WHEN HITLER AND STALIN signed their Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939, war in Europe became inevitable. The scales of Appeasement having fallen from his eyes, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, introduced the Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill, which the House of Commons duly and swiftly passed into law. The legislation provided the British Government with the all the powers necessary to fight a modern war.
Here is a sample of the wording:
His Majesty may by Order in Council make such Regulations […] as appear to him to be necessary or expedient for securing the public safety, the defence of the realm, the maintenance of public order and the efficient prosecution of any war [in which] His Majesty may be engaged, and for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community.
The reference to “His Majesty” should be read as “The Government of the United Kingdom”. An “Order in Council” is pretty much the same as a decision arrived at in Cabinet. What the Act empowered, in its essence, was a Government that could do whatever it considered necessary for the safety of the people, the life of the community, and the defence of the realm.
If you are wondering just what powers the Crown’s “Defence Regulations” conferred upon the Government, then the following should provide some clarity:
Defence Regulations may, so far as appears to His Majesty in Council to be necessary or expedient for any of the purposes mentioned in that subsection:
(a) Make provision for the apprehension, trial, and punishment of persons offending against the Regulations and for the detention of persons whose detention appears to the Secretary of State to be expedient in the interests of the public safety or the defence of the realm;
(b) authorise –
(i) the taking of possession or control, on behalf of His Majesty, of any property or undertaking;
(ii) the acquisition, on behalf of His Majesty, of any property other than land;
(c) authorise the entering and searching of any premises; and
(d) provide for amending any enactment, for suspending the operation of any enactment, and for applying any enactment with or without modification.
More than enough power to get the job done, and quite enough to “put a bit of stick about” – if necessary.
* * * * *
WHEN THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION declared a global Covid-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020, it should have been as clear to Jacinda Ardern’s Government as it was to Neville Chamberlain’s when the Non-Aggression Pact was signed, that the state would have to arm itself with virtually unlimited powers if it was to meet the challenges of the coming emergency.
When fighting Covid-19, the last thing Ardern and her ministers needed was the threat of legal pedants and anti-social elements tossing endless spanners into the anti-Covid works. One piece of legislation, before which all other pieces of legislation – The Bill of Rights Act, The Privacy Act, The Employment Relations Act, The Resource Management Act, etc, etc, etc – were required to give way, would be an essential weapon in the war against the virus.
So, why didn’t we get our own version of the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act? Why were Ardern and her ministers so loathe to put a bit of stick about? The “emergency” legislation that was eventually enacted to authorise the measures needed to combat the pandemic failed to confer upon the New Zealand Government the unequivocal authority that subsequent events have shown to be so operationally necessary. It was almost as if Ardern and her colleagues were frightened of wielding power – even when the safety of the people depended upon it.
Why was that?
Part of the answer lies in the Labour Party’s ingrained antipathy to state-wielded “emergency powers” of all kinds. Whether it be the laws that permitted the enrolment of “Special Constables” in the Great Strike of 1913 – the infamous “Massey’s Cossacks”: or, the Public Safety Conservation Act, which was passed by the right-wing Reform-United Coalition Government following the Unemployment Riots of 1932, and used to devastating effect by the First National Government of Sid Holland against the Waterside Workers Union in 1951; Labour was convinced such powers would only ever be deployed against the labour movement. Fuelled by this historical antipathy (and also by the libertarian spirit animating the Rogernomics Revolution) Labour’s Attorney-General, Geoffrey Palmer, repealed the Public Safety Conservation Act in 1987.
In the 34 years since 1987, that libertarian spirit has only grown stronger. Strongly influenced by the neoliberal hatred of any and all manifestations of decisive state intervention, the libertarian instincts of younger New Zealanders cause them to recoil from the very idea of the state “putting a bit of stick about”. (Unless, of course, it’s dealing with the purveyors of “hate speech”, or women who insist that a man cannot become a woman just by saying so, in which case, the more stick the better!) “Jacinda’s” generation doesn’t issue orders, it has “conversations”. Viewed from an anti-authoritarian perspective, this “light-handed” approach is admirable. From a public safety perspective, however, this political refusal to both demand and enforce compliance is extremely dangerous.
How, for example, is the goal of vaccinating 95 percent of the adult population against Covid-19 to be reached if employers are not given the unassailable legal authority to say “No Jab. No Job”? How is the long-awaited Vaccination Certificate to be made effective if legal pedants are free to test the meaning of “mandatory” in the courts? How would London have fared in the Blitz if vexatious litigants had been free to challenge the Blackout Order as an unreasonable infringement of the fundamental human right to let the enemy know exactly where to drop his bombs?
It is the Ardern-led Government’s unwillingness to follow the Ciceronian legal principle of “sulus populi suprema lex esto” – the safety of the people shall be the highest law – that lies at the heart of New Zealand’s rapidly deepening Covid-19 crisis. The generation now in power is, quite simply, politically allergic to adopting the hard-line policies required to rescue both themselves – and the New Zealand people – from disaster. Even when Ms Carrot’s “kindness” is so obviously failing, this Labour Government refuses to reach for Mr Stick.
The wartime analogy is a good one.
Imagine what would have happened to the equivilant of our anti lockdown protestors during a blackout in the middle of a German bombing raid on London.
