referred to keeping the Sabbath, Sunday, holy, and a day of rest – Southland Presbyterians can be almost moribund on a Sunday.

        New Zealand is a secular country, but derives largely from western Christianity, uses Christian -type prayers on occasion, and we share a lot of Christian values, like the Sermon on the Mount, and not using noisy chain saws or disturbing the neighbours on Sundays, and so having John Key appear on a holy day is culturally and religiously insensitive to the good people of this country and probably to some of the bad people too.

        • Mt 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
          While it is a common myth that the Lord’s Day has traditionally been Sunday due to the early church changing it to separate themself from the Jews it is only a tradition of men. Commandment keeping is supposed to be because of love (Jo 14:15) so any attempt by people to impose their chosen worship on others is actually the opposite of true Christianity.

    • Forgot the tag? is the charitable way to interpret your comment.

      Among Key’s many traitorous acts on the NZ working class, he ladder pulled–raised on mum’s Widows benefit in a state house–gained political office and then sold off state houses. (defund. run down, sell off).

    • “State house solo mother.” Really? Didn’t pick it.
      The surgeon that did his gender reassignment surely deserves an award.

    • Good back story spin.Lived in St Heliers Auckland where father owned a restaurant early days. .

      Got to the state house Christchurch when he was 7-8.

      When P.M he did donate a ‘portion’ of his salary to charity …however! 😉

  3. People will be put off this simply because its John Key. I didn’t vote for him and don’t particularly like him, but I’m not a rabid partisan and open minded enough to recognise some good analysis and ideas – which this is.

    For far too long has the false narrative of ‘wanting to open up = heartless, money-hungry capitalist not caring thousands die’ dominated.

    This is rubbish. I also see thousands of other deaths we accept, including from lifestyle choices such as on food and drink.

    I also care about what money we have to invest in our future, the heartlessness of locked borders to citizens abroad, increased child suicide, missed cancer and treatments, disrupted school and socialisation, lost small businesses, under-supply of specialists, increased transfer of wealth to the rich, democracy in an age of continual lockdown, etc.

    All these are also outcomes of MIQ, the elimination obsession, and continual lockdowns at various levels.

    Now we can – and should – debate this all, but it’s time to move forward away from ridiculous dichotomy where any whiff of opening up equals neo-liberal death march. I find this false equation similar to the Woke ‘if you’re not anti-racist, you’re racist’.

    Today we find, just once in a long time, a genuinely alternative view get some decent media headlight and the Left lose their shit. To me that’s exactly how poor the Covid-19 discussion has been in NZ.

    And Hendry has a history of histronic modelling – he’s loss credibility completely now and Martyn, so often razor-sharp, is on the wrong side of the stick here.

  4. Ha ! @ MB. I see above you’ve rousted the flies from under The Jonky.
    “He said the problem with this “hermit kingdom mode” was also that people had to believe the Government can go on borrowing a billion dollars every week “to disguise that we are no longer making our way in the world”.
    That’s ironic considering under the jonky shambles pretending to be a gubbimint, jonky encouraged the four big banksters to take billions of hard earned AO/NZ money off-shore annually as NET bankster profits. We must remember, and keep remembering, is that banks essentially do nothing for our economy except help themselves to it. Read this by Steven Minto.
    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/08/23/special-report-housing-we-cant-build-our-way-out-of-this-housing-affordability-crisis/
    jonky headed up anz ! The wee One Dollar Ho has no ground to stand on.
    “…making our way in the world”.
    jonky’’s comment’s odd? I read that agriculture, our primary industry, is doing very well.
    FYI You Flies above? ‘Agriculture’ is where people ‘grow’ foods in the ground…!? I know! It’s like witch craft only witchier and more crafty. And another thing. Even little flies need to suck on something.
    AO/NZ will flourish provided we DO NOT listen to money-rich, common-sense poor dodgy fools like jonky and his greed motivated decipil’s. He’s gone and done. Let’s keep him gone and done. His little flies here can only buzz and what’s a picnic without a fly? ( Jonky…? Who fucking cares what the little rodent squeaks? Unless there’s still that old Deep State matrix exerting their influence over our AO/NZ!? That’d be my bet. )
    I think Adern, Hipkins and Bloomfield are doing a fabulous job and that can clearly be seen in our general readiness to show respect for each other and all warmly fall in step.
    Flies? Shush now, with all that buzzing. What we’re doing is ‘cooperating’ rather than ‘competing’. It’s like the opposite of trickle-down economics. Our innate good heartedness is trickling up. And lives are being saved.
    And after all this is over, little flies, I’d be keeping an eye on the sales of fly spray.
    “You can’t get more North Korean than National under Judith!…”
    “…under judith…!? Every atom and molecule of my being just shuddered and not in that good way.

