If we needed any further proof we have a complete idiot running the country we have it now. Ardern’s Coronavirus Captain’s Call is grandstanding in the worst possible way. Once again she makes a shameless attempt to grab world headlines. Another nod to the UN and WHO signalling what a strong leader she is. She can make the BIG decisions.
Now this may seem somewhat harsh, but consider the practicalities of the ramifications of her decisions. In the tourism sector, cruise ships are easy to control in that they are simply told not to come. No need to worry about self-isolation. Airlines are a different story altogether. According to Ardern, anyone who comes into the country has to self isolate. If they are tourists how will she know where they are staying and how will she stop them moving around? How do they get from the airport to where they are staying without coming into contact with another person. Does that person then have to self isolate? Can you take the Sky Bus? Or are you supposed to walk home with your luggage? These questions will probably be answered by people simply not coming.
When asked how she would keep track of those supposed to be in self-isolation, her answer was spot checks. And if they’re not at the address, then what? Have the police waste time trying to find them? And if they find them will they be arrested and sent to jail to infect our prison population? This is worse than pathetic. There is just no effective way of policing her decisions. Some might even be tempted to make a game of avoiding whomever might be the poor sods who have the ridiculous task of doing the spot checks.
As Heather du Plessis-Allan points out, this is a Prime Minister who has dithered for weeks and, in order to look strong, has likely made a purely political decision to bring in far more stringent rules than anyone expected. In doing so she will manage to bankrupt the country in half the time than otherwise would have been the case. The economic impact will be huge compounded by the fact she has a finance minister who is ill-equipped to deal with the fallout.
Ardern’s problem is that, with her captain’s calls, she never thinks through the consequences. This is oil and gas all over again. These are sweeping decisions with all sorts of negative results. There is no doubt that the numbers of Coronavirus cases will be lowered as a result but so will a lot of other numbers – economic ones. It may turn out to be the case that the economic numbers do more damage than the virus.
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