The Top 7 Covid blessings for New Zealand & the one glaring damnation on us all
We have 7 Covid blessings, and we must acknowledge them.
1: Low mortality and sickness rate
The first thing we must acknowledge and be grateful for is the low death rate and sickness rate in New Zealand, while every passing and illness is a trauma, we only need peer over the borderS to see the carnage this virus is carving deep into other nations. We have not had to mourn the way manner others have and we should be deeply grateful for that.
2: Open Domestic Economy
By going hard and going early with our lockdown, we are on the other side of this faster and in a position where we effectively have an open domestic economy. Very few places are as lucky as this and we must remember that when the economic meltdown
3: Lower Migrant Worker exploitation
With no migrant workers allowed back into the country, we are forced to exploit fewer of them! The Agricultural sector who abuse these workers the most will now need to provide better wages and better conditions to attract NZ workers. The same with the service industry who equally abuse migrant workers appallingly. We need to follow this great news that migrant workers aren’t being exploited up with an amnesty on all migrant workers in NZ and the immediate creation of universal union membership.
4: Lower International Student exploitation
It’s not just exploited migrant workers who can’t get back into NZ, it’s also the exploited international student market who are locked out from being abused as well! That means fewer people competing for student accommodation creating downward pressure on rents, and it disincentives the current immigration corruption that allows so many students a pathway to citizenship via exploited work conditions.
5: Less gridlock because no hyper tourism
With less International Students comes no tourists (other than those who were locked down and stayed here). NZ has 5 million living here, each year we have 3million tourists flood in. No wonder our infrastructure is so gridlocked! Without those tourists, Auckland feels far less congested. It’s wonderful!
On top of the lack of freedom campers shitting all over the country, it’s also wonderful watching Elite Tourist experiences having to reduce their astronomical fees and beg locals to visit them.
6: Trust in politicians, public servants and experts again
The courage and grace and leadership Jacinda Ardern has shown during this unprecedented event, alongside tireless public servants and public health scientists have combined to establish our collective faith in the institutions of our Democracy. We listened to our leaders, we listened to our experts, we listened to our scientists and we are positioned in a far better place to ride this plague out in.
Our roots were tested here and they were found to be deep.
7: History was watching
We should be celebrating because history was watching.
China will tell the world that their authoritarian brutality was powerful enough to stop this virus. That their system of mass civil rights abuse was the only one up to the challenge.
China’s terrible efficiency and pride would have sent a shiver down the spine of the future.
The UK, torn to shreds by the battle of Brexit, elected a toff clown whose incompetence has seen a public health nightmare, while in America, Trump’s egregious inadequacy has seen over 127000 dead, 47million unemployed and race riots breaking out in over 430 cities.
So far China’s response to a virus which either originated in their poorly regulated wet markets or escaped accidentally from a lab, will hauntingly be the only success story to echo through the annals of history.
And then there was us dear brothers and sisters.
Then there was wee New Zealand, who was led by a young leader whose grace under pressure gave hope to a nation and who used kindness as the value.
In a liberal progressive democracy you can’t enforce your will by force, China can do that, but liberal progressive values that respect personal civil liberties can not turn the full power of the state against its own people.
We listened to the science and we lived up to the challenge. We became a well informed citizenship listening to our trusted experts and agreeing universally to curtail our personal civil liberties in solidarity for the greater good.
We did that without welding doors shut like they did in China. NZ became the best example of democratic values in how to deal with strife and woe.
History was watching and we stood tall to the challenge. It won’t be China who can claim state violence led to the only victory against Covid19, our collective example will modestly stand on its own two feet on the mantle of time.
The one glaring damnation on us all
While we count our blessings, let’s also bow our head in shame at the one glaring damnation on us all.
How was it that the essential workers who kept the entire system running while we sheltered in our homes were the poorest paid amongst us?
How unjust was that pandemic revelled truth and haven’t we all had a hand in building that wrong?
For shame!
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So who’s fault is this do the government top there wages and then get abused for wasting money
Isn’t it uP to the employers to sort this
I don’t understand and what is your solution
A lot of the “essential workers” were farmers though. You know, the ones Bomber despises because they mostly vote National (for reasons I cannot fathom, although I suspect 99% are due to “legacy” – Country Boy can maybe explain it) and pollute the environment (even though it’s a fraction of what other countries do per head of population in the same sector).