Cries of- “Staying inside with the lights off is a breach of my freedom” would have been dealt with swiftly.
Deserters, recalcitrants, shirkers and malcontents were considered a threat to the survival of the majority and treated accordingly.
Excepting of course that bombs raining down are a very obvious and visible threat ie can see it with my own eyes where as Covid is more abstract in that you cant see it, very few people have direct experience with it and there are huge amounts of conflicting information about… rather than the blitz its more the war on terror.
Agreed and NO serious writer can mean what Chris has written.
He must be PURELY shit stiring for effect.
If emergency measures were to be introduced they would need to b e appropriate with regard to the threat. Against covid19 I doubt whether blackouts would be considered.
After vaccination Saturday has been and gone, and the numbers getting jabbed continues to slow, coming up against the die hard hold outs, who’ve completely bought into conspiracies. Can the govt decide on a date, before years end, that it will bring in last ditch raft of measures, to nudge up the vaccination rate, before the borders are opened? It could be called covid levy day. When the govt pulls all the levers available to it, so there is a financial penalty to those remaining unvaccinated on principle only, and not for medical reasons. Say for the unvaccinated, a .5% extra tax levy, and a .5% transfers levy on their bank transactions, a 5% reduction in pay to public servants including the whole military, a 5% reduction to anyone receiving any other govt money, such as student allowances, benefits, super, acc, etc. Even then, there will still be hold outs, but the extra money after levy day, can can pay their hospital costs, when they get covid. Why muck around?
This doesn’t sound like the playback to every Left-wing (or even Right-wing) dictatorship in history……not.
If you ask China, they will say exactly the same thing – safety of people is paramount. Democracy is dangerous to the safey, just look at wild America! We need complete surveillance, secret police, censorship, Uyghurs Muslim in camps (they’re all potential terrorists!).
There is no right to zero or very low health risk, absolutely none. People do things thay may endanger me every day, including criminals. We live in a democracy, not a healthocracy. This is not the Blitz – 99% of people survive Covid and only 0.06% of the World population has died due to it – 3% of world population died during WW2.
And by the way – that vaccine, good yeah (I got it) but it wanes and only partially reduces transmission. Its not perfect and just one part of the parcel. Finland stopped using Moderna for under 30 males due to heart inflammation issues. Israel, amongst others, vaccinated early and high, but is facing significant problems now. It’s thinking of a 4th jab! Is this it? Stop independent thought and hold out your arm forever if you want any freedom? Sounds like North Korea, without exaggeration.
The Left is having is a mental meltdown. This Govt sat on their ego, did nothing on hospital capacity, treatment, rapid home testing, or building society’s resliance to the inevitability of Covid.
Instead, it prefers we demonise the unvaccinated for its failures and grows ever-more desperate to portray anybody without is extreme views as death-cult capitalists. I wonder who/what human rights will be placed next on the mob-pyre for burning?
Agree completely – in just eight months of attacks by Germany during the blitz about 43,000 civilians were killed. Slightly different numbers and level of threat
This is becoming a pattern, Yeti. Just about every time there is a right-wing rant, you agree with it completely I think James’s opinions are just that.
Biased opinions.
Hello In Vino, just checking that views that don’t conform to accepted left wing narrative are allowed? It would be a great shame if this blog which many enjoy became an echo chamber.
I don’t always agree with everything written here however I always try to understand an alternative perspective and challenge myself to learn from it.
There are as many different opinions in this world as there are people and as far as I know, no one is correct all the time, rather it’s through debate and the contest of ideas that we learn
Views are allowed, but should be seen as opinions rather than divinely inspired, that is all.
Yeti I agree with you.I have been along time user of KIwiblog where their hypocrisy is overwhelming .They believe in free speech until it does not accord with their opinion and so they sort of cancel you.And nek minut bewailing the advent of cancel culture .Sheesh.Lefties are subject to scurrilous attack and then their robust replies are constantly moderated out.Go there very infrequently now ,they are becoming as censorious as the fat slug slater.
I’m surprised John’s not at Kiwiblog agreeing with everyone.
I’ll take the chance that the vaccine may protect me rather than the chance of not taking it and whether I may die. Israel and Finland examples you give show minimal side effects yet still promote vaccinations as the best method in minimizing covid effects, thus your information is skewered. As an aside what criminals endanger you everyday?
James, I agree with you.
Alexandra
“The Left is having is a mental meltdown.”
Are you kidding – who is in the media having a meltdown every day?
muh rights, muh freedoms, muh business, muh independant thought, muh being sidelined and irrelevant, muh demons.
By Nick Spurr: Nurse
To all my conscious objector friends & family, I love you & appreciate your right to choose not to become vaccinated, but here’s the thing;
I’m vaccinated and, no, I don’t know what’s in it – neither this vaccine, the ones I had as a child and adult, nor in the hamburger I ate at the weekend or in vegan hot dogs or vegetarian sushi, or in other treatments. Whether it’s for cancer, AIDS or vaccines for infants or children. I also don’t know what’s in other over-counter-medications, it just cures my ailments..
I don’t know what’s in the ink for tattoos, vaping, or every ingredient in my soap or shampoo or even deodorants. I don’t know the long term effect of mobile phone use or whether or not that restaurant I just ate at used clean foods and washed their hands. I also don’t know how much deadly asbestos is in the buildings I visit.