  5. Surprised my old mate Bertie hasn’t commented yet. Hopefully he didn’t have an aneurysm when he read the piece.

    Seriously Key is the only person the feckless will allow on the right to have a fair and reasonable comment soooooo suck it up folks. This is what a democracy with a functioning 4th estate looks like. Many in NZ (admittedly not a majority at this junction) including myself 100% agree with his views. Why shouldn’t once in a while the great unwashed get an alternative viewpoint pushed in front of them.

    For fucking months the only commentary we have received has been peddling the covid queen saviour fallacy with so called experts such as Hendy, who prior to covid had no experience in virology modelling calling out predictions and expert opinion with little factual evidence behind these calls (the science of masks anyone?). Outside of those that pay attention, most NZers have no idea that Wiles, Hendy and Plank are:
    A) part of the same organisation; and
    B) Have large contractual relationships with the MOH and the government.
    Hardly fucking independent experts are they?

    I have a feeling the Hendy scareporn incident reflects the “operation barbarossa” of the Blairite’s covid campaign where she and her advisors misread the room. Everyday Joe is sick of these restrictions and post vaccination they aren’t going to stomach lockdowns, restrictions and masks.

    A bad day for the Blairite after the Key kicking, Greta gave her a head stomp while she was down.

    • Key. The ignorant wee wannabe with zilch grasp of history – who said that New Zealand was “ settled “peacefully “ – peacefully perhaps for the immigrant Keys – in the country 5 mins then had the gall to try and change the flag to suit himself . Hollywood groupie, changing our labour laws to the detriment of our own home-grown workers, the genuinely creative and innovative people we need and should nourish, but the lure of tinsel – and what else- impresses the comic book vulgarians. I’d hoped he’d toddle off elsewhere, but no such luck.

    • Why shouldn’t once in a while the great unwashed get an alternative viewpoint pushed in front of them.
      ANS: Fair point if it’s constructive but key isn’t and never has been. Also “the great unwashed” are immaculate compared to him.

  6. Rich Pricks like Key know that what he says resonates with the morons and those with a low IQ and the mentally unstable. It’s a rallying Call to Arms! literally!

    The $25 Fast Food Voucher will be a top seller too! Maybe whilst they load up on shite food they could be jabbed with some other health vaccines too?

    His fear plug is another siron whisper to the right to start to agitate and rebel publically. Why? Because I reckon he’s gearing up for a shot at the Auckland Mayoralty next year!

      • Kraut Yep, Key’s always looked a needy sort of chappie to me – some sort of psychological syndrome. Not like he can go and climb mountains or play the flute or do anything much. And we all know his idea of fun.

  7. Now I don’t hold John Key in particularly high regard. Many of problems we face today in NZ can be sheated back home to him importing foreigners with ” money in a suit case” to prop up the economy in the short term to create the housing crisis et el in the medium term= right now.

    That said what Key is saying here is very relevant. NZ faces two options

    One bed in the hermit kingdom we currently are. Keep the borders locked make it near impossible for anyone to come or leave as getting through MIQ is at best a lottery at worst just not happening.

