Category: Economic Issues
With the PM pitching for a second term on the basis of her track record of managing the virus crisis, let’s do a quick stocktake on how the two main parties have responded to pandemics - National the swine flu in 2009, and Labour Covid-19,
Is New Zealand’s Covid-19 track record really the envy of the world? And did Ms Ardern’s Captain’s Calls improve or worsen the outcome? With Parliament suspended during the crisis, the Prime Minister adroitly leveraged her celebrity status and thespian talent.
Minister Parker’s claim that the changes he introduced represent a “significant milestone in reforming the RMA that would reduce complexity, increase certainty … and makes significant improvements to environmental outcomes” is a gross misrepresentation - an absurdity that is patently untrue.
Consenting processes are already slow enough and councils are hardly well positioned to assess the carbon effects of anything. Consultants providing climate impact assessments may do well, but it won’t help New Zealand’s net emissions where those emissions are already covered under the ETS.
So, there we have it – an evidence-based narrative indicating New Zealand could have managed the virus by sticking with the Ministry of Health’s advice to stay at Level 2. Like Australia, we could have pulled through without needing an “ineffective” lockdown that has wrecked the economy and created devastating consequences for so many New Zealanders.
In terms of the recent past, the ineffectiveness of lockdowns implies that New Zealand suffered large output losses, of ten billion dollars or more, for no likely benefit in terms of lives saved as a result of the decision to move almost immediately from Level 2 to Level 4... Any claim that lockdown was necessary to save lives can be treated with strong scepticism.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is now looking foolish after thousands of people took to the streets in protest on Monday, thumbing their nose at her lockdown rules, while the Police watched on doing nothing.
Progressing the Treaty ‘partnership’ agenda has been a key priority of Labour. As a result, the rights of those who identify as Maori are being elevated above those of all other New Zealanders, undermining the concept of equal rights upon which our democracy is based.
Jacinda Ardern is transforming New Zealand into a socialist state. And the tragedy is that most people are completely unaware that it is happening.
The only way for the community to generate greater income is through job creation and productivity growth. This has to come overwhelmingly from the private sector.
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