But yes, general illness is also massively down in NZ. The lockdown basically solved the measles epidemic in NZ, and has has resulted in a massive decrease in seasonal flu outbreaks. Most anyone getting a flu vaccine injection this year is wasting either their or the tax-payer’s money.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12339726
So even if the WuFlu (which isn’t “racist” btw, it’s factually a flu-like virus from Wuhan) isn’t nearly as deadly as first put forward (let’s be honest here, there was a lot of unsubstantiated hyperbolic rhetoric surrounding this pandemic), the response to it has had actual positive knock-on effects for the general health of NZers.
Hopefully the Government doesn’t fuck it all up (odds on that they will though).
Not as deadly … unless it attacks the organs (with feared long term health impact on millions) and causes an immune system response (which hopefully that steroid now used will mitigate so inflammation does not reduce people to delerium on ventilators). And its still spreading during the northern summer …
The USA have had 130,000 die and thousands more unaccounted for deaths reportedly due to covid, so I don’t believe there was a lot of unsubstantiated hyperbolic rhetoric surrounding this pandemic.
Which leads me back to the fact the Government has been incredible in it’s actions in containing covid despite National willing to fuck it all up with “open the borders, close the borders, open the borders” vote claiming rhetoric.
Remember 130,000+ deaths, all due to the Governance of covid in America.
They were forecasting 2+ million deaths. So yes, hyperbolic.
https://www.cato.org/blog/how-one-model-simulated-22-million-us-deaths-covid-19
Give it time. Its not a “seasonal Flu” but is liable to be around for years.
Remember
Domestic Student exploitation is fine. We take that for granted. Thus we now have a domestic student be dead in a university for over 1 month and nobody notices, nobody seems too worried about it, least of all the woke.
Local Worker exploitation is ok too. No doubt the woke rejoice when Air NZ staff all lose their jobs and are forced to take pay cuts under exWalmart CEO. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/around-300-pilots-made-redundant-900-others-taking-big-pay-cuts-air-nzhttps://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/120696612/coronavirus-air-new-zealand-tweaks-wording-on-job-losses-reflecting-bleaker-covid19-outlook-union-says without a second thought. That is not exploitation at all! Who cares about them and the hundreds of thousands of local workers losing their jobs and incomes with quick fire redundancy. Funny how they hire so soon after though! https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121625411/smiths-city-advertises-for-new-staff-days-after-making-115-redundant Clearly non migrant workers are all too lazy and drugged out for anybody to care about them. They deserve their fate! Sarcasm.
No wonder inequality is growing to fast in NZ. Not only are locals being exploited constantly, but their traditional allies like the left and unions, don’t even seem notice or care about their plight anymore.
When was the last time you heard a politician use the work ‘worker exploitation’ instead of ‘migrant exploitation’? Local worker exploitation is invisible to government just like the domestic students who they never mention either and the penny doesn’t drop when the dead bodies turn up.
No wonder we have a world leading brain drain in NZ and a skills shortage!
Damned right about traffic, it’s taken 20 years at least off Aucklands traffic woes.
I note Auckland University are begging to allow foreign students in. I mean who gives a flying shit this disease, their business case welded to their bank accounts is paramount. Nothing. Else. Matters.
Xray, someone has to pay for the Parnell mansion and they are keen to burn the books too, to save money for the mansion it seems.
Auckland University buys $5m Parnell mansion for incoming vice-chancellor
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119122778/auckland-university-buys-5m-parnell-mansion-for-incoming-vicechancellor?fbclid=IwAR29h43wjAtwI-Arket4iHNHZPhqeUfr8mib4VU389reFlLRJNhbv4AZ8Lg
NZ, Loss of libraries is a symptom of Auckland University’s decline
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12034770
Meanwhile at AUT, sexual harassment is ignored, until they sort of can’t because it’s an overseas person loudly complaining. …
The Neoliberals destroyed Unitec… (not sure but was Ruth Richardson on the board at that time).