    OR open the door in a managed way to get life somewhere back to near normal.

    Now if you are paid by the public purse, that is lock downs don’t threaten your weekly / fortnightly income your health and wellbeing is all that matters. The hermit kingdom is ok , a bit inconvenient but Hey Jacinda is keeping us safe.

    However if you derive your income in the private sector you know full well that if the tools aren’t working, the wheels aren’t turning, the cash register not clanging. Then the employer cant pay the mortgage, the rent, the rates, the hp on the plant and probably can’t pay you without the employment subsidy. In short the business might not be there next month and you are unemployed.
    Keeping safe is secondary to keeping your job. These people will back the John Key option.
    These are the people who are rioting in Melbourne.

    What will happen here?
    Jacinda will go for the hermit kingdom.
    Until the riots?

    • the inconvenient truth is that all the funding for the public sector’s “civilised society” is originally generated from capitalism’s successful efforts & private profits one way or another; wages, salaries, corporate & income/payroll taxes etc; all the central Govt social services, welfare benefits, defence, health, education…the list is comprehensive. All because someone somewhere sometime decided to try a bit harder to create a bigger pie rather than argue for a bigger slice than their neighbours.

  8. There has definitely been a change in policy direction & the move to level 3 for Auckland while still getting random Covid cases seemed to indicate that those interests pressuring the government have gained some traction.

    A move to suppression means the country will remain at level 2 restrictions or higher until the pandemic fizzles out, so get used to masks, signing in & other restrictions, plus the risk of actually getting seriously ill. Being stuck at level 2 with community spread isn’t going to do the economy any favours, especially given it’s likely protracted nature. The border is unlikely to open without restrictions & people will tend to modify their behaviours to avoid getting sick, so events, eating out, movies etc are not going to be a priority for the risk adverse, fear & uncertainty also reduce spending. Once elimination is lost, it’s difficult to get it back without pain.

    Not sure what the goal of those pushing the suppression plan is, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t your health & wellbeing that is their main concern.

    In the meantime, get vaccinated now because if they fail to eliminate this outbreak, vaccination status will become increasingly important.

  9. Good points Clifford but once she senses a shift she will change direction she’s a consummate politician win at any cost.

      • Really? Never! That’s Shocking! Can’t have ta now. What say, shall we cancel them? Everybody must be left! Right?

      • I’ve never voted National (or Act) and I think Trump is a giant doofus. I also thought Martyn’s 5 radical suggestions had merit.

        But you could call me a jaded Liberal like Bill Maher waking up to the damage the ever-more extreme Left are doing to our country and democracy.

        Martyn and others try to differentiate between the Woke Left and true Left – but I think this is becoming a losing argument, or an irrelevant one, sadly.

        I see parallels to the authoritarian loving Left when it comes to Covid-19 response. More state control is the inevitable default. I weep at what Australia had become. And marvel at the hypocrisy of Martyn defending free speech, concerned about state power in terrorism laws, but dumping on the right to return and eager to create a two class vax/unvax society, blind to the limitations of vaccination. (For the record though I remain pro-vaccination but pro-democracy).

        I also see rank unthinking on Covid-19 a response that doesn’t adapt or develop, and rapidly myopic and emotional tunnel vision.

        If you also think our “experts” are independent – look at their Twitter – it’s abound with nakedly Left-wing advocacy, yet they and their Twitter cheerleaders trumpet righteousness indignation and label anyone who challenges them as anti-vax misinformation.

        So if John Key is the one to inject some common sense – not my first choice – but so be it.

      • It is like “Merv from Manurewa” cloned himself, with the various tory turds blocking up this place.

        At least Bomber tolerates them for some reason, unlike Farrar at Kiwibog!

        • Farrar tolerates them 100%. Problem is when they go on they normally can’t help themselves and go 100% troll with venial personal attacks. That is the difference and why I appreciate this blog 90% of the time. Most of you are decent human beings that tolerate alternative thought.

