It will not be lost on the government, like all political participants with their finger always in the wind, that the latest lockdown has been badly received.
That said, I feel it was justified in Auckland given the wide-spread movements of the culprit family. In the event, happily, it appears the alarm of contagion hasn’t eventuated.
But here’s the puzzle. Why on earth include the South Island? That seemed totally unnecessary, even at level two.
Feel for New Zealand Cricket with a large expense from hosting the visiting Aussies and having to play, not once but twice in an empty Wellington stadium. There was no reason to include most of the North Island, but the South Island was simply ridiculous.
Imagine if one of the two games scheduled for the capital, had been transferred to Invercargill and the other to say Nelson. The result; packed arenas.
Despite the being “first in queue” outright falsehood for vaccines, it’s evident we will trail the world and thus probably there will be further lapses, most likely in Auckland.
Should that occur, let’s have a more sensitive lockdown response with the closures confined to the affected regions.
28 Comments
I agree, but……
There would need to be a 2 week quarantine for escapees such as st brian, such is the woolly thinking of this dictatorship
Did anybody note that Ardern did exactly as the Tamakis and evacuated her family Sat night to Wellington ?
Not the same circumstances……………
My thoughts exactly. A poorly thought out reaction.
Sir Bob, dead right.
I’ve said it before – this is all about control.
It is political, not about our health.
The Vietnamese family who contracted COVID-19 only did so because of our porous border.
A Trans – Tasman report last week confirmed that our border was 7 times more porous than Australia’s.
Utterly disgraceful when Ardern was screeching that we had a “ gold plated “ and “ the world’s best border control.”
This week the taxpayers have incurred a further debt of $400 – 500 million because of her gross ineptitude.
Compare Ardern’s reaction to a worse outbreak on the northern beaches of Sydney.
A few suburbs closed for 10 days by the state Premier.
Here, the whole country closed with innumerable livelihoods ruined.
Ardern is nothing but a self – absorbed control freak.
Sir Robbitty this virus is more cunning than a national party MP on steroids .All it takes is a brief encounter with some one from Sky Chef and then a quick trip to CH CH,and ba da bing the bastard has got away on us.I think you will agree we have seen plenty enough dumbass behavior from the average punter already..
Agreed, except that it should be suburbs (and associated schools/businesses/etc), not regions. A great article by Heather Du Plessis-Allan in the Herald noting the success in Sydney with this strategy 4 days ago.
No logic to widespread lockdowns, when you have a big moat between you and the contagion.
The total risk averse culture (excluding the ignorant and arrogant few) has been born out of social engineering in schools.
Guess we’ll have to encourage more males to become teachers and administrators in Wellington. I fear its going to take another 3 decades or more for change.
Shutting the show down is an easy decision. Drawing up a coherent plan takes skills and logistical expertise. Hipkins and Ardern love the camera with Ashley calling the shots.These three are able to cover up their incompetence by crowing about how many test have been done plus clicking on the app. The problem is we are letting infected returnees into our MIQs where the rules of the game are inadequate. So the team 5 million are pawns. We suffer to let returnees in. Absolute garbage.This isn’t leadership it’s damage control.
Think you’ll find our refugee intake is in full swing and the majority of covid cases are 3rd world origin.
Remember to be kind.
8+hrs in a que to return home last Sunday, Hamilton to Auckland. 23,000 vehicles inconvenienced for what gain in eliminating Covid?All it did was alienate the occupants of those 23,000 vehicles against the Police!
Dont blame the police Ardern is using them as pawns in her game of control
Spot on Belinda. And the latest Commissioner of Police, appointed by Labour, is weak and a ‘ plant’..he should be standing up for the Police..instead he folds, and its like he’s saying’ ‘yes cindy, where would you like to stick it up me’? where is his outcry about recruit courses for the Police being cancelled? Wasn’t this one of labours big ‘ promises’…more cops on the street? Just more labour bullshit!
A virus cannot be extinguished or controlled. It will run its course. As has been experienced in Israel the vaccine will kill and injure many more than Covid. The PCR test is seriously flawed and reliance upon it is sheer stupidity. The whole terrified reaction to this very low mortality virus has the whiff of evil, to use the words of Dr Michael Yeadon, previous chief research scientist for Pfizer. The western world has gone barking mad.
