Parliament Protest Meltdown – Winners & Losers

1. Democracy, and once again our beautiful children, came under assault last week, led by Trevor Mallard, but we all lose out whenever we damage kids – an evil where we’re world leaders and big hypocrites.

   No one should have the power to launch a mindless onslaught against the people like Mallard did. Governments have been chipping away at our freedoms like ferrets, but some sort of inquiry is needed into how one idiot can cause so much damage, and we can expect nothing from the brainwashed media. It’s sickening that it was media up there on the balcony with Trevor looking down upon the people and he has to stop dragging us down to his level.

   • Geez Louise, calm down, he turned sprinklers on and played Barry Manilow. Comrade Stalin he is not!

     • If you think that it’s ok to turn sprinklers on the way he did then you’re just as bad.
       And Stalin would have had a tradition of glorious Russian music to call upon, but New Zealand politicians are pop star groupies – Ardern baked scones for Ed Sheerhan and got photographed with DJ’s – PM English went to Auckland just to see Adele – they all need to grow up.

       • Absolutely Snow White.

         Mallard is venal and pathetic.

         Anger as Bomber says has always been a major problem for him.

       • Adele’s an Adult Human Female!

     • Agreed. Hell when Muldoon was PM he brought in the riot squad who didnt hesitate to beat the crap out of us!

     • I’m pro-protest but those two Mallard moves – pretty canny. Especially in this age where protests have been met with extreme prejudice throughout the world, none more so than our near neighbour Australia.

   • @ Snow White … While I don’t agree with what Mallard did, because I consider it childish, he did use a soft option thank goodness. The situation could have been a lot worse, such as police using water canons, tasers or tear gas on the protesters.

     As for the children’s presence at the protest … why are they there in the first place? A scenario such as this is no place for a child. Where is the parent’s common sense and responsibility?

     • There you have it.
       Common sense and responsibility are nowhere to be seen at this protest.

   • In no way could a reasonable person condone the actions of the Speaker of the House. Otherwise Snow White, what a load of emotive BS!pdrobably No caring parent would expose “our beautiful children” to the protest in the first place. The kids were/are in an environment that includes aggressive and hostile people whose views and language are not too ‘beautiful’ – not to mention being in a place that is of necessity being policed. In this, they are probably having any respect for their potential protectors undermined. Who would continue to expose their children to an unsanitary environment where trench foot and eye infections are already established, even if they are not being exposed to raw faeces as has been reported (Covid as well??). One might also have concerns about the quality and quantity of food they are consuming as it would seem the usual catering requirements and health inspection are absent. If you think that is less concerning than Mallard’s antics it is suggested you have a serious re-think.

     • aom. What I think is irrelevant, got it ?

       What is relevant is that parents/ carers decided to expose littlies to circumstances well beyond their comprehension, and not conducive to their well being.

       From that moment on, the adult calling the shots on site, Trevor Mallard had a moral responsibility towards those children, and he failed them.

       What’s more he was dumb enough to play right into the carers’ hands and let them further victimise children, keeping them in the front line, and bewailing , “ Think of the children,” just as Ardern did today, a couple of days too late.

       Children are beautiful, they are our most precious taonga and they are our future, but not everybody thinks that way – their choice – but pity the children.

       When Mallard commanded the sprinklers be turned on, dismayed senior police tried to get them turned off and Mallard said that he could do what he liked on his patch. It’s up to Mallard to explain himself here – he’s a big boy – in a manner of speaking.

       The winner must surely be the naked girl who covered herself in coconut oil, leaving the coppers to drag her by her dreadlocks and thus portray themselves as perverted coppers dragging a defenceless naked woman by her hair. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she isn’t the first slippery woman to use her body to set others up – her choice,and it’s up to her to explain herself too, but she didn’t appear to be a shrinking pua.

2. No one deared to believe the entire world would flip upside down. That a pandemic would completely do in capitalism. The response being, there is no alternative to capitalism. I’m just lmfao. What’s your definition of money you plebs?

   • Money = common unit of exchange of all things.

     • How much for your woman and children?

3. A bus-load of intellectually handicapped children?

   So is that all the protesters or just those who’ve been kidnapped by the crazies? Or the Tamaki mob? Or those trouble seekers who want to take over the country and install themselves or the ‘right people’ as the leaders of the country?