An ‘onslaught of shock and awe’ was supposed to transform Unitec. Instead it sent it into a dive
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/105935899/unitecs-transformation-failure?rm=a
Not even getting into
woke at Massey
Massey Vice-Chancellor bans Don Brash
https://croakingcassandra.com/2018/08/07/massey-vice-chancellor-bans-don-brash/
AUT denies cancelling Tiananmen event over China govt pressure
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395573/aut-denies-cancelling-tiananmen-event-over-china-govt-pressure
CHCH – New Zealand university student lay dead in room for nearly two months
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/25/new-zealand-university-student-lay-dead-in-room-for-nearly-two-months
And the general decline into bums on seats for a flakey degree…
No need to know anything to pass!
NZ lecturer says half of international students in their class failed for cheating, universities turning blind eye
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nz-lecturer-says-half-international-students-in-their-class-failed-cheating-universities-turning-blind-eye
Student visa fraud: ‘It’s not about education’ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11759352 Widespread fraud found among education agencies representing Indian students https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/81386128/widespread-fraud-found-among-education-agencies-representing-indian-students Student visa scam: Company provided info for five years https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/363084/student-visa-scam-company-provided-info-for-five-years
Thanks for all these links.
…” How was it that the essential workers who kept the entire system running while we sheltered in our homes were the poorest paid amongst us?”…
—————————
This is the sort of thing I wanted to hear ( read ).
This is the WHOLE crux of the matter !
And now it is time to reward these essential workers with fit and proper recompense in the form of realistic wages. THESE are the people we dealt with briefly while we hurried home to our bunkers leaving them to work for 10 hour days being exposed to all and sundry !!!
The check out operators, the truckies, the packers , the farm hands,- while we stayed at home , these people manned the tiller. They kept it happening. HOWEVER, – by extension, – this should usher in a new era of contemplation on just how working people have for the last 3 decades been taken for granted.
I don’t see Bill English in parliament anymore along with his boasts of a ”low wage economy attracts foreign investment”,- so why is there this hesitancy to broach the subject?
Exactly why in a so called first world country are we still drawing among the lowest wages proportionately in the OECD?
1980’s / 1990’s wage levels in the year 2020???
Someones pulling our tit.
Clue: the same sort of neo liberal creeps who pulled pony tails.
That’s who.
Yes thanks Wild Katipo as an essential worker it would be nice to be paid more.
But I’d take as a start, a reprieve from the constant attacks on anything working class rural or white from the left who were meant to be the champions of all working people.
Some gratitude.
We have rules about who can do various classes of work (professional jobs to trade jobs) along with a restricted supply in some (probably most?) of those occupations so the end result is that they can be price setters instead of price takers for their remuneration. If everybody was a lawyer or electrician etc then obviously that would substantially reduce what they could charge. There is also an element of reimbursement for the higher paying occupations as specific skill & training is needed to undertake the work.
While this makes education an essential factor to achieve results the bell curve shows that not all people have the same ability so progressive taxation & employment regulation along with a welfare safety net for some is essential in producing what could optimistically be called a fair society.
Years ago in a more honest time wages were compared and tied to the costs of living and other indicators. Inflation being one of them.
Not what a person was deemed ‘worth’.
This state of affairs and slave wages has only come about post 1984 and the destruction of neo liberalism.
Loss of decent unions
I realised years ago that the most important jobs are actually the worst paid. There seems to be a few reasons/excuses for this:
1. Economies of scale: As society needs a lot of them we can’t actually afford to pay them a lot. CEOs are the reverse – we don’t need a lot of them and thus we can, and do, pay them excessively.
2. Ridicule: By claiming that the job is ‘unskilled’ we get to pay less. This is applied to almost every single government job even if it requires a high skill set.
3. Cheapness: We’ve been told for decades that the government doesn’t need as much as it takes to do a good job and thus we got tax cuts. This has resulted in the job that government does being below par and a drop in wages – particularly for the jobs that require a lot of people.
Many or most of the jobs that actually help people are lowly paid but those who do the most harm to the country often attract the greatest remuneration.
I thought the one glaring damnation is how many New Zealanders are complaining about the injustice of not being able to visit Australia once every two months or more
I too was an essential worker albeit in distribution of wine. We too had it rough supplying supermarkets with incredible amounts of wine and direct to door. In doing this though we had to halve or staff to just 2 people for social distancing rules.
