Powering
On
ACT’s annual conference and election launch is set for 12 July in
Auckland. We have already sold more tickets than to any ACT event in a
decade. Twice as many, in fact. If you haven’t registered for Dare
to be Different, please do, and don’t be shy to bring a
friend.
Find An Island
Free Press has long said that our good fortune with
Covid-19 is just that. On 8 June, the
Herald reported eight other countries had beaten Covid-19, mostly
small island nations. Free Press has seen analysis showing 18
countries reported cases before 26 May, but none since. Of those, 12
are island nations and two (PNG and Timor) are partial island nations.
The number one factor for beating viral disease appears to be having a
moat.
Lucky All Along
What’s the point in debating whether the Government should be
credited with beating Covid-19? We say it matters for two reasons. We
need to be better prepared for this ongoing pandemic, fresh strains of
the current virus, or even a totally new virus. ACT has called for a
Royal Commission because if the Government is going to borrow $140
billion, it’s worth checking if we got value for money. There is also
a danger that giving credit where it is not due risks empowering the
Government to make even more zany and damaging economic
policy.
Omnishambles
What we find interesting is how cavalier the Government’s approach
to managed isolation and quarantine has been. It feels like they were
just happy going through the motions all along. It’s been quarantine
theatre. Were people tested at day 3 and day 12 as the Government
thought? No. Who was responsible? Nobody knows. Surely people would at
least be tested before being released for compassionate reasons? No,
they were not. Did people who’d completed isolation for nearly two
weeks mix with people fresh of the plane, undermining the whole point?
Apparently they did.
The Real Cost
The public are furious that, having made great sacrifices, they are
now at risk of reinfection and returning to higher alert levels due to
the Government’s incompetence at the border. That’s understandable,
but here’s the real cost: We should be moving on to a much wider
border entry program. The world’s smartest borders should be allowing,
for instance, a school with international students to be carrying out
its own isolation program to get its students and revenue back. The
firestorm around the Government’s failure has effectively put that off
the political agenda.
The Cost Goes On
The horticulture industry is totally dependent upon seasonal
workers. They mostly come from Covid-free Pacific Island nations. Even
in a recession, Kiwis will not pick strawberries. These folks already
have to provide MBIE-inspected accommodation. They could do their own
isolation programs adhering to strict rules if they were allowed, but
they will not be allowed to. Ditto foreign university students, of
whom Australia is now piloting the reintroduction for the Spring
semester. Then there’s fishing crews. It goes
on.
Negative 85 Houses
This Government was elected on, more than anything, a promise to
fix the housing market where the previous government failed. Free
Press heard it on the doorsteps of Epsom: ‘I’m thrilled with my
home’s value, but where will my children live?’ As we’ve documented at
length, KiwiBuild was a fiasco. By the end of May it had built only
395 houses. However, Ihumātao was planned to have 480 houses. The
Government now says there will be no houses at Ihumātao. Without this
Government, New Zealand would have 85 more
houses.
Property Rights
The real issue at Ihumātao is property rights. Without secure
property rights, people do not plan for the future. They do not save
and invest, and tomorrow is just like today with a different date.
There is no progress and it’s soul destroying. The best thing the
Prime Minister can do for future generations is uphold a culture of
private property rights. Instead, she has empowered the squatters, put
the property owner in an impossible position, and looks set to spend
$30 million of taxpayer money buying the land.
Picture
A Country
A group of radical protestors squat on your land and the Government
that is sympathetic comes along to encourage them. In the end, you
lose your land, and the taxpayer buys it with the help of the central
bank that is printing $90 billion dollars. Does this sound like (a)
New Zealand or (b) somewhere in Central America?
It’s
Still The Economy, Stupid
Public health aside, this election will still be run on the
economy. In a poll of the Epsom electorate this month, we found 84 per
cent think the Government had done a good job on public health, but
only 39 per cent think the Government had done a good job on the
economy. In those two numbers is how the right can win this election,
and why we must win. ACT’s
5-point plan shows the alternative to borrowing and hoping for a
vaccine.
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