Let’s consider this. For a moment.
Phase one, instigated by Ardern, was to look at things we did well, things we did badly, and how to prepare for the next pandemic. The focus was on lessons learnt.
Phase two was set in motion by the current regime and had a different objective. This was to “review the decisions taken by the government in New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 during 2021 and 2022.”
The terms of reference bleed into politically contentious areas; vaccine mandates, lockdowns and if the decisions taken gave sufficient weight to factors such as social division and isolation, inflation, debt, education… you get the idea.
Phase two was set in motion by the current regime and had a different objective. This was to “review the decisions taken by the government in New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 during 2021 and 2022.”
The terms of reference bleed into politically contentious areas; vaccine mandates, lockdowns and if the decisions taken gave sufficient weight to factors such as social division and isolation, inflation, debt, education… you get the idea.
A Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Test, or RAT as they became known. (file photo)
Ultimately, these are subjective assessments and, consequently, the refusal of former ministers to become involved is understandable. If regrettable. But. New Zealand. We are in the middle of some revisionism. A game of collective amnesia. A willing self-delusion as to our actions and a desire to hold others to account for the sins we committed.
Ardern, Robertson and Hipkins did not impose a lockdown upon a reluctant nation. We were not helpless victims of an authoritarian regime sending troops into the streets. We wanted the firm hand. And we wanted it hard.
A poll by TVNZ in April 2020 had public support for Ardern’s strict approach at 88%. Over a year later another commissioned by The Spinoff, showed a similar level of enthusiasm for the steely headmistress approach.
Faced with the images from Wuhan, New York and northern Italy, we abandoned our stoic sense of self and whimpered behind Ardern’s scrubs and peered out nervously from our curtains least the germs caught us.
Looking back? We are ashamed. Regret being so timid. Claim that we were always against the mandates, lockdowns, even the vaccine itself. But, other than a few angry cranks and one intemperate Stuff columnist, New Zealand lined up behind the regime and complied with every diktat. The police set up a website so we could report on our neighbours. It crashed from overuse.
Nothing better demonstrates the abrogation of reason to fear than the nine days in March 2020 when the police were following orders from the Prime Ministers office without verifying if the Crown had the authority to give those orders. They didn’t. And no one, not the media, not the law society, nor even the opposition looked into the legality of what was being done. Save for one legend; Andrew Borrowdale.
When uncertainty was the price of liberty we ran towards Ardern’s authoritarian instincts. We cowered in place. We abandoned our collective humanity in preference for the illusion of safety.
Ultimately, these are subjective assessments and, consequently, the refusal of former ministers to become involved is understandable. If regrettable. But. New Zealand. We are in the middle of some revisionism. A game of collective amnesia. A willing self-delusion as to our actions and a desire to hold others to account for the sins we committed.
Ardern, Robertson and Hipkins did not impose a lockdown upon a reluctant nation. We were not helpless victims of an authoritarian regime sending troops into the streets. We wanted the firm hand. And we wanted it hard.
A poll by TVNZ in April 2020 had public support for Ardern’s strict approach at 88%. Over a year later another commissioned by The Spinoff, showed a similar level of enthusiasm for the steely headmistress approach.
Faced with the images from Wuhan, New York and northern Italy, we abandoned our stoic sense of self and whimpered behind Ardern’s scrubs and peered out nervously from our curtains least the germs caught us.
Looking back? We are ashamed. Regret being so timid. Claim that we were always against the mandates, lockdowns, even the vaccine itself. But, other than a few angry cranks and one intemperate Stuff columnist, New Zealand lined up behind the regime and complied with every diktat. The police set up a website so we could report on our neighbours. It crashed from overuse.
Nothing better demonstrates the abrogation of reason to fear than the nine days in March 2020 when the police were following orders from the Prime Ministers office without verifying if the Crown had the authority to give those orders. They didn’t. And no one, not the media, not the law society, nor even the opposition looked into the legality of what was being done. Save for one legend; Andrew Borrowdale.
When uncertainty was the price of liberty we ran towards Ardern’s authoritarian instincts. We cowered in place. We abandoned our collective humanity in preference for the illusion of safety.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes a question in the Beehive Theatrette during the Covid-19 pandemic response, on 31 August, 2021.Robert Kitchin / STUFF
Ardern, Hipkins and Robertson were caught up in the same moment. They, like us, responded to the hysteria and, even more difficult for us to accept, implemented the policies we demanded. Had Ardern not locked the country down her regime may not have lasted to the 2020 election and, when asked to give a verdict a supine nation abjected itself in our adoration of the strict headmistress.
We don’t want to acknowledge that now. We want to believe our heads were held high, not that we wore the masks, took the vaccine and tuned in with devotion to the podium of truth.
We preferred a lower death toll to liberty. And look. That wasn’t my preference but it was the collective will of the nation. And we got what we wanted. Lives were saved but we can’t know the how many but we do know the cost.
It’s four years on and we have buyer’s regret. We have turned on those who did our bidding. Blame Ardern and her ministers for our failings. For giving into fear rather than rising to the occasion.
Which is why the refusal to appear at the People’s Tribunal is perfect. We can take their non-appearance as validation of our projection. But let us not forget. Had a single large business, union or community group elected to defy the regime the lockdowns would have collapsed. There are not enough men at arms to corral those in a democratic state committed to civil disobedience.
Ardern was not a tyrant. She ruled a democratic nation exactly as it wished to be ruled. She gave us what we wanted. As did Grant Robertson. Adrian Orr. Chris Hipkins and especially Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
In 1775 American patriot Benjamin Franklin, frustrated at the governor of Pennsylvania’s reluctance to approve the cost of defending the colony against the French, declared; Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety......
..... The lockdowns were not done to us. We did it to ourselves.....The full article is published HERE
Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner, a member of the Taxpayers’ Union and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective
Ardern, Hipkins and Robertson were caught up in the same moment. They, like us, responded to the hysteria and, even more difficult for us to accept, implemented the policies we demanded. Had Ardern not locked the country down her regime may not have lasted to the 2020 election and, when asked to give a verdict a supine nation abjected itself in our adoration of the strict headmistress.
We don’t want to acknowledge that now. We want to believe our heads were held high, not that we wore the masks, took the vaccine and tuned in with devotion to the podium of truth.
We preferred a lower death toll to liberty. And look. That wasn’t my preference but it was the collective will of the nation. And we got what we wanted. Lives were saved but we can’t know the how many but we do know the cost.
It’s four years on and we have buyer’s regret. We have turned on those who did our bidding. Blame Ardern and her ministers for our failings. For giving into fear rather than rising to the occasion.
Which is why the refusal to appear at the People’s Tribunal is perfect. We can take their non-appearance as validation of our projection. But let us not forget. Had a single large business, union or community group elected to defy the regime the lockdowns would have collapsed. There are not enough men at arms to corral those in a democratic state committed to civil disobedience.
Ardern was not a tyrant. She ruled a democratic nation exactly as it wished to be ruled. She gave us what we wanted. As did Grant Robertson. Adrian Orr. Chris Hipkins and especially Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
In 1775 American patriot Benjamin Franklin, frustrated at the governor of Pennsylvania’s reluctance to approve the cost of defending the colony against the French, declared; Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety......
..... The lockdowns were not done to us. We did it to ourselves.....The full article is published HERE
Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner, a member of the Taxpayers’ Union and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective
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