Category: Democracy
The return of COVID-19 community transmission, with Auckland back in a level 3 lockdown and the rest of New Zealand at level 2, raises real questions about New Zealand’s upcoming general election.
As we look to the election, a major question on the mind of most voters is which government will best manage New Zealand out of the current crisis – one led by Labour or National.
While many of the adverse effects of cannabis use are well recognised, the adverse respiratory effects are not. Cannabis is much more damaging to the lungs than tobacco: one cannabis joint is equivalent to between 2.5 and 5 tobacco cigarettes for adverse effects on lung function and in terms of lung cancer risk, it is similar to 20 tobacco cigarettes.
No doubt the middle classes who fashionably use cannabis for recreation will happily bear the extra costs of their habit and also be relieved that their reputations are no longer at risk from prosecution. The harm that is being done with the growth of the cannabis, meth and heroin markets elsewhere is to them someone else’s problem.
Scaremongering is, of course, not uncommon, but what is surprising is how blind societies are to recognising when fear is being used as a tool for political persuasion.
On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years.
Looking forward, strengthening the welfare system to ensure the unemployed take on available jobs must be a Government priority – as must growing the economy.
The links between welfare dependence from birth and poor, if not disastrous outcomes for children, have now been well-explored by institutions like AUT and Treasury.
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.
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