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
13 comments:
But this focus of this inquiry isn't the first lockdown. I still agree with that lockdown. The problem there wasn't the lockdown itself but the governmen's unpreparedness, given it had two months warning.
The problem was also what happened after that? Why did we not get more ICU beds, and why did we have the second lowest in the OECD? Why did we have the slowest vaccine rollout in the OECD (clue, it had something to do with racism)? Why did we lock out our citizens from our country, while Jacinda's wedding DJ (who was British) and Ricardo Menéndez March's new boyfriend (from Peru) could come in and out as they pleased? Why didn't lockdown restrictions apply to gangs or Hone Harawera? What did Jacinda's covid relief payments of $500,000.00 for each marae have to do with covid? Etc, etc, etc.
Thank you Damien, this is the truth. I expect a government to behave badly, but I did not expect my fellow countrymen to. Society and trust destroyed for a generation, for what?
What a load of rubbish!
We're not doctors so when a senior doctor comes on tv telling us there is a substantial risk of mass death from a pandemic, and the cure is a vaccine, we're in no position to argue.
In fact, i attended a meeting which consulted Dr des gorman on whether to take the vaccine, his reply was an emphatic yes.
So... my judgement was to follow the hither to righteous advice from doctors and our government.
It took a month of observation and research to uncover the "covid is merely a flu" truth!
So the rats who betrayed our trust to successfully enrich themselves with our money, must be tried and held to account, otherwise the next Clark advised Labour government will steal more of our money.
You Damien understand the power of forensic audits so pls use your columns to press Mr Luxon for a forensic audit to discover who got our $74.4b covid spend.
The auditor general looked and couldn't figure it out.
Why doesn't he look again? The answer is sitting there.
I’m sorry Damien, but are you suggesting that Ardern’s government wasn’t withholding information from the public and instead choosing to spend vast amounts of taxpayer’s money on nudge units, censorship of alternative views, and proven psychological techniques to increase the public’s level of fear to ensure compliance?
The government had an original pandemic plan that would have worked perfectly for a virus like this, but they chose to go a different way (I’m guessing to ensure we all agreed to buying multi-millions of dollars’ worth of vaccines that may or may not have indirectly enriched the people in power).
The government had access to the true data and research that the public was denied access to (eg that masks don’t work for a virus that is small enough to get through the tiny holes, eg that a healthy lifestyle and some off-the-shelf medication, including Vitamin D, could have improved the natural immunity or reduced the severity of illness for some, eg that keeping a certain distance from each other makes no difference at all to the spread of the virus, eg that visiting a supermarket is no greater risk to your health than visiting a small greengrocer…..).
When they were advised by experts that lockdowns could be ended and the borders reopened, the government chose instead to keep us for extended periods under lock & key, purely to show that they had this power over us.
Instead of sharing the true situation with the public and therefore allowing us to make informed decisions about our health, the government chose to promulgate incorrect ‘information’ that only led to increase the frenzy of fear and hence compliance to the Podium of Truth.
So, please, when you suggest that the public overwhelmingly supported Ardern’s policies, why don’t you look at the facts: that the queen of PR spin engineered it that way.
quite right June but I wish more commenters would ask why the Clark advised Ardern Labour government hierarchy did what they did.
H Clark knew Ardern's actions certainly weren't going to give her a prime ministerial term long enough to solve child poverdy.
So come on Damien and Mr Luxon.
Let's have a forensic audit of the $74.4b covid spend to find out who got our money!
Well said Damien. I get sick of the pathetic attempts to gaslight our COVID response from armchair experts who wouldn't know a virus from a vampire. Adern followed the science which was the only thing she could have done The people understood that lockdowns and vaccine mandates were essential to prevent the total collapse of the public health system, and rewarded Adern with a second term. History proves the measures adopted worked, and saved thousands of lives. And doesn't that that just get up the nose of the tiny minority who think they know better than the experts. They perfectly demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect, and as I have commented elsewhere today, they illustrate Mark Twain's famous aphorism that it's better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Have to agree with balanced comments. Follow the money, ours is gone, who has it?
And the lockdowns were an egregious act to manipulate power away from the people to the then Labour govt. A little social experiment.
The “lockdown” issue is really just a proxie for the wild government overreach. While I agree the country (myself included) were originally calling for after harder lockdowns there are a couple of points to keep in mind. The danger was intentionally inflated across the world. People were largely all on board until the jab mandates.
I don’t think JA would have got a second term if she’d run on “forced experimental medicine for all” in fact she said the opposite. Sad hipkins is still trying to insist that “no one was forced”
Tell that to those that lost their jobs due to refusing the mandate or becoming too injured to work.
Everyone would agree that the Covid response was an extraordinary response. As such it requires extraordinary examination to see if New Zealanders interests were first and foremost or if something else was going on…..
What about the thousands of medical staff, who acquired exemption
from the vaccine , on condition they kept their mouth shut ?They were not an ignorant minority . Also everyday more evidence is coming out that the vaccine made you more likely to die. This is one of many results from one recent reputable Japanese research team.
Yes , 11,500 medical staff exempted while others in uniforms were forced into complying at risk of losing their jobs, careers, or myocarditus.
Where did the money go ?
Look at the media for a start - the $350M paid to them to broadcast covid messages in fabricated maori - when each and every maori in NZ perfectly understood the English version.
Public corruption at the highest level.
Goebbels would be grinning from ear to ear.
Seems to me there are many who need to read the following.
THE PEOPLE'S POSITION COVID-19 LESSONS LEARNED | PHASE TWO Special Report: New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry
Free download. Website can be found with a simple search.
Wake up NZers, we were lied to by the ratbag lot who are now better known as the “covid-cowards” …………. the team of twelve.
In a global view much of the criticism of this or that reflected politics and the various media slants. One example being the outrage at Bojo for initially thinking of avoiding lockdowns and trying herd immunity. Sweden which had a leftwing govt tried a targetted approach of what seems to be basically herd immunity. It copped no tough msm criticism although there were 18,000 deaths blamed on covid out of 8 million or so people. Of course, Some defenders of that approach say it was more justified in Sweden because it has a better welfare state. Better than here too . Using the figures pro rata we would have had about 10,000 or so deaths, simplistic i know. How would people here have reacted to a Swedish approach? Maybe I am wrong but the opposition would have had a field day.
Damien is right. But could I say that if Des Gorman recommended vaccines, that's what 99% of Drs would have done. He did actually oppose aspects of the lockdowns as too humanly damaging. He died recently, but not of anything vaccine or Covid related.
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