          Even Bertie me ol’ mate.

          If you want a leftwing echo chamber there is always the Standard.

  10. Ardern actually unveiled a plan identical to keys the week before lockdown and that’s ultimately where labour is heading. The only difference is key wants 70% vax Ardern wants 80-90% both have given up on elimination which sucks for the south Island who have been the most successful eliminators in the world.

    Keys idea about paying people to get the vax is a good one though. Instead of a voucher make it $25 bank payment per vax so $75 all up that’ll be a real incentive for poor and working class people and Maori and Pasifika to get vaxxed.

    I also agree unless you’re medically exempt. No vax no benefits. You can chose to not get vaxxed but if you do you don’t get the safety net your fellow citizens provide.

    It’s actually not outrageous key is just suggesting what labour is already planning for next year they literally said ALL of this except vaxxed only businesses and the financial incentive to get vaxxed the week before this lockdown

    • Exactly, but who reads the actual news these days, or listens to press conferences. Hard to believe all the previous comments that praise John Keys opinion piece don’t realize he stole all his tips from Labours actual stated plans on moving forward grrrr! It would have been a much shorter piece if he’d said, ‘what she said!’
      Also, how is he not fear mongering when he says someday the budget will only be able to pay the interest on our debt and we won’t be able to afford cancer treatments or pay police to protect us. His fear is rich people might lose their riches, while we worry people will lose their health or life. Hmmm

    • Gear that $25 up. $25 cash and your vax shot gives you a ticket in a $25million covid lottery. Lotto tickets get people off the couch.

  11. A ridiculous false dichotomy. Labour are not operating a hermit kingdom – they have tried to balance the line between the Hoskings of the world demanding their tanty little right to jet off overseas, and preventing a large percentage of the population dropping dead from the pandemic while destroying our health system in the process.

    And they aren’t ‘borrowing a billion dollars a week’ – the fucking Reserve Bank is creating the money for the government to use – circular economy.

    The reality is we have had fewer and shorter lockdowns than anyone else, have one of the smallest health impacts in the world, and have one of the best economies in the world. All else Shonkey farts out his cake hole is just lies and politics – par for the course for the Perverted Ponytail Puller from Parnell.

    Let’s not forget, his shit government rode roughshod over civil liberties (spying on citizens, Kim Dotcom, smearing Phil Goff etc) and economic good sense (import a million immigrants, don’t bother building infrastructure, let any foreigner own NZ property etc).

    • Best economy in the world? The spin doctors really have fooled the naive it seems. NZ is stealing from the future to enrich the incumbants, same old same old NZ philosophy. Save the boomers by ruining the young.

  12. Much of his opinion piece concerned with travel comes across as privileged whinging irrelevant to most like his analogy of a failed 70s moonshot.

    That odd Apollo 13 example appears to be just an elaboration of some uninspiring business buzzword: “moonshot thinking”, which shows how one dimensional this guy is.

  13. If there’s one thing the pseudo “knight” can’t do, is being a “leader of society”.. He hasn’t the first clue about what that is… The only reason his “bandwagon jumping” has made the news is because the tory press need something, anything, to be able to show that their useless puppies are still relevant…

  14. “Probably best Prime Minister in NZ history. State house solo mother.”

    The second sentence probably explains why he was right into doing the best he could to see that housing was the best possible for all New Zealanders. And that he focussed on it.

    Focussed on it to the extent that dire problems were evolving and he led a mob which minimised and disguised and bullshitted the public who thought he was God, by putting the burgeoning crisis in a parcel called their “comprehensive housing plan.”

    The first sentence? My response to the second one explains why the first is crap.

    • Are you saying the second sentence was nonsensical or the first sentence was just plain nonsense?
      Either way, it doesn’t make any sense at all.

