Labour govt 2020-23

[Blue Skies]

Worth drilling down a bit into latest controversy.

At the time, National's Covid spokesperson Chris Bishop agreed with the govt's delay in reopening prior to Christmas & said the govt 'had made the right call on boosters' & that the delay in reopening was 'necessary'.

National completely agreed with the govt's decision at the time, & with the benefit of hindsight, we now know the new highly infectious Omicron variant arrived late Nov, making 'expert advice' previously given earlier in Nov irrelevant, and it was the right call in terms of protecting the health system & general population who were complacent about getting boosted.

As we've seen many times, MoH is not the most agile organisation & processes & official advice moves pretty damm slowly & with the fast changing situations where todays advice can become irrelevant tomorrow, best not to exclusively depend on, esp when other experts differ.

Anyway, as National's Chris Bishop said, looking back at the outcome now, we can see the govt actually made the right call on this.

Incidentally, since the restrictions have lifted, I'm seeing so many cases around me, people who have avoided covid for last couple of years, all sick now & off work which is not good for productivity. Suddenly Omicron's everywhere. At least they're not in hospital, all boosted. I suspect many not reporting their positive results.

[Balance]

Whether it was the right or wrong decision to not accept MOH’s recommendation is open to debate.

What is not open to debate is that Ardern & Hipkins went out of their way to hide that recommendation and information from the public.

It took the intervention of the ombudsman to get that information released to the public.

And Ardern promised the most transparent and accountable government ever - savvy?

[Balance]

And let’s not forget that a DJ with the right connections was able to get into NZ 3 times while pregnant women & family members desperate to see dying relatives were not able to secure entry back into NZ.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/465597/miq-assessment-adds-insult-to-injury-for-women-forced-to-give-birth-abroad

Suspect that whoever is leaking the information about MIQ events to the media has plenty more to release over the next year or so.

Ardern & her team of nincompoops have been trying to wrap up ‘fire with paper’ so to speak. They are learning that is a futile exercise in deceit.

[couta1]

Another month, another poll showing how far Ardern & her team of nincompoops have been uncovered for the spinners and incompetent government they really are:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politi...LESEPBADMSROA/

So Labour’s support has dropped by 27% since Election Day 2020 while National has climbed by 48%.

Roll on 2013!

I think you mean 2023. Imagine if the Maori party are the kingmakers and go with Labour instead of National, you think things are bad now.

[moka]

I did wonder exactly what the controversial MOH memo said, and in this article it says Bloomfield and McElnay did not propose an immediate halt to MIQ but rather a transition. So the news articles have been one-sided and omitted relevant facts. So much for balanced reporting.

A copy of the memo can be read on Twitter. https://twitter.com/drdeanknight/sta...96000285765634

https://thestandard.org.nz/rnzs-weird-take-on-miq/
Did the Government delay changes to the MIQ system way beyond what was reasonable? The timeline is all important. The advice was signed off on November 15, 2021. Dr Dean Knight has helpfully provided a copy of the memo in this tweet.
On November 24, 2021 the Government announced a transition away from MIQ.

[Balance]

Whether it was the right or wrong decision to not accept MOH’s recommendation is open to debate.

What is not open to debate is that Ardern & Hipkins went out of their way to hide that recommendation and information from the public.

It took the intervention of the ombudsman to get that information released to the public.

And Ardern promised the most transparent and accountable government ever - savvy?

In reply to moka - as above.

[moka]

Whether it was the right or wrong decision to not accept MOH’s recommendation is open to debate.

What is not open to debate is that Ardern & Hipkins went out of their way to hide that recommendation and information from the public.

It took the intervention of the ombudsman to get that information released to the public.

And Ardern promised the most transparent and accountable government ever - savvy?

The information was requested from the MOH and it was their decision to withhold the information, not that of Ardern and Hipkins.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/04/covid-19-chris-hipkins-can-t-say-if-his-office-knew-miq-memo-from-ministry-of-health-was-being-withheld.html

“Hipkins said the Ministry of Health would have to answer why the memo wasn't released.
"It was their document, not mine... I don't think there was any great conspiracy to keep the information private there."
"As I indicated, the advice that actually came to the Government came a week later [after the memo] and we released the decisions on that the day after we got the advice," he told AM on Wednesday.”

[Balance]

The information was requested from the MOH and it was their decision to withhold the information, not that of Ardern and Hipkins.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/04/covid-19-chris-hipkins-can-t-say-if-his-office-knew-miq-memo-from-ministry-of-health-was-being-withheld.html

“Hipkins said the Ministry of Health would have to answer why the memo wasn't released.
"It was their document, not mine... I don't think there was any great conspiracy to keep the information private there."
"As I indicated, the advice that actually came to the Government came a week later [after the memo] and we released the decisions on that the day after we got the advice," he told AM on Wednesday.”

Watch the interview of Hipkins this morning and decide for yourself whether he is lying, spinning or telling the truth.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/polit...-withheld.html

[moka]

Another article about MIQ favouring sensationalism (lottery of human misery, a lolly scramble) over factual reporting.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/documents-show-miq-lottery-creators-using-lollies-at-a-party-to-describe-kiwis-trying-to-get-home.html

“Before landing on the lottery as their chosen system, internal briefings obtained by Newshub show officials tried to develop a waitlist or automated booking system but found it would cost several million dollars and take several months and "the most difficult part" was "creating clear rules... to determine who is eligible".

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Tuesday there was no easy route.
"Whichever system we went with there was still more demand than there were rooms available so there was always going to be people who missed out."

But if Hipkins had his time again, "I think we'd probably have more of an emphasis on the emergency allocations, the compassionate allocations."

The details in the documents show just how complicated MIQ was to manage. The system had to juggle cohorting, random flight schedules, and desperate competing reasons to return,
"An external supplier assessed a range of options... and used a lolly analogy to simply explain the complexities.”

[iceman]

Another article about MIQ favouring sensationalism (lottery of human misery, a lolly scramble) over factual reporting.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/documents-show-miq-lottery-creators-using-lollies-at-a-party-to-describe-kiwis-trying-to-get-home.html

“Before landing on the lottery as their chosen system, internal briefings obtained by Newshub show officials tried to develop a waitlist or automated booking system but found it would cost several million dollars and take several months and "the most difficult part" was "creating clear rules... to determine who is eligible".

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Tuesday there was no easy route.
"Whichever system we went with there was still more demand than there were rooms available so there was always going to be people who missed out."

But if Hipkins had his time again, "I think we'd probably have more of an emphasis on the emergency allocations, the compassionate allocations."

The details in the documents show just how complicated MIQ was to manage. The system had to juggle cohorting, random flight schedules, and desperate competing reasons to return,
"An external supplier assessed a range of options... and used a lolly analogy to simply explain the complexities.”

I don't know why anyone thought it was a good idea to get Government bureaucrats to design such a wide ranging system. That's where the mistake was originally made and it turned into a full blown disaster on every front.