In short …
There’s a lot of things I don’t know and never will.
I just know one thing: life is very short, and I still want to do something other than just going to work every day or having others in our community and country locked in their homes. I still want to travel.
As a child and as an adult I’ve been vaccinated for mumps, measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, smallpox, polio, chicken pox, tetanus, influenza, pneumonia and quite a few others. My parents and I trusted the science.
I’m vaccinated, not to please the government but:
* To not die or become ill from Covid-19.
* To not clutter a hospital bed if I get sick.
* To live my life.
* To help my community and country get back to normal.
* For Covid-19 to be an old memory, as it will be eventually.
* To protect us all – esp the elderly and those with cancer
https://www.facebook.com/100000182230713/posts/4910179202331439/?app=fbl
Pragman, I have read all the posts, the good, the bad and the ugly. I’ve read the stupid, the uneducated, the I’ll informed, the selected Google sites to fit ones agenda.
Nick Spurrs explanation should be a thesis for all in sundry and I’d add even posting here can be hazardous to your health.
Congrats to Nick for the most accurate and Human of all covid comments and thank you Pragman for sharing.
The first people the government should use ‘the stick’ against are the big Aussie owned banks that take $3.5 billion out of our economy every year.
To share the hardship of lockdown fairly, a government ordered mandatory nation wide Moratorium on all rents and mortgages so that the population can ride out another hard level 4 lockdown and eliminate the virus.
The New Zealand government eliminated the virus in 2020 with a Level 4 Lockdown. We can do it again.
The New Zealand government imposed a mortgage moratorium in 1914, to help the population overcome the hardship of the First World War. We can do it again.
The New Zealand government imposed a mortgage and rent moratorium in 1931, to help the population overcome the hardship of the Great Depression. We can do it again.
After all, it is not like the banks can’t afford it.
And the beauty is, it won’t cost the taxpayers a cent.
What? The same big 4 they used to “pump and dump” our economy over the past 18 months by housing debt fueled one-off consumption. Don’t blame the players if the Ref allows them to get away with foul play
And Frankie the same Ref whom had the chance to stop the 501′ s from entering our country 10 years ago, given how they now appear to be super spreaders. You know this Refs name. If the snakes head was cut off then there would be no tail.
100% agree Bertie. You have no disagreement from me. I would have given them the Darryl Kerrigan treatment.
Moreover though:
1). They are NZ citizen by birth right; ergo
2). Deb Manning, Special K (Davis) and co would have been wailing from the bleachers about human rights
3). We would have been in violation of various UN treaties; and finally
4). Key or whoever would have caved in once the media ‘pile-on’ began
Let’s face it outside of Peters we have or had no politicians that would have told the Australians “fuck off” and then belligerently refused to buckle.
Very true Frankie, very true.
The psychology and philosophy underlying neo liberalism are strongly individualist to the detriment of collectivism–nearly every area of life since 1984 has demonstrated this to be so.
“Me-me–me, did I mention ME”? was the official monetarist tagline long before the appearance of the widely mocked Karens of social media. It is thousands of “me’s” that have driven 18 months of whinging about every aspect of COVID response, that pressured the creation of a second tier middle class unemployment benefit, that still somehow sees international and regional travel as a right…
Chris is correct that there are historical factors behind NZ Labour’s general antipathy to authoritarianism–despite what its right wing critics often say. Both Labour and National were happy to wield the stick against vulnerable New Zealanders though. The ’91 Richardson MOAB (Mother of all budgets) that cemented in the underclass that remains with us to this day, and Helen Clark’s “Jobs Jolt” that continued the demonisation and othering of beneficiaries.
In 2021 we need collectivism to rise and rule again if there is to be any hope of not letting COVID Delta rip through this country. A lot of people across party divides are quietly getting on with obeying the rules and getting vaccinated despite what the media channels say–how else do 70% support polls emerge still supporting action on COVID rather than admitting defeat?
Those UK emergency government (state) powers came with the coalition of the Conservative and Labour parties headed by Churchill in control.
“The cabinet changed in size and membership as the war progressed but there were significant additions later in 1940 when it was increased to eight after Churchill, Attlee and Greenwood were joined by Ernest Bevin as Minister of Labour and National Service; Anthony Eden as Foreign Secretary ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_war_ministry
Before such war footing emergency powers can be enacted I would suggest that a coalition of Aall four parties currently in government would need to be struck.
No way should should those powers be enacted with Labour solely in charge. That is not how to carry the people with you and to be beholden upon the state imposed restrictions.
An excellent point, Gerrit. What’s more, I agree with you. If Delta looks like getting away, Ardern should offer membership in a Grand Anti-Covid Coalition to all the parties in Parliament.
Do that and you guarantee Peters 20% and Bishop Brian +5% in 2023. Is that the type of Italian parliament you would want. I fucking don’t.
Public sentiment is changing as it has in large sections of Europe and North America. The virus has a mortality rate of less than 1% with vaccinated people. The vaccine was sold as a ticket back to normality – if you re-arrange the deckchairs on this implicit pledge you risk election annihilation.
Even in the Shire.
I have been arguing for a war footing and emergency coalition govt to tamp down the stupid shit coming from ACT/Nats which has fuelled the border breaches.
It’s simple Chris. They want to win the next election. A police state even in Smug Hermit Kingdom is political cyanide.
