These must be strange times.
Shamubeel Eaqub and I turn out to be in lock step on one key
thing: We need an adult in the room. That's what he said to Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee.
That committee might have been one of the great modern
democratic discoveries. All the stuff you never hear about, all the
Parliamentary question times you never listened to, was there on display with
the added advantage of a bunch of experts, Eaqub being one of them.
By week's end Sir David Skegg spectacularly exposed the Government over a lack of testing, a
lack of clear direction, and a plan. Act MP David Seymour managed to change
the Government's mind on community newspapers.
And Eaqub exposed the cold hard reality that this is turning
into a chaotic mess - and no one of any great repute is actually running this
thing.
When someone as left and dour as Eaqub, nothing personal
intended given he's my new hero, but when someone like that says what he said,
we should all be bolt up right and paying attention.
There is no plan to get us out of this, the same way there
was no plan to build 100,000 houses. The Government went into this with a
reputation as being useless at delivery, with a lot of noise, ideas, and
committees, but little concrete behind it.
So at week's end the medical profession are crying out for
personal protection equipment the Government said was plentiful - and yet is
nowhere to be found. The flu vaccine which was over-ordered, but is nowhere to
be found. The contact tracing that they were all over has vanished as story
after story emerges of people a week into isolation not having heard a word.
The testing scam has finally been exposed. There were never
enough kits, the criteria for testing was a joke (as well as confusing) and the
Prime Minister most embarrassingly of all on Tuesday decided to use the World
Health Organisation's two-week-old mantra of "test, test, test." It
was as though Jacinda Ardern had just put her latest teddy in the window and
discovered it as a fresh buzz phrase.
Add the scandal of funding for beneficiaries that isn't
virus-related, the minimum wage rise that can't be afforded, the funding for
Māori (as though the virus had a racial element) and this is the most blatant
pork barrelling you've seen in a generation.
Top off the refusal to quarantine return citizens and still
defending the idea of self-isolation as workable.
You have ended up with a Government in seriously deep
trouble, and quite obviously a mile out of their depth.
The love-in that this started as, with your Facebook Lives,
and be kinds, and shout outs to sign language experts, is turning. And watch
next week as jobs and livelihoods tumble, how quickly this becomes an economic
fight over a Government that still insists that health trumps all.
This thing is costing the economy more than $3 billion a
week, how many weeks can we afford that and still have a Government telling us
we all need to be at home doing nothing?
Mike Hosking is a political broadcaster on Newstalk ZB, who
has hosted his number one breakfast show since 2008 - see HERE.
7 comments:
Quite right, but it ain't over yet by a long shot. Another few weeks of lockdown will be a true test of both the government and citizens.
Lets just hope the military are not needed any more than they presently are.
Watch this space.
I get to tired of hearing the word "unprecedented". There were warning signs with SARS and MERS. Plenty of time for WHO to close down the bush meat markets in Chine. If you go back further there was German Measles and Spanish Flu to learn from.
Instead Western Governments including NZ, have watched manufacturing of essential equipment, control of our natural resources and agricultural base, all now in China's hands. All at the expense of NZ jobs and to save a few dollars on imported goods.
Looks like we haven't saved a cent now we are left with Billion dollar debt.
The problem with the writer’s emphasis on the economy is that had the government failed to impose and enforce a lockdown the epidemic could have led to many thousands of deaths. Then where would the economy be without those who drive the economy, without those who work in the economy and those who consume.
Sweden is a case in point, the government decided to leave the country to its own devices, that is to carry on as if there was no virus. The consequences were predictable and the country is now being forced into a heavy-handed response. Its current death rate already exceeds that of its Nordic neighbours who took the issue seriously from the outset.
The United States is another case in point, dismissal of the threat and optimism has now put millions at risk and states have been forced to act decisively regardless of the Federal Government.
The economy is about people and without people there is no economy.
Gary R said
Why do we superanuitants need an xtra $25 per wk, or an xtra winter energy payments. I would rather this money went to helping business survive. This is more important, than buying votes
Mike is quite right we will be in a mess if the govt does not get expert people from the
business sector as none of the current govt have ever run big business or had to work in
the market place to earn a living
Allan
The choice is a simple one of priorities: Do you place business or human lives first? If you choose business the virus will spiral out of control and the resultant methods to calm it will have to be even tougher than those we are experiencing now. As one who suffered a virus attack on a small vessel in which one infected person spread the virus to everyone on the vessel within 24 hours I know measures have to be instant and as severe as possible to have any chance of working.The govt. has done well so far but such a complex procedure is sure to contain glitches. Better that than thousands of dead and tent hospitals in parks as in USA where their response was too late.
Yep. All political parties suck!
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