OPINION
Will a new government, an unprecedented three-party coalition, be sufficient to halt the destructive tendencies begun under John Key but thrust into warp speed by the Ardern Government? Will it have the fortitude to unwind the legislation supporting our continued destruction?
Jacinda Ardern broke the law during Covid by locking us down and preventing New Zealanders from returning home; she forced the experimental mRNA jab on us and set family and friends at war with each other; she shoved te reo down our throats and re-labelled government departments and signage to accommodate a language most of us will never learn. But this divisive behaviour didn’t stop when Ardern’s evil regime ended. Its insidious tentacles are embedded in our legislation and legislative processes.
Ardern’s statement, a very broad brushstroke – “They are us” – didn’t pass the test of time and sounds much worse today. Try saying “They are us” to Jewish survivors of the Hamas attacks near the Gazan border on 7 October.
What about that ridiculous display of head coverings worn by Ardern and her followers as a sign of respect for Muslims after Christchurch? Where are the images of NZ men donning the brimless Jewish hat in support of Israel after the Hamas terror attack? The notion is laughable but what is not funny is the worldwide rise of anti-semitism.
“There’s a very disturbing and quite precipitous rise in anti-semitism around the world and New Zealand is not immune.”
Juliet Moses, New Zealand Jewish Council Spokesperson
New Zealand used to be a country based on Christian ethics until they were slowly and very quietly laid to rest; replaced by multiculturalism, diversity, discord and a toxic environment with little regard for traditional Christian values like respect, honesty and truth.
No one needs to tell Christians to love their fellow man; it’s part of our inherent values and beliefs, so Ardern’s insistence on the outward show of affinity with Muslims was a slap in the face for Christians who would never do other than support the persecuted and trampled-on.
The transformation of New Zealand, from a society based on Christian ethics where people are treated equally irrespective of race, religion, sex or age, and the poor and down on their luck are fed, clothed and housed, into a partisan society riddled with crime and fraught with angry people, requires careful evaluation.
New Zealand has largely lost its Christian ethics and the result is mayhem and financial ruin.
Highly trained and competent New Zealander nurses were thrown on the scrap heap during Covid. They haven’t returned, making me wonder what other valuable employees in short supply in other environments also won’t return due to the toxicity.
Nearly half the country’s nurses are not working as nurses, with some even taking jobs in supermarkets or on road gangs in preference to healthcare.
Te Whatu Ora is keen to persuade some back to the front lines to help fill chronic shortages.
However, one former nurse said returning to work in the health system would be like going back into an “abusive marriage“.
Amanda Homewood walked away from nursing in 2021 after nearly four decades. She has made a conscious decision to let her practising certificate lapse to safeguard her own health and wellbeing, in case she is tempted to go back.
“I know there are heaps of really amazing nurses and others in the health system who are really on their knees and I’ve struggled with leaving them and coming out of the fray,” she said. “I’ve felt quite guilty at times over that.”
Homewood said she loved most of her 37 years nursing but the underfunded system – and what it was doing to patients and staff – grounded her down.
“Until the system is fixed, I wouldn’t go back to it, it would be like going back into an abusive marriage, to be honest, that’s how it felt by the end. It was like a toxic relationship.”
Other valuable New Zealand employees simply left the country.
Stats NZ provisionally reported record numbers of New Zealanders departing for greener pastures overseas, replaced by an astounding and record number of incoming migrants.
An annual net gain of 121,600 non-New Zealand citizens is a 353 per cent increase on the year ended June 2022. That’s unheard of.
In March 2019 the Ardern Government “rebalanced” immigration to “support its plan for a higher-productivity, higher-wage economy, as it moves to fully reconnect with the world by 31 July 2022.”
The shortage of highly skilled workers was a problem of the government’s own making but making it “easier to attract high skilled migrants” and “support sectors to develop more productive and resilient workforces” hasn’t worked either. We are still desperately short of trained medical staff.
The last election provides the answer to the question of how well the government’s drive to recruit overseas workers went with the New Zealand public.
In April this year, the government expandeded the list of jobs on its Green List of skill shortages in the delivery of health services. Another too little, too late attempt.
It’s ironic that a government that treated its highly skilled workers so badly that they left the profession or moved overseas to avoid working for them would expect to solve the problem by increased migration.
What a mess, and this is just one issue for the incoming government to fix. I hope they’ve eaten their Weet-Bix.