I read this piece of the protests outside Parliament against covid19 rules (directly or indirectly). The main thing I'd like to add (possibly occurring after the article was written) is that if you believe in freedom, compare what's happening here with what's happening in Ukraine. They aren't even on the same scale.
Then came this piece about the rules of liberty.
There is no doubt that our freedoms have been reduced. The question is: does a pandemic warrant such action?
There is little doubt that NZ has done remarkably well in avoiding the scenarios that have played out in "similar" countries such as USA and UK and even Australia, let alone countries such as Brazil, India and many others. Interestingly one of the few countries that has done better is China, but having seen the incredibly tough, almost inhumane standards they have followed, plus the questions around the authenticity of their data, I tend to discount that.
Even more amazing is that our death rate from all causes has fallen by over 1000 per year during the pandemic. This is partially caused by the almost elimination of flu deaths and the reduction (contrary to expectations) of suicide deaths.
Of course, the government could have acted more wisely at different times during the pandemic (e.g. not suppressing information that not only adds fuel to conspiracy theories), and non-covid issues have been far from brilliant as is to be expected from a Labour government. And for those who think I'm a National voter, I have never voted red or blue. I've been on new protest marches, but I did march against Ruth Richardson's black budget. I have no faith in politicians of any sort - after all, they're human too.
However, despite some important questions not being answered, our covid-19 survival has been due in no small part to Jacinda and some of her team.