This government seems oblivious to what is going on in Auckland. We are supposed to be in level three but the reality is quite the opposite. There is no level three, apart from the closure of businesses, not even remotely level two. In my neck of the woods around the village, there is just one big traffic jam. Cars, trucks, motorbikes and boats are all jamming up the road. To Ardern, Robertson, Hipkins and the conglomeration of modellers and health experts here’s some advice: you are all wasting your time.
The fact is, nobody is now interested in the plaintive pleas to keep in your bubble, picnic with a maximum of ten from two households, don’t use the inside loo and don’t chat to your neighbour. These and other kindergarten edicts are insults to those of us lucky enough to have been blessed with some grey matter. This nonsense is nothing more than a cover-up for a government whose lack of talent has been severely exposed by Covid.
Encouraging people to get vaccinated is fair enough, but on its own it falls far short of what is required. That in itself, is not a plan. A plan is an all-encompassing roadmap with a defining course of action showing the how and the when. In Auckland, where such a plan is sorely needed, there is none to be seen and this can only be due to the government’s inability to construct one.
This government should be thrown out for what amounts to sheer negligence.
If it were a private company it would by now be in receipt of a court summons. This incompetent regime is allowing private businesses to go to the wall. Not one MP in this government has so far recognised this – or if they have, they have yet to do one solitary thing about it. They keep saying they’re business-friendly. Well let me be clear: Being friendly is of little use when you don’t understand anything about business, which clearly they don’t.
The Finance Minister seems to think his wage subsidy ($600 per week for a full time employee) is sufficient. It will help a little for a short time by keeping employees employed but the employer is required to pay 80% of the usual wages. Meaning – most employers are having to top up the wage subsidy while still paying rates, rent, power, insurance and all the other monthly outgoings. How does Grant Robertson think these people are coping with no money coming in? Giving little to no assistance to business owners is hardly friendly.
Of course, the government gets to pick its friends to support. Who can stay open and who gets the real grants. Like the media, the blowhards who contribute nothing to the productivity of the country. There seems to be plenty of our money to throw at them to keep the narrative flowing. If most of them had been left to go out of business like everyone else, the country would be better off. Buying the media is socialism at its worst: The key to keeping the government’s fear factor alive.
It worked the first time around. We were all fearful of the unknown. But not so much this time. We’ve moved on. Unfortunately the government hasn’t. Its pitiful rules are falling on deaf ears in Auckland.
For all the pain inflicted on Auckland business, the worst of Covid is clearly yet to come. They’ve painted themselves into a corner where whatever they do they will cop a backlash. The lockdown has to stop at some point: sooner rather than later if the rest of the world is anything to go by.
It is inconceivable that shops will be closed in the lead up to Christmas and regardless of what government does, there will still be more Covid. This will raise the obvious question about the value of lockdowns and why businesses have been forced to miss out on months of trading. For what?
Is it really all just a deliberate ploy to implement a Marxist agenda?
Using fear to control the population is a trademark of socialist governments and Ardern’s history and background suggest she’s well schooled in the techniques.
The politicians and their advisers live in a sheltered world where the weekly pay cheque rolls in regardless and responsibility and accountability seem to be neither required nor understood.
By and large, Aucklanders getting on with their daily lives while they wait for the retail sector to open. They are largely ignoring the pontifications from the pulpit and really have had enough. What they want is a plan from the government and in the absence of one are making their own. They do realise that no matter what they do, the case numbers will rise and they are now awake to the fact that living with Covid is the only realistic option.
It’s past time the government did likewise.
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