Chris
May I remind you of the last praetorian guard: RED SQUAD
Rule of law soon becomes, rule of police.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300354219/i-went-from-being-revered-to-being-reviled-during-1981-springbok-tour-says-police-red-squads-ross-meurant
Been there; done that.
I’m no fan of Jacinda but she and Coster have got the mix right.
Maybe that UK war cabinet had something that New Zealand cabinets all lack. Low numbers to concentrate on the important issues and without the distortions and distractions from the twitter of more members.
Decision making is direct and quick.
UK at war 8 member cabinet. Population 47 million (1939)
New Zealand at peace 20 member cabinet. Population 5 million (2021)
No wonder no decisions are ever made. Too many voices, too many barrows to push, too much appeasement to various factions, too much room for incompetence to hide.
How can the Gov’t swing the big stick against the dissenting public when half of their own mob are constantly undermining everything the Gov’t is doing to battle the Covid virus?. Did this happen in the war? If so what was done to stop opposition politicians from sabotaging the war effort. What do the dissenters think of this?
Our frontline politicians on TV every night relentlessly opposing everything just for the hell of it. It’s old school confrontational politics and it needs to stop while this virus is loose. Extremely counter productive to our current war effort. Muzzle the fucking lot of them and we might get somewhere.
Mr stick well you know what you can do with that stick Mr Trotter. I see a Mr stick approach to such an issue as acting more like Mr thick. And if you want to use a stick like how many of our elderly Maori got the stick for speaking our language (literally beaten out of them) you will see civil unrest and vigilantism. Better to be Mr carrot.
Covid is pa. How many Maori do you know who were whacked for speaking Maori, and how much of this is myth ? I personally talked with two Hawkes Bay Native Schools teachers who said it never happened on their watch. Doubtless it did happen, but by and large Maori wanted their children to learn English, and donated land for school, hospital and church purposes. I think the first appeal to the Privy Council in London, was for the non-correct return of such land.
Dragging it all up now and demanding the Crown apologise, is more trouble making divisive activism . The Catholic school girls whacked by nuns for not knowing their French vocab, or being seen talking to a boy in school uniform, aren’t running around demanding apologies, nor are the boys done for wagging school. . There’s no point, stuff happens.
But dragging up ‘ sticks’ now to justify the behaviour of today’s malcontents putting the rest of the community in New Zealand at risk, and threatening civil unrest, serves no useful purpose whatsoever, and I’m not sure what your threat of vigilantism, entails, or even means, and using the Treaty to justify this is another false equivalence, and legal hogwash.
Covid is Pa: thank you honey, for your frankness and sharing. It warms my heart. Having beers now so prob a dumb comment from me. Cheers, Covid is Pa 🙂
Good points about Neoliberalism and the me-me-me society it fosters along with populism being major hindrances to improving society let alone controlling a pandemic. And I agree that collectivism and dare I say socialism, are key to progress.
Of course there are those who equate socialism with totalitarian states or communism. Why is criticism of the current type of Capitalism always met with Red Peril fear cries? Surely we are more intelligent than to fall into these same old reactions.
We need a government that will not allow capitalism to trump people. That doesn’t mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater as some would have it. I suggest these Red Peril criers are propogandists of neoliberalism as they have a vested interest. They try to make out that more state ownership of services is setting us on a road to communism. This is a fear tactic and is patently, rubbish. There are plenty of examples of highly functional socialist democracies working hand-in-hand with capitalism. NZ was once included in this group.
I suggest that the logical conclusion of neoliberalism and libertarianism would be a world where there are only private hospitals, schools and roads. It would be dominated by brats riding rough-shod over poor people’s shacks in their humvees saying “Who put that in my way?”
The basis of socialism is that the means of production are owned by proletariat which in reality means by state governed by a strong political party that has the power over all. Unlike you ( I suppose), I lived in the socialist state, Czechoslovakia, and though we were not living in such a misery as people in the Soviet Union I can tell you that this is not the way. The system itself undermines all initiative, responsibility for your own decisions and for your life. And the ideal of equality or even equity is just an illusion. There were top communists who had bank accounts in Switzerland and were millionaires etc. Socialism means dictatorship, like it or not. The state caring about all aspects of your life means loss of freedom that you appreciate fully only when you have lived without it.
Alexandra Corbett Dekanova
I understand. This was not a socialist democracy enabling free enterprise which I obviously didn’t make clear in my commentary. I am referring to what NZ once was along with scandanavian countries and much of western Europe.
The core of socialism is that the means of production are owned by proletariat which in reality means by state represented by government of one very powerful politival party. The party has to have power over all spheres of economy and human lives otherwise the system won’ t work. It means that socialism is always a dictatorship, like it or not. By the way Marc called it the dictatorship of proletariat. I lived in a socialist country, Czechoslovakia, and though we were not living in such a misery as people in the Soviet Union, it was nonetheless a misery. Socialism, when the government cares about every sphere of your life, robbes people of all theit initiative and responsibility for their decisions and life choices and of their freedom which you evidently appreciate only after you had to live without it.
The equity/equality in socialism is just an illusion. There were top party people who had their bank account in Switzerland and were millionairs, while all the others were crushed by low income and shortage of basic goods.
Have a look at Soviet Story on You tube, that is the true portrait of socialism.
