The 120 individuals who occupy their expensive leather seats in what they like to call “this place” have only themselves to blame for the mayhem, chaos and violence that brought the Wellington protest to an end. These are 120 individuals who decided to put themselves above the people they were elected to represent.
They gave every appearance of only being concerned about their own well being. The people who first arrived in the protest were those who were genuinely concerned that the mandates were costing them their jobs, their businesses and their livelihoods. People who wanted to work, people who wanted to contribute to both their prosperity and that of the country. They wanted to put their case and be heard. Instead, they got a soaking and loud music from a bully boy who doesn’t have the maturity to know any better. The man is a disgrace to his office and has tarnished it in a way that history will not forget.
I am not surprised that the motley crew that make up the left in Parliament ignored them but I expected more from the right. Immediately after they arrived I would have expected Messers Luxon and Seymour to have been down there sorting out who to talk to. Both had nothing to lose and everything to gain even though they weren’t in a position to actually remove the mandates.
What they could have done, and should have done, was listen and then offer to take their concerns to the Government.
The excuse they gave for not talking to them that it was too confusing because they didn’t know who the leaders were just doesn’t wash. I soon found out who they were and I wasn’t even there. I thought National and ACT were parties who actually cared about people and jobs. Apparently not.
Seeing politicians gazing out of their ivory tower windows at people who, unlike themselves, had lost their income, was frankly sickening. I have no idea what sort of message they thought they were sending to the country as a whole, many of whom had the same concerns as the genuine protestors.
It beggars belief that our politicians could have made so many basic misjudgments. Again, it is entirely believable on the left where the combined intelligence of the whole 69 would be lucky to match that of Sleepy Joe Biden. However, I was shocked, although perhaps I shouldn’t have been, that the right, for the umpteenth time, fell in line with Ardern. I have news for Messers Luxon and Seymour.
We on the right are fed up with this behaviour. You look like two puppets on a string.
You have done yourselves no favours with your core voters by acting in this manner. The initial genuine protestors dealt you a winning hand. All you had to do was hear their concerns and take them to the Government. When the Government refused to remove the mandates that was your golden opportunity to take Ardern on. Instead, you chose to do nothing and effectively decided to get into bed with the Labour Party.
You cannot ignore ordinary people with genuine concerns, especially concerns brought about by decisions made by Parliament. It is your basic duty as a party leader and an MP to listen to those concerns.
While mayhem was playing out around the politicians what were they concerned about? One of the things was a debate on the most important topic of having a Zoom parliament in order to prevent anyone from catching an Omicron cold.
What sort of world are these people living in? It appears we have a hermit parliament within our hermit kingdom.
During the debate the day after the protest ended I didn’t hear one party leader attempt to take even a skerrick of the blame for what happened. The nearest was David Seymour bravely ticking Mallard off for his childish pranks.
Politicians now have a job to do and that is to prove that they are up to the task they were elected for. If they think that, by not meeting with people who have been disadvantaged by their decision making, they are representing the country as a whole, they are wrong.
Messers Luxon and Seymour should be aware and take note that, on a poll run by the BFD, 80% of respondents now don’t know where to put their party vote. I am one of them. This country, thanks to our politicians, is in a very sorry state. It is divided and many of us don’t feel listened to.
The people we elected to Parliament must take responsibility for the mess this country is in. It will not be solved by the Opposition toddling along in Ardern’s shadow. The Opposition has to look like they are independent and acting in the interests of ordinary Kiwis. Acting the way they have in regard to the protest casts doubts on how effective they will be, for example, in repealing legislation when in Government. I feel this is the point being made by those who took part in the BFD poll. The Opposition can ignore it at their peril.
As of now, our politicians look like a self-absorbed and out of touch elite.