Clive Bibby: The government's plans post Covid 19 are not what they seem

A weekend article written by Steve Elers of Massey University's School of Communications includes some interesting observations of the Prime Ministers character. I would recommend it to anybody who is concerned about the prospects for this nation as we try to reassert ourselves post Covid 19.

Elers attempts (successfully in my opinion) to establish a link between the ideological beliefs that formed the basis of the Prime Ministers former career (pre parliamentary politics) and those that drive her in her current position as Leader of this country.

He suggests that it is impossible for "the leopard to change its spots" and that the position she held on most issues and advocated for pre 2008 would most likely be the same today as it was then.

Consequently, Elers argues that when you research the reported statements from her time as Leader of The International Union of Socialist Youth you will find an indication of the sort of country she and her colleagues would like us to become as we emerge from this current nightmare.

And, when you delve into the possibilities that are available to her and her government at a time when she is granted extraordinary powers to do whatever is necessary in these unfamiliar times, it all becomes a bit scary.

Why do l make that rather flamboyant statement?

Simple really and at the same time - rather ironic!

One of the reasons why we have been able to navigate the lockdown so successfully in this country compared to similar situations faced by most others, is because we have as our Prime Minister a person with extraordinary communication skills.

Heaven knows what difficulties we might have encountered if that had not been the case. The messages have been clear and sensitively delivered at every press conference - well done Prime Minister. On that score alone we are in your debt.

However, as we change from a country under siege to one trying to establish a new direction,  the requirements as a leader change dramatically and it is quite possible that our current Prime Minister has exhausted her small bag of tricks leaving us in the hands of the other ideologues in her party who are more than willing to oversee our immediate future.

That, according to Elers is the worry and l for one (as you might have expected) totally agree with him.

Not only are we in danger of emerging from this period of martial law looking like a patient recovering from a massive bout of plastic surgery that shows us as a markedly different model than we were even months ago, the new appendages (budget measures) we are carrying are not designed to help the body corporate operate as needed - they are purely cosmetic!

In other words, the government has no idea or is un prepared for where the emphasis for this spending bonanza should be directed and so has used the opportunity to change the whole character of this nation from one that has served us well for at least the last 150 years to one that is ideologically driven in sympathy with its current coalition partners.

While you can't blame them for grabbing the opportunity to restructure our society in a manner that is foreign to most kiwis, it is rather dishonest to impose this dogma on an unsuspecting public when we are so vulnerable and at a time when we have to accept the medicine irrespective of whether it is good for us.

Wouldn't it have been better to take their ideas to the electorate in September and taken their chances. But that would have taken guts - not a visible characteristic of this government.

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.