The outcome of the harshest lockdowns in Australasia is now apparent in Victoria and New Zealand. Both placed their citizens under virtual house arrest for many weeks and shut down business on a mass scale. It is no surprise that Victoria and New Zealand are ruled by people representing the hard left of politics. Neither Daniel Andrews or Jacinda Ardern have spent any time working in the private sphere, both having spent their working life as political staffers and as MPs.
The fallout is now underway. Quarantine in Melbourne and New Zealand has been shambolic. Hearings now taking place in Melbourne paint a dismal picture of mismanagement on a grand scale. Only a government and public servants with no real-world experience in actually running things could get it so wrong. Both Auckland and Melbourne are now under lockdown again and people are losing their livelihoods.
Ardern has been big on the pep talks and trotting out trite clichés while border control and quarantine was a shambles. This is all part of a pattern. Ardern earned plaudits for donning a headscarf after the Christchurch massacre while ignoring the inconvenient fact that headscarves and hijabs are a symbol of the oppression of Muslim women in the Arab world. She earned further plaudits for her handling of the White Island volcano. But what did she actually do? Why did government officials not stop the boat from unloading passengers on to an active volcano? The government has escaped accountability on that one.
National has now got a leader who can take the fight to Ardern. Judith Collins can take on Ardern and expose her weaknesses and failures. Collins is smart and strong and she knows how the real world operates. I worked in the same law firm as her for a short time in the 80s. The place was a boys club and they did not like having a strong woman in the place. Collins was bullied relentlessly. Without fanfare, she upped sticks and set up her own successful commercial law firm. Not stopping there, she became president of the Auckland District Law Society. As if that wasn’t enough, she and her husband owned a restaurant where Judith would work after leaving the office. Not many could endure the workload she took on.
It now appears that the October election has become a genuine contest. Business is fed up and is starting to make noises. People can now see the futility of on-again, off-again lockdowns. The shortcomings of the coalition’s management are becoming apparent. As with Donald Trump at the 2016 election and the Liberals at the 2019 Australian election, nothing is set in stone.
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