4. Meanwhile the District Police Commanders has publicly condemned Mallard’s nasty moves against the protesters saying it’s made things worse. How embarrassing for the government!

   Of course this can easily be resolved – end vaccine mandates and put a date on the ending of masking requirements. Surely everyone has at long last realized it’s all bullshit?

   • This rabble speak for a few malcontents and they are beating a drum on many claims so just ending mandates will not satisfy some . Even professional protestors like John Minto say they are wrong in their approach.
     Move the vehicles with forklifts and us water cannon on the protestors . They need a bath after living in shit for days on end .
     All children should be removed before they get really sick.

     • Yes Minto did say that but he also said to let them be. This will go away.

       The government are stupid for not giving a date to finish the mandate.

       At that point teachers etc. could go back to their jobs. It is idiotic that a teacher twice vaccinated can get covid and give it to people but someone not vaccinated could regularly tested could be teaching in a classroom just the same as the teacher in the classroom next door. Both could get it and both could pass it on.

     • What you’re advocating Trevor makes perfect sense. ….. but we know they won’t do that.

     • Yes Trevor, the protestor holding the sign ” Epstein didn’t kill himself” summed it up.

     • Agreed. Hell when Muldoon was PM he brought in the riot squad who didnt hesitate to beat the crap out of us!

   • Tell the surgeons in operating theatres that mask wearing is bs!
     If you ever go under the knife, please insist they dont wear masks!

   • Andrew. Yep. Mallard’s ineptness has made things worse, including for the police dealing with the demonstrators, and now the PM and others are very conveniently leaving it all up to the police to sort – and with their hands tied : Mallard wouldn’t even turn the sprinklers off when asked to, by the police. The cops are the people out there in the front line being personally abused, not trouble-maker Trevor and his media cronies watching safely from the balcony up above. He really is a piece of work.

     Saturday night was a wild and stormy night in Wellington, and Sunday morning I was concerned for those children being sprinkled on by order of Trevor Mallard. I see it as child abuse, sanctioned by the state.

5. If these people protesting at Parliament are a ‘working class rabble’ as you put it Martyn, why aren’t they protesting against low wages, high living costs, housing, cannabis law reform and other working class issues? So far it appears they have only subscribed to conspiracy theory bs to do with vaccines.

6. There is no power on earth stronger than white middle class fear of smelly working class people

   This goes back to Hillary and “deplorables”, Marie Antoinette and “cake”.

   The lack of respect for the “lower orders” by the Email Zoom castes is at the root of the protests.

   Our middle classes swallowing official science and government propaganda so uncritically, yet accusing the untermenschen of following conspiracy theory, misinformation. That really is deplorable.

   • It is indeed.

   • Good call. Here we have a protest being smeared as a right-wing-fascist-led manipulation! A smear because no one has provided verifiable evidence to the big claims being made. A news article that says something is ‘so’ does not make it ‘so’ if there is no evidence for what the article is peddling. And yet the anti-protest brigade not only laps this type of baseless information up, they shout it to the rafters also!

     As if that behavior isn’t troublesome enough, remembering of course that they thought this protest to be a feral, lunatic, leaderless mob just a few days ago, but they accuse the colourfully named mob of behaving exactly as ‘they’ are behaving now, with a bit of added colour thrown into the mix – the mob source their material from the outer reaches of dark space while ‘they’ source their information from the always benevolent corporate/government media.

     Almost makes me nostalgic, already, for the colourful names of yesterday. But no, now we’ve got a new level of dirt to deal with in NZ’s political landscape, with said dirt designed for one purpose only – to undermine the message by attacking the messenger!

   • “official science ”

     1) What’s that?
     2) What sort of science, if any, do you recommend instead of whatever the “official” stuff is, and why?

     • Official science is the “established facts” according to our political authorities. It may be true, it may be false. Scientists often dissagree, methods and results are questioned. Science should be challenged. Official science is however that delivered as divine truth.

7. The logical conclusion to all cults is violence. The covid cult is no different. As Omnishambles is shown to be a mild flu to 99% of the population the fear, control and rush to big government will diminish. People will see Trevor’s actions for what they are – a temper tantrum.

