Yesterday, Chris Hipkins - as in pulpit of truth Chris Hipkins – Covid Minister Chris Hipkins, the guy who ran the whole shebang alongside Jacinda - showed he's now so desperate for votes, that he said he now regrets the 2021 lockdown length for Aucklanders.
No kidding. Does he really? I lived through that lockdown, alongside everyone else in Auckland.
These guys could not have banged on about the importance of locking us down more. They could not have been clearer and surer that they were doing the right thing.
Despite all of us who were vocal at the time - myself included - that it was overkill, and too much, and out of hand, and ridiculous, and way too long, they defended it.
They chastised those who spoke out against it. They tried to frame anyone who railed against it as some kind of far right conspiracy theorist or anti-vaxxer.
They lambasted and discredited anyone who questioned it. They hung on to the power they held and waved it around with gay abandon. And yet - now look.
Suddenly Chris Hipkins regrets it. I mean how do we take these guys seriously? Will they literally throw away very ounce of principle they ever had to try to win this election?
We’ve already had Grant Robertson swallowing the dead rat that is GST off fruit and vege. Now we’ve got Hipkins regretting Auckland’s lockdown time. Too late mate.
Way too late.
We lived it. We lost it. We’ll never get that time back.
All the people who missed funerals, lost weddings, sacrificed being at their child’s birth, never got to say goodbye to a dying loved one, all the operations delayed, all the people shut out, all the businesses gone under - none of them can get any of it back.
So a glib ‘it was probably a bit long’ doesn’t cut it. You don’t get to go back on your decisions now. Not decisions of that magnitude.
It’s reprehensible that you could enact such strict rules, with such courage of conviction at the time, only to completely back-peddle later – based on poor poll results and a desire to get back into power.
Is this not the pinnacle of unprincipled government?
They should hang their heads in shame for what they’ve done to New Zealanders.
An apology was owed to Aucklanders - not a cheap line about it probably being too long a lockdown.
‘Looking back,’ Hipkins said, the length of Auckland’s 2021 lockdown was ‘probably one of the decisions he would change.’
Do you reckon?
He acknowledged it was a challenging time for this country, but that ‘out of adversity had come strength’.
Well while that’s a nice sentiment and possibly true in some cases, it also resulted in people broken, bankrupted, and bereft.
To now say you probably regret it just smacks of the amateur hour we knew at the time was running the show.
People out of their depth, determined to control the narrative, to shut down any opposition, to rule the roost and play God with people’s lives.
We got scammed by power drunk rookie leadership, one of whom has already scarpered leaving one who now has the audacity to tell us he regrets it.
So while he may regret Auckland’s 2021 lockdown, I can tell you who regrets it more; Aucklanders.
Kate Hawkesby is a political broadcaster on Newstalk ZB - her articles can be seen HERE.
8 comments:
IMO most of New Zealand regrets this government's unprincipled governance.
They have all been so eager to be 'on brand' globally that they had (if they ever were) forgotten what government and governance for New Zeland is....
Ardern and co are all totally responsible in the denegration of our economy, society, education, race realations and infrastructure and history I am convinced will be written unkindly...as it should be.
Covid cost us a fortune, restricted our civil rights and created enormous social division. There needs to be a proper inquiry into our Covid response. Not a limited terms of reference, gerrymandered inquiry but a full independent inquiry where everyone can be heard, whether we agree with them or not and regardless as to where criticism falls.
They are a stain on NZ.
They should be in jail for what they did.The damage is enormous.
But when you are a power hungry physco, you will do and say anything to keep control.
Makes me wonder if we need an upper and lower house in parliament because all that power in one persons hands is not a good thing and now we know why.
The late 2021 extended Auckland lockdown was nothing short of blackmail to encourage maximum uptake of the so-called vaccine (which had already shown complete lack of efficacy, especially in stopping transmission of the virus). Recall the moving target of 75%, then 80%, then basically 'everyone' in Auckland had to be vaxxed before the lockdown would be lifted. It's noted too that the early 2021 lockdown (based I think on a single COVID case) perhaps 'conveniently' resulted in Ardern's wedding having to be 'postponed'. These people are indeed the personification of evil.
Of course, the Economy will be the major disaster to redress.
But 3 necessary - immediate - steps on race relations which is the deep cancer in NZ society:
.suspension of UNDRIP
.blanket repeal of all laws involving co-governance
.cancellation of Education Ministry's plans for the Education and History curricula.
Don't forget the whole South Island was locked down as well during the Delta outbreak when there were no cases there. My major gripe is that major construction and roading projects could have continued without any major disruptions. The fresh air would have been perfect to work in and these projects would probably have been completed well before now. Just travel passed and roading construction area on a weekend and you could fire a canon and not hit a construction worker. This government is totally inept, it is what is commonly classed as a poor man's king Midas ... everything it touches turns to S..t.
Hipkins et al regrets nothing, and don't you forget it or be fooled again.
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