“How, for example, is the goal of vaccinating 95 percent of the adult population against Covid-19 to be reached if employers are not given the unassailable legal authority to say “No Jab. No Job”? How is the long-awaited Vaccination Certificate to be made effective if legal pedants are free to test the meaning of “mandatory” in the courts?”
How the hell is it the responsibility of employers to mandate vaccination. If the government considers it necesary that all workers are jabbed why is it necessary to make employers the middlemen. the only possible rationalisation is to transfer liability for the inevitable side efects of the vaccine onto employers instead of the state that would be the ultimate enforcer anyway.
The comparison trying to equate the danger of covid with the imminent threat of war with Germany is ridiculous.
D J S
Words of wisdom
God save New Zealand from Ms. Stick in the hands of this incompetent government. They clearly showed by their deeds that salus populi is not their suprema lex. The first thing they did after having been elected the second time was to declare Climate Emergency instead of Health Emergency though they knew very well the miserable state of our Health system and that we were in the midddle of the pandemia. They wasted heaps of money on plans and projects that have the only goals to centralize the power and to please the UN. Now they want to blame people who hesitate to be vaccinated by an experimental vaccine (mind you I have had two doses) for their own failures concerning MIQ, insufficient capacity of hospitals nad ICUs, shortage of doctors, nurses, late onset of vaccination process, no prevention, no early easily accessible and effective treatment etc. It is shame that people terrorized by fear start to yield to division into vaccinated and unvaccinated. The only honest thing this government can do is to resign.
Alexandra Corbett Dekanova
So…what do you suggest as a solution?
Personally I am for more carrot less stick.
I would really enjoy the next lockdown if I didn’t have to pay rent, and I would enjoy it even more, if at the end of it we again eliminated the virus and again became the envy of the world.
When it comes to mandates for vaccination. Again I am more for the softly softly approach than whacking people with a stick.
How different it was when we were children. My childhood recollection of being immunised, was of a no-nonsense operation; The school ordered all the children of Orakei Primary, where I attended, out of the classroom and into the playground and formed us into queues to line up for our shots, no ifs, buts, or maybes. For a few short minutes we stood around admiring each others’ welts on on our upper arm, before being ordered straight back to class.
Nobody asked our permission. I doubt our parents were even asked.
Different times. The War was not long over. We got a free milk in a glass bottle delivered to our school gate and drank it through a paper straw.
We did military drills in the playground in the morning before the start of school.
Teachers were allowed to physically beat us with a cane or ruler if we infringed even by the slightest school rules. I can never forget once when one young Maori boy in my class being whipped so viciously with the cane that the teacher broke the skin and drew blood in several places. The cuts were so deep and bloody that I am sure he still has the scars today.
Different times.
These days teachers and politicians have to lead more by example and persuasion, and less by force.
Prime MInister Ardern went before the cameras to get her jab. If the pfizer vaccine is approved for over 5s. An even more dramatic demonstration of the seriousness of the pandemic could be a video of the Prime Minister’s daughter getting the jab,with her loving parents beside her.
In the age old contest between authoritarianism and democracy, now being played out against the background of the pandemic. It is my opinion that, over the long run, leading by example and democracy and logical argument and persuasion, less stick and more carrot, will prove to be less divisive and more effective than ruling by decree and authoritarianism and use of force.
If there is any stick to be used, that it be used against those at the top of society not those at the bottom.
Let’s kill this virus off.
Full lockdown, with full mortgage and rent moratorium. Let the Billionaire Banksters carry some of the costs of lockdown.
I am all for wielding a stick against this lot.
What you will find Chris is that the government will be keener to use the stick on common people than on the banksters.
Because where mortgage and rent moratoriums were done in the past. Beginning in 1984 New Zealand has had 47 years of neo-liberal orthodoxy drilled into us that the markets can not be interferred with. It is almost a supersicious dread that a lightening bolt will strike down any government from the heavens if they took any form of legislation to restrict the fiinancial markets or banks in any way.
Agree Pat. Ms Carrot’s our best chance. And Stick it to the banks et al
The intimidating photo at the head of this post of black clad booted thugs with long batons should be a warning to us.
We all know where the blows will fall hardest, just like we knew at school. The Maori kids, the migrants with the funny accents, the poorest kids in the tattiest clothes.
In the 80’s during the protests against racism when the mostly Maori and Pacifica gangs joined and reinforced the pickets against racist rugby, we all witnessed where the baton blows were falling hardest.
We are seeing a bit of that now. Where the gangs and rough sleepers are being demonised and scape goated for the uncontained spread of the virus.
Lockdowns are a bit like vaccination, if enough people do it, it confers herd immunity on the few that don’t.
The first victim of war is truth.
What all those trying to pin the failure to contain the virus on gangs can’t or don’t want to aknowledge is that despite the activities of the gangs and the minority of rule breakers, before it was lifted the Level 4 Lockdown was crushing the spread of the virus.
There are lots of quotes by the health officials and even the Prime Minister acknowledging that the Level 4 Lockdown was eliminating the virus, even right up to the point where it was lifted early, unfortunately though it was working to crush the virus Delta needed more time than earlier versions. Time it wasn’t given. The government lost their nerve under the unrelenting pressure from the financiers and rentier class and their political representatives in parliament and the media.