Spot on, Pedro. I’ve been a nay-sayer right from the start. It’s just a flu-virus, but one which has been spectacularly marketed or propaganderised from the top (UN, WHO) down. It was used to remove the single biggest threat (Trump) to the Great Reset,/Agenda 21, call it what you will. NZ has been little more than an experiment on the global stage, a perfect example to the rest of the world of how easily a population can be locked down and controlled at the drop of a hat, a flick of a switch, and I believe Clark and Co have been pulling the strings. EVERYTHING about this so-called government approach has screamed bullocks and control. Yet the vast majority of the population go along with it. Where are the sensible voices in govt? Speak up, Seymour, you’re silence is deafening!!9
Mostly agree but for this continual ranting against Jacinda–is she not one of the cogs and it appears we have some pretty slack bureaucracy under her. I doubt many of the naysayers could do better! Now if we had Bishop Brian in charge we would just all need to pray to his God .
The latest lock down has been farcical. Jacinda using scare tactics to gain compliance and with all the so called experts stating the the UK variant in the community it more dangerous and transmissible.
As it has turned out, and most people knew it, was that it was nothing more than a fizzer. New Zealand is starting to wake up now to the overzealous Government.
So, where does the buck stop?
To quote a shopkeeper/business owner “this Government is trying to hit an ant with a rather large mallet.”
Or, to quote a Newsmax journo on the US, squeeze a zit with a shotgun
Interesting article from The Australian newspaper on 15th October last year. The article was titled “Jacindamania rules, but Kiwis pay cost.”
…”progressive governments have typically been attracted to the most extreme versions of COVID-19 lockdown possible. Progressive politics is inherently authoritarian and enjoys bossing people around. Its key supporter base is typically government sector employees whose jobs are not lost in lockdown and it is inherently suspicious of the capitalist economy it gets to close down, at least for a while.”
Everything should be vastly more sophisticated and surgical now. How long have we had to organise that? We do not have practical thinkers running the show. We have very, very average institution workers proving again that government is useless.
New Zealand Politics has degenerated to manipulating people using fear. The politicians have supped the heady power of covid and are now hopeless addicts, bedded down in crack houses. The down spiral was awesome to behold. Reality and logic can not be bound by ego.
Gee, this virus is tricky we’re told, but good policy? Even rarer and trickier !
Totally agree with everything with you said. I would point out that the Wellington stadium is actually hosting 3 games and the game on Sunday wil also allow spectators with the changing of levels.
It is utterly ridiculous that the South Island and lower North Island were put into Level 2. When did those areas last see
a Covid case. It must have been several months ago.
It seems that Jacinda thinks that if Auckland is suffering than the rest of the country needs to suffer a little bit as well in sympathy.
If you had a business in say Balclutha or Hokitika it must be exceptionally frustrating to have go through this farce yet again on the whim of a power crazed PM.
Outbreaks will probably reoccur and to have lockdowns every time is just nonsense. I don’t think this govt has the wherewithal to formulate an alternative plan.
The lie to all of this was the early morning “cancellation” of all the provisions of the lockdowns due to the imminent devastation of a Tsunami….Which in the event turned out to be nothing more than a wildly inaccurate prediction from yet another group of “experts” convinced we were all about to be inundated..
I am disgusted with the PM … she has pointed an emaciated finger toward a 19 & a 21 year old , and blamed them ! …. WTF … what about the mantra of ” kindness ” …. come down off your high horse of moral correctness Jacinda , and apologise to those kids , who dont have the voice of the nation as you do , be kind Jacinda , apologise to them , you’ve wronged them badly !
I don’t know whether I’m right but I hear Ardern and her family flew from Auckland to Wellington before the 6am lock down. If that is correct how is this different from the Tamakis? They and thousands of others didn’t break the law. Hipkins should pull his head in. Wasn’t it that Dr guy who had the job before Hipkins who went for two bike rides and shifted house during a lock down. I just love these Labour hypocrites.