   Normally there is a walk back from politicians regarding changing politics. This is going to be difficult for the Blairite and poor man’s Gordon Brown given their all-in strategy and the remaining cultists (25% of Labour’s vote).

8. I hate to bring it up, but my SiL is one of those ‘woke’ activists calling on the police to smash the protestors. It is a sad indictment that most of the far left groups that protest the most and demand change the most are often just as fast to call for the destruction of those they oppose ‘by any means necessary’ as those on the right. Often I have found they are far less tolerant of differing views and less willing to take time to understand differing views than the actual vast majority of people.
   I think a lot of the protestors are idiots, but there are a large enough group that have a valid point about the mandates that they should be able to protest. A friend near Levin has only had 2 jabs and wont gt any boosters as he had heart and breathing issues for 2 days after the second and he is rightfully scared of going through it again. Once his second jab runs out he is banned from a large chunk of society. His disagreement with the mandate is valid. Calling for the destruction of the entire protest just because some of the protestors are unreasonable sets a bad precedent as most protests have their share of unreasonable morons in the crowd. Just a pathetic reaction from this government who belive that whatever they say is the truth regardless of any information to the contrary.

   • Find someone in the protest mob or holding a placard in Whangarei or Whanganui and see if they believe that whatever they say is the truth regardless of any information to the contrary.

     Let’s get rid of the Government which sources the information it thinks is best and makes decisions or get a cretin from Kaikohe or wanker from Waitaki to run things?

   • Its also a pathetic reaction to go after people exercising their own right to get vaccinated and wear masks if they wish. I think there is a difference in putting up with “morons” for a day. Its completely different went its a week and counting.

   • Its also a “pathetic” reaction to go after people exercising their own rights to get vaccinated, wear a mask, or vaccinate their kids. Unfortunately that appears to be on the agenda for an unquantified number of those in attendance.

   • So this seems to have been misunderstood. There are morons involved in the protests. Tjose calling for banning of the vaccines and all sorts of more fringe beliefs, also included for me would be the Trump fans. However there are still people engaged and or supportive of the protest who are vaccinated, but are against the strict mandates around access to things because of the mandate. I pointed out a friend who had a horrible reaction to the vaccine and isnt getting the booster. This doesn’t mean they are anti-vax or against othera getting jabs. Nut they are going to be banned from a lot of public places in about 2 months when their pass expires.

     These sort of people in these situations need answers and the government and the Ministry of Health are outright ignoring them. My friend asked questions about the booster and his fears of reactions again. He was told get the jab or go home. No options, not even an alternative vacvine despite AZ supposedly being imported for this reason.

     Yes there are nutters in the protests, but also nutters in power peddling some BS, and a lot of people aren’t getting the answers the government swears they are. Had Mallard or the PM or reps from the office attempted to engage any of the reasonable factions of the protest I would feel very differently compared to the current attitude of “get them out of sight.” At least the police were trying to manage yhings and keep them calm. Arrogance from Mallard has simply angered and emboldened the more radical, making the chance of problems much much greater.

9. On the positive side it gives the media something different to write about other than RATs of some bleeding heart story about MIQ.

   • Yes, it is a relief.

     Nor the doom and gloom “we’re going to hell in a handcart” apocalyptic stories.

10. Prediction time.

    I’m 100% certain Mallard is history in the role of Speaker of the House. His position is now absolutely untenable.

    His decision making process has been questioned many times. Yet another example of that resulted in significant tax payer compensation being paid out in 2021 to the target of Mallard’s perspective.

    Turning sprinklers on protestors and playing loud music at them is child like. Totally out of order from a person in his position. They were only ever going to strengthen the resolve of the protestors and potentially gain sympathy for them.

    What really bends Mallard over a table are the comments made about his actions by the Police.

    Mallard mistakenly foolishly, naively and arrogantly believed all political parties and the media were on the same page with his actions. If that was ever the case it was a 100% formality that dynamic would change very quickly. That is now unfolding.

