National have been so disconnected to relevant political debate for the last 4 years, they’ve had to have Sir John Key, who was Leader 4 leaders ago, come out and articulate the frustration business owners are feeling with the lockdown.
This matters because Covid hurts Maori, Pacific, old and the poor hardest.
It’s easy to be frustrated because these are frustrating times! We haven’t seen a pandemic for 100 years, the necessity to self isolate and throw all our plans into the air has made us all angry but we mustn’t be blinded by anger to ignore our collective wins here.
We have a tiny mortality rate, have minimized hospitalizations and avoided the worst elements of restrictions. That has required political leadership and a public health system that has stood up to the challenge of a novel pandemic.
That we collectively agreed to act voluntarily to protect one another and listen to the best medical science is a testimony to us as a people and that should be celebrated, but Sir John represents another class of people who are legitimately hurting and whose interests deserve to be respected and helped so let’s look at Sir John’s 5 suggestions.
His first is to incentivize Maori & Pacific health providers with cash payments to lift vaccination rates. It is odd that Sir John doesn’t think these health providers are already moving heaven and earth to get their communities vaccinated, it’s like he seems to think if he throws some cash incentives their way suddenly they’ll start to care? Our Maori & Pacific health providers deserve more respect than a cash bonus. Rather than a 6 week incentive plan, we should recognize their importance, especially when it’s likely we will require annual jabs, and permanently increasing their funding.
Sir John’s second suggestion is a gift card bribe to young people paid out once they get vaccinated. I think rich people allow money to become all they understand and so Sir John’s belief that we can just bribe young people to get vaccinated feels like a crass simplification that reflects on his values rather than valid public health policy.
Sir John’s third suggestion of implementing harsh vaccine passports might cause more social friction than public good and having the vaccine buses operating at night with drunk teenagers seems like a recipe for disaster.
Sir John’s fourth suggestion is the setting of a hard open border date because that might frighten the vaccine hesitant to vaccinate. Threatening people and carrying through with that threat regardless of immunization rates is something a psychopath would do, not a well reasoned health response to a national emergency.
Sir John ends by demanding we stop using fear, yet his suggestion number 3 and 4 require fear to work.
Look, this is New Zealand, we all have the right to speak and this awful pandemic has impacted us all, so let’s have debate on what happens next, but these 5 mediocre suggestions are so shallow it’s embarrassing.
This pandemic has exposed the bleeding gums of our inequality, you want to tackle Covid, you fight poverty.
That was something Sir John spent 8 years avoiding.
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Well said.
The vaccine uptake amongst New Zealanders under 20 is higher than it is for older people which gives one hope for the future. Most of the older people not wanting to vaccinated and aged old anti-establishment baby boomers whose thinking has become intellectually bankrupt
Fully vaccinated Fully vaccinated per 1,000 people
12 – 19 years 64,433 128
20 – 34 years 276,196 267
35 – 49 years 736,989 771
50 – 64 years 784,993 846
65 and over 727,554 923
What you say is not what the numbers show. Hope lots of young people do get vaccinated!
Key deserved a “wooden stake” to take him out of public life for good, but, his top National people and the NZ media protected him after he scuttled off before completing his third term–with a fourth term likely if he had wanted it. He left to spend more time with the missus and kids…yeah right.
After Parliament he has been on various corporate boards at top level including ANZ Bank. Before Parliament he was involved in international finance capital also at NZ Foreign Exchange, Merrill Lynch and New York branch of US Federal Reserve. At Parliament he and his personal Lawyer instigated a Tax Haven that signed up over 10,000 offshore Trusts (who disappeared virtually overnight when IRD reporting requirements changed). So Sirkey represents the fattest of fat cats–you can definitely judge a person of Key’s standing by the company he keeps.
National must be in deep shit indeed if the Parnell Ponytail Puller was prised out of his air conditioned suite. He has zero credibility as a person with any interest in the bottom 50% of New Zealanders who own just 2% of the wealth. Hopefully most NZers have grown up a little and will see through his motivation here–opening up the borders and free in and outflow of capital again for his 1%er pals–the exploiter class.
Yes Key does look very like a wooden stake would do the trick.
Martyn, I have been chastised for bringing to attention what Key has done in the past. What people fail to remember is that he is here now, trying to influence. He and his government were appalling and created the great divide, why on earth would we want any of his divisive ideas and lies in today’s world?