  15. What the right-wing never like mentioning are the COVID death rates of other countries. Aotearoa has just one death in last year. Isnt that the sign of success. The other countries have failed to control Covid. Even Denmark is having 4-5 deaths per day. Do Aotearoans want that??

    The grim reaper John and his body bags tories dont care if COVID kills Maori, Pacifica, elderly, diabetics, immune compromised, they just want to live with it ie open up the border with dozens of deaths a day.

    I say we need more than 90% vaccinations, open up borders but retain MIQ for a while. In the meantime we must watch how things pan out overseas especially during winter in the northern hemisphere.

  16. The irony of John Key having a moan about the government ruling with fear…and then immediately attempting to scare people around to his point of view by shrieking about the debt. Yeah, supposedely we’re sinking under a big pile of debt. Remind us John, how does NZ fare against other OECD countries in the debt stakes? Combine that with how we’re faring in the COVID stakes, and I think John’s cries are going to fall on deaf ears.

    As for a smug hermit kingdom? Well, I’ll give John this, if anybody knows smug it’s him.

    Privately run MIQ facilities? Boy, I bet John’s eyes fair light up at the idea of his big business buddies getting to clip the ticket of people mandated to use such a facility. There’s no better business than one where the customer has no choice but to use it.

    Sorry John, I’m not buying the argument you’re selling. Not being open to the world currently does not equate to not wanting to open up to the world. You’re trying to sell the latter. I believe the government wants to open up as soon as they’re able. I also believe they don’t want to rush it, and want to take carefully considered moves to gradually achieve this. It’s no surprise there isn’t a detailed plan out there yet. The situation is evolving all the time. We’re watching and learning lessons from how other countries fare as they ease back restrictions. I’m happy with the government to take this approach.

    • Well said, Brad. John’s just running scared so he tries to say that we’re all scared too. Ross is wrong thinking that anyone’s paranoid about John too, we just think John a bloated-looking blob. The bloke thinking that John wants to return to politics is wrong too, he’s too vain and petty. Everyone knows that the PM – of whom I am not a fan- has done a pretty good job navigating the pandemic, but some dimwits simply can’t cope with kids not being able to pack into pubs and clubs and stuff like that.

      A surprising number of people do appreciate that this is, as you say, an evolving situation, and that it would be nuts not to acknowledge this and try and to accommodate it. Cheers.

  17. JK, saying Labour is ruling with fear? Whatta joke!
    How about the Natz when he was in charge and got his hench-girl, Bennett, to demolish all those houses on the false fear that they were meth contaminated?
    That’s fear-mongering of the worst kind.
    Head Hypocrite Key!

  18. JK, saying Labour is ruling with fear? Whatta joke!
    How about the Natz when he was in charge and got his hench-girl, Bennett, to demolish all those houses on the false fear that they were meth contaminated?
    That’s fear-mongering of the worst kind.
    Head Hypocrite Key!

  19. I just reread this blog – don’t always agree with Martyn but this is my favourite part of the article. It should be repeated often and everywhere:
    “Key is the vacant aspiration of a NZ with no values other than making money. That he feels he can come back after Dirty Politics to lecture us during an actual public health crisis is an abomination!

    John Key’s Government used the Police & Spy services to silence and attack critics while running a black ops team in his Office.

    Key lecturing on fear is like Trump lecturing on feminism.

    A former Prime Minister who signed off on a war crime has no place in the current dialogue.”

  20. ” He said the problem with this “hermit kingdom mode” was also that people had to believe the Government can go on borrowing a billion dollars every week “to disguise that we are no longer making our way in the world”

    That’s rich when him and the double dipper got left with a massive surplus from Cullen then spent it and borrowed to fund their tax cuts for the rich then increased GST after saying they wouldn’t and screwed ordinary struggling people to continue paying for it for 6 years.

    And idiots voted for it and they still peddle his bullshit to anyone who has a short memory or is totally devoid of human qualities.

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