I’m back in Wellington, having spent a few weeks in the South Island. Last time I was here, we were in Level 1, and life was pretty much as normal, but not now. In spite of there being no cases in Wellington, and absolutely none in the South Island,
Free Press The ACT Party As recently as last Monday, Auckland needed to stay at Level 3 for another week to defeat the virus. Yesterday it turned out that Level 2.5 was sufficient. New Zealanders want to trust the Government, but changes without rhyme or reason make it difficult.
Cheerleaders for massive, police-state lockdowns invariably justify their taste for authoritarianism by pious moralising. “It’s all about saving lives,” they self-righteously intone. “If it saves just one life, it’s worth it.” This is a hollow argument even on its own merits: the panic-mongers don’t, for instance, shut
Press Release: National Party The first full week of lockdown cost nearly 400 New Zealanders their jobs every day, National’s Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says. Statistics from the Ministry for Social Development show that in the week till 21 August a total of 2,717 Kiwis joined the now
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com Seven people died on New Zealand roads on the weekend. That was not a headline story. But imagine if seven people had died of the COVID virus. We’d be back to full lockdown panic mode. From the beginning, back eight months, all governments were
Dr Oliver Hartwich nzinitiative.org.nz Walking around central Wellington, more shops are boarded up. On Lambton Quay, two bank branches recently disappeared. Just as the two Burger Kings on Lambton Quay and Courtney Place. Walking down Featherston St, there are empty shops every 40 or 50 metres. Reports from
Press Release: ACT Party “An interview with Taiwanese Digital Minister Audrey Tang shows the way to making elimination of COVID-19 affordable through a Wellbeing Approach,” says ACT Leader David Seymour “ACT has been saying for months that New Zealand should look to Taiwan’s approach to managing COVID-19. I have
Roger Partridge nzinitiative.org.nz In mid-April, German sewerage experts were allowed through New Zealand’s tightly controlled border with the country still locked down at Alert Level 4. At the time, Wellington ratepayers were paying nearly $100,000 a day to ferry wastewater by truck from the city’s
Judith Collins National Party Leader national.org.nz A National Government will facilitate negotiations between Rio Tinto, power companies and Transpower to achieve a more cost-competitive environment to keep the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter open. New Zealand is losing thousands of jobs every week due to the largest economic crisis
The bureaucratic class is an incestuous beast whose gluttony is never satisfied. We’ve all seen it in action: a company “restructures” and “downsizes” and, by some strange miracle, coalface workers are either laid off or expected to do more and more work with less and less people, but the
Dear Editor Ever heard the story of Emperor Nero burning down Rome? The story goes that he fiddled while it fell to ashes. They say he set it on fire himself. A myth on the fiddling part maybe, but Rome did burn. New Zealand’s government is effectively willfully burning
If the Prime Minister has any political nous at all she will end this current COVID farce and let everyone get on with a normal life as many appear to be doing anyway. Phil Goff is telling us that we must stay local. If Phil liked to take a drive
I can’t help feeling that the economic tsunami (to misquote Chris Hipkins) is swirling around below the surface just waiting to erupt sometime soon, but it just hasn’t quite got there yet. Whether or not it will finally show itself before the election is anyone’s guess. That