    Remember ex Health Minister David Clarke in July 2020 just a few months after the pandemic arrived here? He “resigned” after Ardern got sick of his relatively minor transgressions being turned onto her by the opposition and the media. Both Clarke and Ardern said it had become a “distraction’ when the Government was fighting Covid. We have EXACTLY the same dynamic now. The opposition and the media will turn on Ardern over Mallard. Nek minute, “Mallard has resigned as speaker of the house as the focus on him was becoming an unwelcome distraction”

    Mallard couldn’t possibly have played his hand any worse than he has and will pay a high price for that.

    The protestors and the opposition will rightfully claim this as a victory. The fallout for Ardern won’t go unnoticed. The Government will also suffer a denting in public confidence that such a high ranking Government MP has had to “resign”….cough cough.

    • All the same, lawn sprinklers and Barry Manilow and James Blunt.
      Epic response. Funny as hell.

      Far more damage was done by MSM livestreaming the event as if it were a bloody cricket test.

      • Richard Christie,

        Ten years ago I’d be splitting my sides laughing at what Mallard was doing. I would have sent him a bucket load of vile smelling potion and a few really annoying Christmas songs to drive them nuts with but those days are gone. The only way Mallard was going to get a free pass now is if the media and the opposition decided not to turn on him. That’s a fail. Mallard has self inflicted bullet wounds in both feet.

11. This is easy to end. Just Give the rabble a pathway out of the mandates over the course of this year. Doesnt have to be instant.

12. This kind of interclass turmoil is age old. Middle class are still workers, they just don’t like to think so–unless they are service industry or SME owners perhaps–who like to think their burnout is something to be proud of.

    40 years of neo liberal hegemony has certainly given the class bag a shake as full time employment and life time careers morphed into contracting out and precarious work. Highly qualified Uber drivers!

    I can tell TDB readers that back in the ’81 Tour winter, the people that gave me the hardest time as a visible anti tour supporter were working class people. A cop in a skip bin dented my helmet with a downward directed two handed baton blow at the final test at Eden Park. But most threats to my well being during those months came from swandri wearing true blue pro tour kiwis. Good old heartland and inner city kiwis screaming for “the rugby!!” The Stop the Tour campaign was largely middle class run and supported. Not exclusively, when the going got tough the working class elements were there alright.

    Working class are the best people on their day in tight situations, as I know having helped lead lengthy strikes over the years. But they can also be reactionary, cruel bastards. Social media has played a role but do not cast working class and alienated elements as merely dupes of Steve Bannon and Zuckerberg–they are quite capable of being unpleasant sods all on their own as NZ domestic violence and suicide rates test.

13. As far as I can see from the live feed, many of the protestors look like genetic sports from the deepest wop-wops. My daughter works in a pub in central Wellington and yesterday a middle-aged woman, when asked to show her vacc pass, through a punch. Somehow, my daughter, working alone at that time, managed to get the woman and her three buddies out (perhaps with help from the few customers). I have absolutely no sympathy for these misinformed, uneducated, primitive, vulgar and unmannered creatures outside of parliament.

14. And how do you think a time-line can be formulated Magit, when it appears we are just coming into the acceleration phase of omicron and don’t have the measure of the beast for NZ conditions. Oh yeah, we could pull the answer from fresh air – just like the ‘simple’ solution.

    • Agreed AOM. Alternatively what if you said, assuming no new mutations the mandate ends in six months? I am quite sure this would not be a satisfactory answer to a number of anti mandate protestors.

    • There is no need of time-line, the mandates and passports can be revoked immediately as they do not work against spreading Omicron at all. My grandson in Europe double vaccinated plus booster, wearing mask, showing passport where necessary, got it. In 5 days he was back in work.

      • Alexandra Corbett Dekanova, you are simply confused.
        Vaccinations are showing weak efficacy at slowing transmission but continue to provide strong protection against severe disease.
        Mandates and passports continue to have a place in public health management and prevention of Covid disease here in NZ.

15. laughed out loud when i got to the part about Trevor Mallard and had to scroll down.

16. Geez some water and music on a pack of miscreants is seen as abusive and inflamatory. Maybe the author wouldve prefered the speaker take a Muldoon approach by bringing out the riot squad to beat the begeezers out of the protestors?.

17. Well, for me, I am not seeing anything out of the ordinary by anyone, as yet.

18. You obviously do not know any Act or National voters as the ones I know would suggest the police used water cannon and put a tank over their illegelly parked vehicles rather than talk to them

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