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 to his local village, Clevedon, on Saturday afternoon he would have found a queue of cars up to half a kilometre long waiting to get through the lights at the end of the street. It was quite obvious that many were not local.
It begs the question, are a percentage of the public turning a deaf ear to the likes of Ardern and Goff? I think so. They are over being told what to do and where they can go. It is defying human nature to expect people to “stay the course” as Ardern puts it. Life is all about taking risks. If you leave home you risk catching COVID. You also risk being hit by a bus or having an accident. We still venture out.
To add to the farce in Clevedon all those non-locals were crawling past an illuminated sign urging them to stay local and stop the spread. It’s time the politicians caught onto the fact that many aren’t heeding the messages. I don’t blame them. Especially as they have been near hopeless at executing their side of the bargain. The public only has so much patience and eventually, it runs out.
They are starting to see this for what it is, a forlorn hope that by stamping on people’s rights they will somehow eradicate the virus. Most of us are intelligent enough to know that this won’t happen so let’s stem the economic bleeding and get back to work. This is the only realistic strategy that can be employed. Auckland lost $750 million in the first lockdown and is losing $65 million a day in this one. Only those with no understanding of economic repercussions, i.e. this Government, would believe this is sustainable.
Auckland, the economic powerhouse, and the rest of the country must return to normal. It’s reported in the Herald that one in five businesses won’t survive another lockdown. One bright spark on the Council thinks the Government should buy a half stake in the Council owned Ports of Auckland to assist their economic woes. It damn well should not! Why should the rest of the country effectively prop up the Auckland Council? It would set a dreadful precedent. If the Council decide to sell off half the port it should be done through an IPO.
This is typical left-wing economic thinking. Let’s just have the Government own everything. That’s the last thing we need. We would be well and truly a socialist state under that scenario. Part ownership of an operation like the Ports of Auckland by the Government is dangerous in that it could represent the tip of the iceberg. This must not be allowed to happen.
Today there are more changes at the border checkpoints. Bees and animals can now transit through along with essential workers. This should have been the case from the start but once more the Government is being reactive. They don’t seem capable of recognising obvious consequences to their silly rulings. This sort of stupidity is precisely why we need an end to this farce and a return to normality with the Government stepping up to the plate and STARTING TO DO ITS JOB!!
By the way, I’d love an update on the hunt for the bus. I’m dying to know if there were more than the COVID two on it.
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