It is these people who should be feeling the stick for the failure to hold the line against the virus. Not those on the bottom of society.
The generation now in power is politically allergic to adopting the hard-line policies because they know how the population will react.
The government is a fascist dictatorship if it suggests masks be worn in public. The audience thinking like that is the one which has a report the Government has in its hands, He Puapua, as the recipe for apartheid.
Hard-line policies? How would they be received by the cretins who’ll support the upcoming Destiny Church promoted rallies?
The Government is afraid of the total power of the sticks wielded by others. If it wasn’t, there would have been some form of Capital Gains Tax by now.
What a joke! Labour hated the Public Safety Conservation Act so much they kept it on the books all the way through their first, second and third terms in government! How about the meat workers and the miners during WW2 Chris? The carpenters in 1949? The Strike and Lockout Emergency Regulations introduced in 1939 weren’t repealed till 1949.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19420324.2.77?end_date=31-12-1945&items_per_page=10&page=10&query=westfield+meat+workers+strike&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA&start_date=01-01-1939
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19420407.2.41?end_date=31-12-1945&items_per_page=10&page=11&query=westfield+meat+workers+strike&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA&start_date=01-01-1939
No disputing the facts, Malcolm. In its last term, the First Labour Government became increasingly authoritarian.
The Government’s reaction to Carpenters Union strike in Auckland was the most egregious example of the Party’s rightward shift in relation to the trade union movement. But the most significant change was Peter Fraser’s introduction of peace-time conscription – also known as Compulsory Military Training. It was passed in a shamefully manipulated referendum (opponents denied access to public and private mass media).
Promoted by a leader who had been jailed for opposing conscription in World War I, CMT caused deep and lasting divisions in the Labour Party – and thousands of defections from it.
People keep making a weird argument that mandatory vaxes would be a betrayal to labours core ideals. Bullshit.
Labour was founded to represent workers and the collective over the excesses of the individual. Which they sold out but still
Left wing Collectivist ideology would be to make employers mandate all their employees and customers be vaccinated. Unions would be no jab no job. Your individual right to be an idiot doesn’t overrule the rights of your coworkers not to be put at risk by an individual. You have the right to be Unvaxxed but not to risk the health and livelihoods of your coworkers and colleagues.
They should allow employers to mandate all staff be vaccinated and be able to fire you if you’re not. It’s more helpful than the 90 day rule.
I’d go further. No vax no state help. No vax ? No dole. No vax no subsidized medicine from pharmac and you can go to Brian Tamaki or a crystal shop if you need healthcare since you don’t believe in science.
My friends in hospo, factories, education, health , building, public transport all have to be vaccinated. Why should they have to be vaccinated for a job but I don’t have to be vaccinated to claim a benefit….
You don’t wanna do your part for our country? Fine our country doesn’t have to fulfill our part of the social contract either and you don’t get to partake in our countries tax funded services, you don’t believe in the social safety net either cos your an individualist whose about themselves so you don’t get to benefit from the work of the collective
Other countries do it and I’ll tell ya what cutting govt payments and entitlements would get far more vax hesitant people vaxed than a national day of action.
As for the rich anti vaxers, no vax no job. No vax no festival, no vax no bar, no vax no church no vax no travel no vax no golf club, no vax no regional travel
And regardless of whether they do the no vax no job no vax no pay the second companies can they will be requiring all customers who enter their business be vaccinated or they won’t be allowed in, companies wanna do it now. They don’t wanna risk bad publicity from being a location of interest or risk being closed or their staff getting sick so the unvaccinated will be doing their groceries at dairys and servos or by delivery cos they won’t be going anywhere even if they have money.
There’s no left wing justification for not getting vaccinated, it’s individualist right wing libertarianism.
Any unionists that are advocating a pro choice policy and defending anti vax employees are doing a disserve to that workers coworkers who deserve to be safe and are a disgrace to the union movement.
And I genuinely believe if you think your individual rights trump the rights of the collective then you don’t deserve to join in any of the spoils of the collective.
Well said Cory Humm. Only the organised working class can administer public safety and conservation.
Can you give us some examples from the history of the world that it really works?
The working class and generally all classes of society have been thriving best under Western Capitalistic Democracies.
Collectivism suffocates freedom and believe me, without freedom you do not live, you just hibernate at the best.
One of my relatives refused to give up his field to the local collective cooperative farm, he had to hide but once he dared to go to a pub, was arrested and nobody saw him again.
My friend’s grandfather owned a small village shop and when he refused to give it up to the collective he was sent to uranium mines, returned after 7 years just to die.
This is a true picture of collectivism. Once introduced as a leading principle with power, it swallows everything.
Alexandra.
When it comes to “swallowing everything” the worlds richest 26 individual capitalist money bags own as much wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion (poorest 50%) of the world population.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/21/world-26-richest-people-own-as-much-as-poorest-50-per-cent-oxfam-report
Yes, it is not fair and I don’t like it as much as you. But you must accept that people are not perfect and that is why no political system can be perfect. When you look at the history of the world it was the same all the time with rich monarchs, emperors, noble men… When socialism was introduced in Czechoslovakia, all capital came into the hands of “proletariat” as we were told but actually there grew new rich elite of top party members who were millionairs.