We felt privileged to still be working and having some sort of normality but at what cost we don’t get paid a lot and got nothing extra for basically keeping the business afloat for months .
I really do feel for supermarket workers they do deserve most of the credit for doing what they do. Good on all of you. Also to anyone else who supplied said supermarkets without you we would have nothing but panic.
No wonder we have skills shortages in NZ. Immigration seems more than happy to give NZ work visas to foreign workers, when expert Kiwis are turned down. Funny enough it’s all jobs, jobs, jobs on any resource consents! They don’t mention they will not be employing Kiwis on all the jobs.
Of course being a polluter, maybe you don’t want any potential whistleblowers (or experts who know international rules) in the mix if you are not behaving appropriately and they have an oil spill!
Oil rig workers claim unfair treatment in a system ‘rotten to the core’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/121961383/oil-rig-workers-claim-unfair-treatment-in-a-system-rotten-to-the-core
“Among the disgruntled workers was Mike, a toolpusher of 30 years experience, who was twice rejected. “Given my skillset, I was surprised,” he said. “I was quietly p….. off … but I know how their game works, so it didn’t surprise me, it just aggravated me. Anyone who has worked in the industry understands that.
“But with the world closing up and more and more places placing restrictions on who they can bring in … it’s frustrating. I’ve worked all over the world in all sorts of conditions and I’ve seen this happen time and again.”
Mike has worked in Angola, Nigeria, Indonesia and India and until lockdown had been working in Australia on a rig similar to the Emerald. He said he was more than capable of working this type of rig and would have accepted any of the five toolpusher jobs which went to foreigners.
“All over the world countries are protecting their industry and it irks me that New Zealand isn’t doing the same. It seems to me that our government isn’t doing their due diligence.
“I have worked on seriously more complicated rigs than this one. Without blowing my own trumpet, I am reasonably good at what I do.”
Another equally experienced toolpusher who was also rejected by email said: “There are so many in Aotearoa experienced and qualified to man several rigs of much higher complexity than this rig which … [they] are trying to make out is too sophisticated for Kiwis to run. It’s the same old tired bulls… argument each time. More rigs are coming soon, and we just want to be able to genuinely compete for the advertised mahi.”
“Dave, a driller with 14 years experience in the Middle East and Africa said the Emerald job would have been easier than his usual work, and he could have filled any of the eight drilling jobs “with my eyes closed”.
“When they say positions are too specialised [for us Kiwis], I think ‘what are you talking about?’
“This is exactly the system I work with, and people are willing to fly me around the world to run it, so why wouldn’t you employ me to do it here? I just don’t understand how they get away with it.”
Gary, a derrickman and assistant driller of 10 years, said he was even turned down for the more lowly position of roughneck. “It was a kick in the nuts. I was actually quite confident I would get at least something. I was really surprised. I know there is something not right going on.”
Experienced electrician Bernie applied unsuccessfully twice, despite currently working on a more complicated rig. A colleague had the same experience. “If I went to America or England or Norway, I would have zero chance of working on their rigs [because jobs were reserved for locals] but no one here sticks up for us,” he said. “It’s rotten to the core, the whole system”.
He believed recruitment companies were “stood over” by the drilling companies, who wanted to bring in their own staff. If the drilling companies genuinely believed Kiwi workers weren’t capable, they should be forced to train them into roles.
Stuff also spoke with two rig mechanics. One didn’t bother to apply as he “knew how Atlas works” and the other had enquired but been told there were no vacancies.”
That must be an example of the jobs created… from the oil industry…
As well as not employing locals in the top jobs they are only too happy to leave their debts and waste behind in this industry – more and more reasons to ban oil mining in NZ.
Receivers called as Tamarind Taranaki placed into liquidation after watershed creditors meeting
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118332123/tamarind-taranaki-placed-into-liquidation-after-watershed-meeting-with-creditors
Time to have a massive Carbon emissions tax on oil companies so that money is instead spend on renewable power which costs just a fraction to run.
Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
So we all now apparently have faith in politicians again but the people at the coal face of the pandemic were underpaid? Not sure why I would have faith in a govt that lets those taking the most risk reap the least reward?
“How was it that the essential workers who kept the entire system running while we sheltered in our homes were the poorest paid amongst us?”