Has the Government lost its effing mind?
I’m not sure if the Government wants 50,000 people to turn up to the next protest rally in Auckland, but they seem to be doing everything possible to create a horrific wave of resentment.
First of all you have the PM saying the Aucklanders who refuse to get vaccinated may be banned from leaving Auckland over summer. I’m all for incentives for vaccinations, but internal travel is a fundamental human right. It is in the UDHR:
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Now you can have justified restrictions such as everyone is locked down due to a pandemic, or that people have to have had a negative test. But considering that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can spread Covid-19, a policy to lock down 10% of Auckland because they have not been vaccinated is grotesque, and almost certainly unlawful.
Of interest is that the demographic most unvaccinated is Maori, so the Government’s view of the Treaty of Waitangi is that it will disproportionally imprison Maori in Auckland while disproportionally allow Pakeha to travel around.
But the PM’s brain fart diminishes in comparison to Chris Hipkins who is working out how to carry this out, and he said said:
The old maxim that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is proving itself correct. The Government is looking at dictating time slots to 1.5 million Aucklanders as to when they can and can’t leave Auckland. Can you imagine it – think of the MIQ lottery but 10 times worse. You have been allocated a departure time of 3.35 am – 4.15 am on 25 December.
They really have lost the plot.