John MacDonald: The sting in Covid's tail for our politicians

Published Nov 28, 2024, 11:54 PM

Do you think the last government spoiled things for everyone? There’s a question!

Let me clarify that a little bit. Do you think the last government spoiled things for every politician from here on in, with the way it handled the COVID-19 pandemic?

Because if we believe the COVID report which came out yesterday, then Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson, Chris Hipkins etc ruined the party for every other politician - current and future - because of the damage they did when it comes to the public's trust.

It says, if a similar pandemic happened now, the public would have less trust in the Government and there would be less willingness to comply with the rules. And I have no doubt that would be the case.

I think that trust in the government will never be restored to what it might have been before COVID-19. And there are two reasons why I think that. One is connected to how Labour ran things. The other isn’t.

So, yesterday, we knew the report on the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand’s COVID response was being delivered to the Government. What we didn’t know was when it was going to be released to the public.

All the talk ahead of yesterday had been that it was going to be next year before it saw the light of day. But the Government probably assumed that trust was going to feature in the report big time and knew that, if it was going to have a chance of restoring that trust, then sitting on this report for months wasn’t the way to go.

Not that I think that it will do much good on that front. Because there are two reasons why I don’t see trust in government ever getting back to what it used to be.

Let’s start with the one that isn’t related to Labour’s handling of the pandemic. And this is to do with the global political shift we’ve seen in the last few years, where people have said they’ve just had enough of governments telling them how to live their lives. Because they just don’t trust governments and politicians.

The other reason why I think that public trust in the government will never be what it used to be here in New Zealand, is specific to the way Labour handled the pandemic response.

I think most people would agree that, in the early days at least, they trusted Jacinda Ardern’s government to do the right thing in the face of what was significant global uncertainty.

But like most crises, COVID went on and on and on. We had all the different strains of the virus. We had different countries doing things differently. We had people losing patience with all the lockdowns and mask wearing and COVID cards.

So we had all that volatility. But the Labour Government just stuck to the plan it started with in the first place. Delivered with a "we know best” attitude. Which is why people stopped trusting them. And I don’t see public trust in our politicians ever being fully restored.

You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald from News Talk zb AH.

Answer me this, Answer me this. Do you think the last government spoiled things for everyone? Now there's an open question to kick the morning off, ah, let me clarify that a little bit. Do you think the last government spoiled things for every politician from here on in with the way that it handled the COVID nineteen pandemic. Because if we believe the COVID the report which came out yesterday, then to Sinder, I turned Grant Robertson, Chris Hopkins, all of those guys. They ruined the party for every other politician, current and future. Why well, because of the damage they did when it comes to public trust in the government. This report says if a similar pandemic happened now, the public would have less trust in the government and there would be less willingness to comply with the rules. And I have no doubt, absolutely no out that that would be the case. And I think that trust and government this is government with a small G by the way, so I'm talking about all governments or the government generally. I think that trust and government will never be restored to what it might have been before COVID. And there are two reasons why I think that. One is connected to how Labour ran things and the others and I'll get to them in a second. Actually, remember till it wasn't just just Sindra doing Grant, Chris Sipkins and Grant Robertson doing the damage. Let's not forget David Clark. Come on in, David Clark. He was the Minister of mountain Biking who drive two kilometers from his house and to lead into a local mountain bike park. That was when we were just one week into the first lockdown in twenty twenty. Actually he wasn't just Minister of mountain Biking remember this, He was the Minister of Health. What a muppet that guy was. So yeah, he did the damage as well, just as Anie. Do you know what he's doing these days? David Clark is a registrar at Itaga University working for his old mate Grant Robertson, who's the vice chancellor. Anyway, back to this report. This time yesterday we knew the report on the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into a COVID Response was being delivered to the government. What we didn't though, was when it was going to be made public, and all the talk ahead of yesterday had been all about it going to be next year before it saw the light of day. I made that prediction yesterday, though, did you hear it? I predicted that the government would fast track that and we'd see it before the end of the year because of public pressure, and then blow me down yesterday The government went and released it pretty much at the same time as it received it. So go with the government on that one big tick. To be fair, though they probably assumed, didn't they that a lack of trust in government was going to feature in the report big time, and knew that if they were going to have any chance of restoring that trust, then sitting on this report for months on end wasn't going to be the way to go. Not that I think it will do much good on that front as I as I said before, there are two reasons why I don't see trust in government ever getting back to what it used to be. Let's start with the one, the one that isn't related to Labour's handling of the pandemic, and this is to do with the global shift that we've seen in the last few years where people have said, we've just had enough of governments telling us how to live our lives, largely because they don't trust governments and politicians. So that's one reason. The other reason why I think that public trust in the government will never be what it used to be here in New Zealand is specific to the way labor handled the pandemic response. I think I think most of us would agree, wouldn't we that in the early days, at least we trusted Jacinder Ardun's government to do the right thing in the face of what was significant global uncertainty, wasn't it. You know, you didn't know what is going on. You know, like most crises, COVID just went on and on and on, didn't it. You know, we had all the different strains of the virus, We had different countries doing things differently. We had people losing patients with all the lockdowns and the mask wearing and the COVID cards and all of that. So we had we had all that volatility and all that change. But the Labor government just stuck to the planet started with in the first place. You might have heard doctor Murray Horn from the New Zealand initiative. Talking to Mike a couple of hours ago, he was saying that this is where the government went completely wrong. Here's a little bit of what he had to say about that.

If the government takes over the execution and wants to claim the best in the world and monopoly untruth, best spin on everything, marginalized criticism and monopolos execution, which is what they did, and none of that, none of that sort of chest beating and propagandizing is conducive to admitting shortcomings, to learning from them, to adapting your response. So you know, it leads to a sort of ad all you know where we got to a sort of a feared based at all cross type approach.

And it was that know all, we know best approach. That was the Labor Government's downfall. That's why people stopped trusting them, and it's one of the reasons why I don't see trust ever being restored, trust in government ever being restored thanks to the Labor government.

For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, listen live to news Talks at be Christ Church from nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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