Right behind you Bert. Key is a wanker of the first order. The only person worst than this piece of shit is Rimmer. Rimmer is the most dangerous person in NZ currently. The country wrecking abilities of these two should be broadcast at every opportunity far and wide, so people don’t forget the damage to all of us heathens that these pricks will do should they grab the levers of power. Neo Liberal fanatics.
Well put Martyn , I think
that a younger generation will not be impressed by John Keys shallow ways.
The man who received the benefit of policy that was implemented for the greater good
then did not follow through for future generations.
Key ladder pulled–largely raised in a State House on his mother’s Widow’s Benefit, once PM he said “Beneficiaries need a good kick in the pants”. He presided over then HNZ being defunded, state houses run down and sold off.
This, like his corporate career, matters because it illustrates who he really stands for.
I totally agree with you Bert & Tiger Mountain, Key like many other very wealthy NZers is throwing his toys out of his cot. And some of our media as usual are giving him and others a platform. For him to say, give Maori and PI twenty five bucks to vaccinate I find this to be insulting, arrogant and wreaking of arseholism. We do not want to hear all the bullshit that comes out of his mans mouth or his mouth pieces like Soper, Hoskings et al. All this lot care about is money not people. Johns views on Pfizer have already been debunked and we already know he has track record for doing this type of thing but he will keep repeating the lies till he is red in the face as he did with the tax havens, the ones that never existed but then disappeared.
I think his ideas if not perfect are huge step forward compared with the Jacinda Ardern Labour Government who frankly don’t have any plans.
Really didn’t think that one through did you… A rank political rant that both overlooks the reality on the ground, and makes insulting, and self serving claims is no any kind of progress.. It is nothing more than a despicable excuse for a human being blowing it out of his arse, while the “news media” talks him up as much as possible.. Absolutely nothing in his little “thought bubble” has any viable application in the real world, or hasn’t already been actioned… This is pure theater, and is just another example of how unfit to be NZ’s leader he always was… It was his governments utter incompetence as a government in an egalitarian democracy that gave the current govt no choice but to do what they did… Gutted the health system, gutted the border protections, degraded the education system to the point where 10-12 year old children are now functionally illiterate, mathematically incompetent, and socially inadequate… On what planet is writing computer code more important than learning to speak and write in ones own language? Or to be able to use arithmatic in a way that is useful? Or to devaelop a realistic mindset on keeping ones physical health at a good level, so as to try to avoid the afflictions of old age while still young? Obviously it’s “planet Key”, as that is what his government gave NZ to deal with, or not as the case is looking more like… And yet we still have those so utterly blind to anything but their own bigotries who would follow him willingly over the edge of that cliff into the abyss… well done morons.. Way to prove humans to be unfit to breath the air they are taking from more deserving life forms…
John, get a life
Should read “ a huge step forward.”
The ultimate aim is to have as many people vaccinated as possible. If one or other of these ideas helps achieve that goal, does it really matter who proposed it, where they sit on the political spectrum or what they did as a politician?
What if New Zealand REALLY is like North Korea? Imagine
John Key in his appearance before a people’s court confesses to introducing Covid 19 and organising infection operatives to spread the disease. He also conspired to keep food prices high and sabotaged supply chains to create scarcity in supermarkets.
He also confesses to conspiring with landlords and property investors to make housing unaffordable for all but the most wealthy. He confesses to a tax regime that maintains inequality.
He confesses to taking part in asset sales that robbed New Zealanders of the electricity, rail services and water resources that generations had acquired.
He confesses to receiving payments from foreign businesses to allow them to invest in Aotearoa with unfair advantages.
His confessions are supported by those of other National Party members and supporters. Unfortunately some of these are unable to be put on trial because of their deaths in custody( a suprisingly high number of suicides by those facing the shameful exposure of their crimes).
The Arch criminal Key is fortunate in our leadership by NOBLE LADY JACINDA who has agreed that in return for his co-operation, his relatives will be released from prison and he shall not suffer death but just confiscation of his wealth and an indefinite period of hard labour clearing the toxic chemical dump left in Southland by Rio Tinto’s smelter.
This is a similar sentence to that already imposed on the criminal Judith Collins – also a National Party wrecker and saboteur!
As Key is led away ,gratefully sobbing and vowing repentance, prosecutors announce they are preparing cases against Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Helen Clark, among others.
All hail to the everlasting Labour government of Socialist Aotearoa!
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