by Geoffrey Churchman
The Waikanae National Party invited me Thursday evening to drinks with National Party leader Judith Collins with about 20 others, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover that our stances on issues were closer than I had thought, and that the things that irk me and most of our readers about the present government irk her just as much.
Although the National Party can’t be seen to be ‘antivax’, she has no time for all the snitching, shaming and scapegoating that the present government has caused and is against vaccine mandates. The Jacinda government has very deliberately used Covid to divide, name call, and conflate so as to ignore the people and messages they don’t like. We’ve seen this with buffoon Hon. Stuart Nash calling Groundswell NZ protestors “anti-vax and racist” — which they are not.
In fact, it is the Jacinda government which is racist and Judith has no time for its separatism and segregation. The problem is how do you oppose it publicly without fielding the constant claims of ‘white supremacist’, ‘neocolonialist” etcetera that result from the iwi elitists who don’t like the idea of their considerable wealth and privileges being diminished — and backed up by reporters like Tova and Jessica, Joel Maxwell of Stuff, David Fisher of the NZ Herald, and a dozen or so others.
One thing they’re going to discuss at a caucus meeting soon is a “defund the media” campaign. There are a couple of new media initiatives independent of Jacinda’s tentacles that are coming soon.
The Labour Party, once the party of the worker, has become the party of system elites, and this government has poured privileges on particular people they like with lots of wealth from the public purse. National is a grassroots party especially for small businesspeople and does not impose ideology and policies from the top.
You are not “antivax” per se, so I am not at all surprised that your stances on this issue was close to National Party’s.
However I cannot believe you agree with Judith Collins that mandates should be kept in place until vaccination nationwide reaches 90% and that passports be retained.
The issue of mandating will soon be academic as over 90% have already received their first dose and 82% the second. However as far as passports are concerned, this policy could be extended for years. While only the vaccinated need to carry them, those who are not vaccinated have to exempt themselves from organisations, companies and events that require passports.
Given your affinity to the National Party policies, have you thought of standing for the National Party in the Ōtaki electorate? Your experience and egalitarian attitude would be of great benefit to the thousands of people who support your principles….. or perhaps that was a discussion over drinks with Judith on Thursday?
We are pro-safe vax, and we don’t think the Pfizer substance is either safe or effective. We are against both mandates and passports for vaccines for this virus.
We supported Tim Costley for Otaki last year and he is going to seek the nomination again — it’s almost certain he’ll get it. Geoffrey feels he is too senior at 65 this year for a new career in parliament. Cheers, Eva
Well said. This comment stuck out to me:-“The Jacinda government has very deliberately used Covid to divide, name call, and conflate so as to ignore the people and messages they don’t like. We’ve seen this with buffoon Hon. Stuart Nash calling Groundswell NZ protestors “anti-vax and racist” — which they are not.”
Adern is a cockroach of a divisive kind – “divide and conquer.”
Nash? He is pathetic.