Category: Democracy
Instead of locking down the nation and trying to stamp out a virus that cannot effectively be contained, we should be quarantining and supporting those who are vulnerable to keep them safe, while enabling the rest of society to get back to normal. Within a month or so, it should be safe for those vulnerable groups to re-enter society, and to re-open our borders.
Fear of widespread infection in the community of a virulent disease is now sufficient to lock people up in their homes and suspend Parliament. Really! This not the first such plague to affect New Zealand and it will not be the last. Yet this is the first time our civil liberties and our democracy have been suspended in order to minimise its effect on public health.
With all of the indecision, contradictions, and failure to follow the lead of countries that have controlled the virus without destroying their economies, one can’t help but feel our leaders are making this crisis deeper than was necessary.
German immunologist and toxicologist Professor Stefan Hockertz says, “Covid-19 is no more dangerous than influenza, but is simply observed much more closely. More dangerous than the virus is the fear and panic created by the media and the ‘authoritarian reaction’ of many governments.”
Any restrictions anywhere in New Zealand on public movement under COVID-19 Level 4 national emergency criteria should apply equally everywhere and to everybody, regardless of race, and only be imposed and enforced by legitimate authorities of the state and not Maori amateurs.
The 2020 general election will be held on Saturday September 19th. It will give New Zealanders the opportunity to vote, not only for those we want to govern the country for the next three years, but also on whether we want cannabis and euthanasia to be legalised.
Without a doubt Sian Elias’ Ngati Apa judgement was unprecedented judicial activism. And that’s the problem with judicial activism – the public are left to pick up the pieces. So here we are, almost 20 years later, facing multiple tribal claims for the country’s entire coastline. The first ones will be heard this year...
In Britain and much of the west, the risible pretence is maintained that the religion has nothing to do with Islamic extremism. From the moment this threat emerged in Britain more than three decades ago, the establishment has refused to acknowledge that what we are facing is Islamic holy war, rooted in religious doctrines which are as genuine as they are contestable.
That’s the tragedy of tribalism - vulnerable Maori families have become pawns in a complex revenue stream that relies on the number of people experiencing disadvantage increasing. Now the former Maori Party co-leader Dame Tariana Turia appears intent on using them to help her resurrect the fortunes of the party she founded.
In that spirit of unity Prime Minister Norman Kirk insisted that the day of celebration should be called New Zealand Day – a day for all New Zealanders to observe our different identities and the sense of nationhood that brought us together. He wanted to ensure the day was owned by everyone, irrespective of race or heritage.
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