Matt King
Farmer, community advocate, critical thinker
Northland is home. As a former police officer, detective and small business owner, I understand the local issues. I had the privilege of serving as the MP for Northland from 2017-20, which allowed me to connect with people from all walks of life across the length and breadth of the electorate. While I am not a sitting MP this term, I am still deeply committed to our region and our people. In addition to the various roles I have held, I have been a farmer for more than three decades. I am an independent thinker, and I believe in having a strong voice to advocate for the issues that matter.
COVID-19 has dominated the news in New Zealand since March 2020, and the physical bubbles seem to have created some mental bubbles too. The 1 pm podium updates started off as “news” – and have progressively turned into inspiration for a wide array of memes. Yet, so many are willing to blindly believe what those same podium updates tell us, without thinking critically for even a moment. Without looking beneath the surface. Without thinking beyond the next podium update – let alone, as far as a post-pandemic world.
Needless to say, we are lagging behind as a country. Even our closest neighbour, Australia has moved on – they have reopened their doors to friends and family separated for nearly two years. They will see loved ones reunited this Christmas. We in New Zealand on the other hand, are wondering what life will be like with our domestic borders open again – never mind international borders.
This Government is renowned for its divisive methodology – divide and conquer is their modus operandi. Urban vs rural, North Island vs South Island, Auckland vs the rest of the country, Maori vs non-Maori – and now, vaccinated vs non-vaccinated. And the urge to find a scapegoat when something goes wrong to deflect any trace of blame is always strong. Remember the unfortunate KFC person blamed for spreading COVID when the Health Minister struggled to comply with regulations himself? Hypocrisy at its best. The “Be Kind” slogan has become nothing more than a catchphrase.
A few days ago, I did a Facebook Live with an experienced epidemiologist, Simon Thornley. In the video, I made it clear that we were not going to talk about vaccines or treatments, instead – we were going to discuss scientific data on the facts, stats and patterns of COVID and other respiratory illnesses, such as the seasonal flu.
True to form, mainstream media chose to run this as an anti-vax story and attempted to malign Simon’s reputation, and mine. Because we chose to discuss something that goes against the Government’s narrative, certain people in society chose to cancel what we were discussing – they chose to cancel and discredit because they are used to only one source of information now, and one way of thinking.
The last time I checked, we still lived in a democratic nation. A country where freedom is cherished and freedom of speech is valued. The key to democracy is scrutiny – often from the media, in order to develop best practices. However, our mainstream media is failing to do its job.
Critical thinking is critical to evolution – whether it be an evolution in thinking or planning. If we do not discuss and debate from different perspectives, we are doing ourselves an injustice.
I invited Rod Jackson to join Simon and me for a Facebook Live after the Radio New Zealand story and his subsequent disparaging comments of Simon – however, he declined. Here we have someone, employed by the taxpayer (Government officials are paid by us, everyday Kiwis who pay tax), with a microphone and camera at his disposal. A complete imbalance of power and he knows how to abuse it when slagging off a colleague. To discredit a fellow professional in the way he has is cowardly especially if he refuses to front up and debate the topics in an open and transparent forum – such as the Facebook Live opportunity that I offered him.
Two epidemiologists, two points of view – one robust discussion. Let the public decide.
I am not a medical professional, but I am an independent and critical thinker. As a former detective, I seek answers and I unravel layers of information to get to the truth. As a former elected MP (I lost by 163 votes – the smallest margin in the country, noting I was a first-term MP too), I still receive queries from constituents because no one else is willing to listen. In a democracy, everyone deserves to have their voice heard – and even if we might not agree with or like what is being said, valid concerns and questions, particularly ones that involve an individual’s health and medical treatment, deserve a fair hearing and response. I am inherently a problem-solver.
My position from the start has been that our COVID response needs to be multi-layered – vaccinations are a part of the response, not the only response. You don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
There are people who cannot get vaccinated, and some who feel uneasy about getting the COVID vaccine. Belittling them and shunning them from society is unacceptable. I ask, how are the unvaccinated any risk to the vaccinated when the COVID vaccine does not:
- stop you from getting COVID
- stop you from transmitting COVID
- give you 100% chance of not ending up on a ventilator (see efficacy for original strain, Alpha and Delta strains)
- provide protection longer than six months?
Given all these reasons, and the shambolic vaccine roll-out (like everything Labour attempts), we need other measures in place to mitigate any risk the four factors above present.
I am asking what we can add to the COVID response toolkit in addition to vaccinations. That makes me a practical realist – not an anti-vaxxer. Mainstream media and members of society would prefer to cancel any discussion on this because the Government has promised absolute freedom at some point in the future if you are vaccinated.
They haven’t specified when or for how long, but the hazy details with a chance of freedom has created a sense of desperation.
Let’s learn from other countries’ successes and stumbling blocks, so we can develop the most robust and effective strategy for our country to be able to reopen and rebuild. Mainstream media and members of society routinely attempt to cancel any notion of treatments, “opening up” or taking lockdowns off the table, because the fear that has been generated to control our country for so long now urges people to cancel any such premise of “moving on”.
If our desire to discuss, debate and develop successful economic and health strategies – in conjunction with a diverse group of experts, means we get cancelled, we have a serious issue in understanding what the term democracy means.
It is time we cancelled cancel culture – because it is preventing us from being open-minded critical thinkers. It is only through an exchange of knowledge and information that we can innovate and punch above our weight like the true Kiwi trailblazers we are known to be.