What I say is that the Western Capitalist Democracies represent the best possible system under which all people can thrive and enjoy freedom while socialism with state owned all means of production inevitably brings about dictatorship.
So let me guess…you’re all for the stick
This is authoritarian puritianism. What do you think are the secondary consequences of the policy you advocate. How will the newly jobless and those denied public services respond, how will the authorities respond to that?
If the gate keepers of your orthodoxy get these exclusionary policies enacted, will they declare victory and go home or will they find new anti-collectivist elements to root out in a righteous purity spiral. The drinkers, the smokers, the obese, those who don’t do 10,000 steps a day.
It’s a hard pitch to the sweet spot of vaccine hesitancy (anti-vaxx won’t be convinced), some cures are definitely worse than the disease.
Looking at the US, UK and Victoria I think the government here is doing a decent job spinning many plates beyond just vaccine uptake percentages.
In case I need to clarify by
“some cures are definitely worse than the disease.”
I mean metaphorically, so policy choices such as that advocated by Corey not actual vaccination.
Corey and Tui both raise solid points and seem indicative of the dichotomy that is carrot vs stick. Go hard gently but hold the line? The virus is the enemy. We must help eachother through this pandemic. There will be pain, there’s no getting around that unfortunately. But there will be light at the end of the long tunnel. Hang in there and do what you can to assist others, gently. We’re fucken KIWI’s, you betcha we’ll get through this! The paradigm is shifting.
Corey Humm as a Medicines healthcare campaigner I BACK every damn word you say.
There is to MUCH of this INDIVIDUALS RIGHTS overrule the COMMUNITIES greater rights talk .
It may be your decision to not take the vax but IT IS NOT YOUR RIGHT to threaten anyone else’s health when you make that decision. UNLESS YOU HAVE MEDICAL REASONS FOR REFUSING.
Considering all this anti vax anti authority crap originates from 12 USA individuals who have been pushing it for decades. Not only that of the 20 so called Christian websites in the USA 19 OF THEM ARE CREATED FROM EASTERN EUROPEAN TROLL FARM specifically to destabilise the USA.
SO Not only have those 12 individuals and the 19 troll farms destabilised the USA, they have destabilised the whole damn planet in my opinion. So Billy Tk, Brian Tamaki , Sue Grey and the outdoors party gang and their look alikes are riding the same bullshit anti vax anti authority crap from the same sources.
Boy have those troll farms succeeded far beyond Putin’s wildest dreams.
Your argument is based on the premise that the vaccine works perfectly which we all know it does not. A vaccinated person can also catch and transmit the virus, the only difference is that he/she has better chance not to get hospitalised and die of covid. Instead of concentrating only on two ways how to cope with the virus: lockdowns or vaccination, we should use everything we possibly can: build a special MIQ, build special hospital units for Covid patients, invite doctors and nurses from abroad and pay them well (and our doctors and nurses, too) buy all accessible medicines for treatment including Ivermectin, propagate prevention like vitamin C, D, zinc, enough sleep, being outside etc. These things work for overall health not only against Covid. By the way, why we do not see on TV1 and 3 the debates of researchers and clinical doctors from around the world who work with patients and with the virus and with medicines and vaccines so that we can learn firsthand about their experiences? There are very good on You tube that can persuade some hesitant people.
To blame the people for Governement’s failures and to divide them into vaccinated and unvaccinated is just a shame. And we also need true information about what is happening around the world, how deadly the Delta variant actually is, how dangerous the vaccines are and for whom specifically. What are the options for treatment, is there anything people can do immediately after being tested positive or feeling the symptoms to avoid hospitals? There are answers, why we do not know them and do not talk about them instead of hunting people to get vaccinated.
Alexandra
Well, what we do know is that being unvaccinated doesn’t work, the last 100 years tells us that, geez! Enough of drinking the Koolaid!
Bert, there are various kinds of viruses and various kinds of vaccines. E. g. Polio or Tetanus vaccine cannot be compared with the vaccines against Covid which have restricted efficacy and their power wanes quite quickly. That is why it is important to have more weapons than just vaccines or lockdowns.
Alexandra
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/covid-19-delta-outbreak-us-doctors-grow-frustrated-over-virus-denial-misinformation/NOOQTQJCJHGXBX4ERD4TA37KF4/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-90-project-10-of-the-biggest-vaccine-myths-debunked/J3GAVRTRTG2KH3RC5GLGTULAIA/
This guy tells of his experience…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-damaged-his-heart-19-months-later-this-new-zealander-is-still-struggling/JSYIA63W2ZBY2CWXWEXGS73NR4/
I took a while to decide to get the jab because of the reasons Alexandra made above. Some of us do need answers and we deserve to be correctly informed on main stream media. Simply bleeting repeatedly that it’s safe get it done now etc will simply never convince those we need to convince to get jabbed. Distrusting “authority” is real when one has been violated by authority. Sharing real data on MSM is one very real way to convince some, so yes, it should be shared.
In March 2020 we had 358 ICU beds, in August 2021 we had 284, which makes 4,6 for every 100,000 people. Australia has 8,9, Germany 38,4. We need about 100 nurses for ICU beds that we have. In September there were about 37,000 surgeries, procedures, assessments in hospitals cancelled because of Covid. And This Government had not done anything to improve the system for 18 months. So who is to be blamed? The people who don’t want to be vaccinated or the Government?
