Wendy
The final cut of the umbilical cord from the EU this weekend had Britons in partying mode. One of the key reasons Brexit finally came about was the ability to control their borders and not be at the behest of the EU. Over the decades Britain has had to deal with the fallout of undesirables landing on their shores causing rising crime and problems for their authorities.
However, Boris Johnson, the man who crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s on the agreement, is not someone our political leaders hold in high regard. According to David Parker and Jacinda Ardern, wanting control of his borders and a safer country for his people makes him a populist and that is a dirty word.
Richard Harman puts his stake firmly in the ground when he opines in his article on Ardern in Politik “There is not the negativity in New Zealand that can spawn a Trump, Boris Johnson or even a Scott Morrison.”
Not so fast, Richard, waiting in the wings is a party which believes in stronger border controls, not United Nation controlled migrant pacts and allowing overstaying economic migrants to play hide and seek with the authorities in plain sight, privately condoned by the PM.
“I think that we’ve always seen our role as one that supports institutions [read UN] that give voice to large and small nations equally,” says a euphemistic Ardern in the article, which indicates that her concern about our safety does not reach a level that I am comfortable with. She is happy to put decisions about our immigration in the hands of a large global body which may ultimately decide who immigrates here. Scary indeed.
National is not ‘populist’ or ‘negative’, it is conservative and keen to provide security for New Zealanders. That popular stance gives them high poll ratings even in opposition, the consistently highest of any opposition in history. And the ‘tribal’ thing the left speak of with such distaste exists on both sides of the political divide because we like to protect our different beliefs. But in their narrow view, only those not on their side are ‘tribal’ because of course, the conservative group is bigger and badder! For god’s sake, a family in its own way is tribal, supporting and protecting each other. Is that a bad thing too?
Is Harman in such awe of this “international figure” (his words) that there is no need for probing or questioning as her word is law? My interpretation is that her globalist aspirations for more open borders will give a wider range of people the option to move here and we can presumably all live in harmony. This is an ill-advised idea lacking logic, reason or common sense.
In reality, this has resulted in Labour and NZ First agreeing, at the Greens’ insistence, to include refugees from parts of the world where terrorism exists, sometimes with state approval, and to Gerry Brownlee voicing his concern that some undesirables may slip through border security.
National must ignore the constant use of ‘racism’ by Green party bully Golriz Ghahraman to shut us all up and guilt us into agreeing with her, and assure us they will be taking tougher measures with borders and will re-examine the refugee policy change. This could be another key platform for re-election, ‘a safer NZ’. It could replace the infrastructure policy that Jacinda didn’t steal from them.
It is interesting to note, Winston Peters, when in opposition, was often in the House advocating for strict controls on immigration, focusing on NZ’s security, employment needs and immigrants fitting in with our values and way of life. Political expediency apparently caused a backflip.
Harman speaks as though Ardern is some sort of magician with a magic wand: “She wants to change the way the world does politics”. And what might those changes be Jacinda? Forcing us to take people who may be undesirable and cause security problems for our authorities? All to appease the radical left in her party who believe we are denying refugees their human rights and we are racist if we don’t accept them from all parts of the world, without question?
Ardern must constantly feel panic attacks coming on reflecting on the results in recent years of the US, UK and Australian elections where all those stupid tribal people voted for ‘populist’ governments which, of course, it is the left’s duty to reverse.
Further complications for our Prime Minister are her emotive and ideological approach to her job which has seen our steel industry denied the benefits of US tariff cuts that our friends Canada and Australia are now enjoying. A thin-skinned US president, always courteous to Ardern, has been a target of her immature public ridicule, so predictably gave us the cold shoulder.
Like the Democrats who have already said that they will not accept Trump’s acquittal, despite their flawed case, Jacinda will never accept that the current status quo is simply the will of the people, brought about by a thing called democracy.
When you see Ardern meeting Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison, shaking hands and smiling, it will be through gritted teeth.
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