On Friday, 25 February, in the High Court, Cooke J ruled that the vaccine mandates against the police and defence forces were illegal. This is a landmark ruling that proves something that we already knew: that vaccine mandates breach the Bill of Rights, which says that no New Zealander can be forced into any medical procedure against their will.
While the government has previously claimed that no one is actually being forced into taking the vaccine, seemingly ignoring the fact that many people became vaccinated to remain employed, Cooke J has thrown out that claim, stating that the government had no right to impose such mandates on police and defence personnel.
So how did Jacinda react to that? You may have expected her to be somewhat humbled by this ruling, as it proves that mandates have been unlawful all along, and what is more, the protesters at parliament have been right all along as well.
No. Not Jacinda.
Jacinda claimed that the judge did not say that vaccine mandates were not lawful. Instead, she claims that the judge says they are not needed anymore, because so many people have been vaccinated, including in the police and defence forces, meaning that the mandates are no longer necessary.
That is not what the judge said at all.
Cooke J ruled the Order unlawful because it was claimed to be a measure to limit the spread of Covid, but the advice received by the government prior to implementing the mandates was that forced vaccination was not required to slow the spread of the virus.
The ruling of Cooke proves that mandates were imposed in spite of medical advice rather than because of it.
Of course, it is quite possible to drive a 10-tonne truck through Jacinda’s logic. If that was what the judge was saying, then why has she not dropped all mandates immediately, seeing that the country has reached the milestone of 95% of adults vaccinated… even though we were told that 90% would be enough to reach herd immunity?
We all know the answer to that, it is because it was never about health.
This ruling may, of course, explain why she has dropped the regulations around expatriate New Zealanders being kept out of the country like a hot brick, as there are court cases coming up about that too. This is another breach of the Bill of Rights which says all New Zealanders must never be prevented from returning home. I cannot see how she can win that argument either but at least she has given up on that particular fight.
What scares me and saddens me most of all, is that all the fear is working really well. We are 2 years into the pandemic, and most of us are quite used to it all by now. Yet, travelling from Westport to Wellington on Tuesday, I was the only person on the plane (yes, a charter flight, only they forgot the champagne) and the pilot told me that things had been very quiet for the last 2 weeks.
On arrival in Wellington, the airport was very quiet but driving through to the Hutt Valley, I wondered at the massive queues everywhere – lines and lines of cars alongside Hataitai Park, and then further on in town, queues of pedestrians lining the street, suitably socially distanced, all waiting for COVID tests. These people are mad. Why is everyone so afraid? Omicron is milder than either Alpha or Delta and, in case nobody had noticed, the COVID restrictions are being lifted as we speak. And yet, everyone is too frightened to go anywhere except a testing station?
This is because we have had two years of conditioning. We were told that thousands would die. Now that the rest of the world is opening up, it seems many of us feel that it is our turn to get a lot of cases and a lot of deaths. Well, certainly, we are getting a lot of cases, but that’s Omicron for you. As for deaths… well, there may well be a few more, but whether or not they are deaths from Omicron is something that we will probably never know. And that is probably just the way the government wants it.
The insanity has to stop. The lies, the spin from the government is all designed to make people afraid, and it is working. But what have we been telling you for months now? Don’t scan, don’t wear masks and above all, don’t get tested. I even read something the other day telling people to get tested, even if they think it might only be hay fever. I suffer badly from hay fever but I know the difference between hay fever and a cold. They are completely different and hay fever requires no COVID test.
The only way we will win is when we stop being afraid. From what I saw on my journey today, we still have a long way to go, thanks to this government. They want to stay in control so they spin every detail that comes their way.