Alexandra
And… Would an extension of not being able to ‘join in any of the spoils of the collective.’ mean being able to keep all money earned, ie not having to pay any tax at all, gst, petrol tax, rates, acc, car rego, maybe even getting a discount of the tax amount in everything that costs more because of the cost of petrol…
Some might take that deal.
Not me, too anarchistic. But plenty would consider it I think.
“How, for example, is the goal of vaccinating 95 percent of the adult population against Covid-19 to be reached if employers are not given the unassailable legal authority to say “No Jab. No Job”? How is the long-awaited Vaccination Certificate to be made effective if legal pedants are free to test the meaning of “mandatory” in the courts?”
How the hell is it the responsibility of employers to mandate vaccination. If the government considers it necesary that all workers are jabbed why is it necessary to make employers the middlemen. the only possible rationalisation is to transfer liability for the inevitable side efects of the vaccine onto employers instead of the state that would be the ultimate enforcer anyway.
The comparison trying to equate the danger of covid with the imminent threat of war with Germany is ridiculous.
D J S
8/10 Latest on Covid I have seen.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/453204/covid-19-summary-northland-to-move-to-level-3-44-new-community-cases-reported
Community case numbers jumped to 44 today, while the government announced Northland would move to alert level 3 after a person who travelled throughout the region tested positive.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC2110/S00020/delta-spreads-beyond-level-3-border-expert-reaction.htm
Two new Covid cases are reported today from outside Waikato’s Alert Level 3 boundary – in areas currently under level 2 rules.
The two infected people are in Kāwhia and Karāpiro – located respectively south of Raglan, and near Cambridge. No change to alert levels has yet been signalled, as Waikato public health officials have confirmed that all nine of the region’s cases to date are linked. One death from Covid-19 was also reported, along with news that a person had visited Waikato Hospital while likely infectious.
Good advice.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC2110/S00020/delta-spreads-beyond-level-3-border-expert-reaction.htm
Dr Nitasha Rimar, endocrinologist and physician, Northland, comments:
“Unfortunately this respiratory virus is highly infectious and will continue to spread aggressively. We can, however, limit that spread by proactively tightening boundaries (especially to regions such as Northland, which has amongst the lowest vaccination rate, and limited ICU beds), and universally masking our entire population in all indoor settings as we continue to boost our vaccination numbers. Proactively, rather than reactively, altering our approach will restrict the virus from flourishing in our vulnerable communities.
“Though the Pfizer vaccine is very good at preventing hospitalisation and death, individuals only gain immunity approximately two weeks after the second dose, and it has only 30 per cent efficacy after the first dose. That leaves more than half the country unprotected as only 42 per cent of the total population is fully vaccinated at this time. Furthermore, vaccinated individuals can still become infected and transmit the virus, and the majority of those who transmit the virus do not elicit symptoms. This underscores the need for universal masking.
“Public education is going to be absolutely vital to combatting misinformation and preventing unnecessary loss of life. Perhaps consideration for integrating nationally-known figures, such as sports celebrities or community leaders at daily press conferences, could bolster scientific fact-based knowledge sharing.
The idea of getting vaccinated is a source of great consternation for me.
I was booked in to get vaccinated on Monday, but subsequently cancelled. I’ve literally had panic attacks for 3 days straight and it’s been awful.
This opinion piece by Chris Trotter is not helpful to me, quite the opposite. From my perspective I find this article to be rather frightening.
I want to make good decisions, decisions I feel confident about. Please be respectful.
I’m finding these two videos positive and helpful [atm]:
https://youtu.be/oh2Sj_QpZOA
https://youtu.be/nW0eMN_Flrw
Hi Zack, I empathise with your struggle. My respected family member is a staunch anti vaxxer who truly believes we are in the biblical end of days. I struggled to decide on vaccination for myself. In the end I was more afraid of the virus than the jab and got it last week. My family member believes I have committed suicide in doing so that will be actioned a year or two from now. I just feel relieved and am counting the days to my second jab. With all the opposing propaganda and fear I also was super anxious waiting at Vax clinic and told nurse I’ve changed my mind. She said, are you sure? And I said no, let’s just get it done. My family member hasn’t spoken to me since. This virus and the fear is devisive. In the end I just had to rely on my own decision making skills and I took the risk. You can too. Take someone supportive with you next time you’re booked for the jab. Let the staff know you are anxious, they’re used to that and are completely lovely and professional. You will be relieved. I’m not scared of the Vax anymore. I hope others will follow suite asap. Let’s get to Xmas at least, we can worry about next year soon enough. Fyi I have heart lung smoker issues so catching delta is a real concern for me. We take our chances one way or the other and what will be will be
It depends what form Mr. Stick takes. The photo doesn’t inspire confidence. Could you elaborate please?
For a hundred years we the left have been opposing harsh USA sanctions and war, and now that Jacinda is in power, she must follow those examples – that’s not a law of nature, that is a decision to be subordinate to powerful captains of industry and we don’t even have a choice.
One of the harsh it decisions
One of the harsh decisions that has to be made is to always maximize the pain generated by covid19 and to constantly tighten control which is designed to make people suffer but that is the nature of power in and of itself.
You utter fucking scumbag. I expect you will come to regret this piece. It is likely to see you on trial and get the due penalty.
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