Dear Editor
Ever heard the story of Emperor Nero burning down Rome? The story goes that he fiddled while it fell to ashes. They say he set it on fire himself. A myth on the fiddling part maybe, but Rome did burn.
New Zealand’s government is effectively willfully burning down Auckland economically and the rest of New Zealand risks going down with it. Let’s look at the facts, shall we?
- 89% of Auckland businesses are having to take up the wage subsidy.
- 1 in 5 businesses won’t survive another lockdown – that translates to lockdown extensions, too, of any length.
- Around 50% of Auckland businesses are closed.
- Many more are operating at well below what they should: at 10% to 50% – enough to possibly just survive this.
- Construction is in dire straits. Service people can’t get into buildings.
- Farmers have struggled to be able to get through Auckland to feed their stock.
- Beekeepers have lost a couple of million bees (aren’t we supposed to be saving bees?)
- Tourism across the country is suffering further.
- Citizens are in danger of losing houses they can no longer afford payments on.
- Oh, and provisional tax payments are due for many at the end of August.
Do our politicians need to be told what happens when an economy sinks into the sea? There’s no money for medicine or health. There is no business. There are no jobs.
Do we have to tell them that this isn’t sustainable? It’s not even remotely sustainable! If the Auckland economy crashes so will New Zealand.
And COVID Policy? The virus is here to stay (at least until it plays itself out). Look at Australia. Look at Europe. Look around the world. Switzerland and Sweden get it.
The NZ government needs to change its COVID policy and end lockdowns. Aucklanders are so over this. Stop looking at how many cases there are and start looking at how many deaths and hospitalisations there aren’t. Like in normal times. Just like we would do for any other illness. If we continue to set this precedent as a way of dealing with infectious disease going forward, no one’s going to want to live here.
As it is, the international community is starting to turn on New Zealand’s elimination policy and there are business owners, I’m hearing from who are looking to leave New Zealand unless something changes. With rolling lockdowns, isolation and closed borders as ongoing COVID policy, it simply isn’t a practical environment for most businesses. Nor for citizens with close family overseas.
LH
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