The Prime Minister is being sued over the lockdown, with two applicants making multiple claims at the High Court in Auckland today – including it being "all for her political gain".
They also asked for a writ of habeas corpus, which seeks to rule an imprisonment unlawful and release the applicants. The two men, who are known to each other, argued the alert level 4 lockdown has left them unlawfully detained and is not worth the economic cost compared with the low number of Covid-19 related deaths. The pair have interim name suppression after citing death threats and safety risks. The first applicant, who is currently serving a home detention sentence, told Justice Mary Peters "the whole thing's a joke" and it has become a "panic-demic, not a pandemic" – noting his sentence allows him to leave the house between 8am and 5pm each day. He said Ardern had no grounds to enact the lockdown. He also alleged she had conspired with Sir Stephen Tindall to ruin the economy and the United Nations Secretary-General should have been consulted instead. The man ultimately compared Ardern to Hitler and the lockdown to the holocaust.
"I don't want my democratic rights to live in a society taken away on a whim." The man said the nine Covid-19 related deaths that had been confirmed at the time showed the lockdown was not in line with one modelling scenario that predicted up to 80,000 deaths in New Zealand. He alleged his views were shared by "a large portion" of the population and said the Crown must have been aware the lockdown would be legally challenged "or thought New Zealand were sheep". The man objected to Justice Peters' question to substitute Ardern for Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, who enacted the lockdown order. "This is really the Ardern show," the man said. "Ardern has cried wolf and been found out," he said. The other applicant alleged more people would now die from other illnesses, like cancer, because they will not be able to get diagnosed due to hospital resources being focused on the fight against Covid-19. "The Prime Minister made the wrong decision … all for her political gain", he said. Crown lawyer Austin Powell, who was virtually representing Ardern, said there were significant limits on the freedom of movement for everyone, but the restrictions did not amount to detention. He said there were no limitations to stay a specific distance from one's home or requirements to report on movements.
Powell said Bloomfield had done what the law required of him. He argued against the first applicant's claim the wording of the Health Act should limit the lockdown to certain persons. "The law allows [Bloomfield] to impose those limits on persons – so it can include all persons." Justice Peters reserved her decision, but said it would be given urgency.
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Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
Poll: Should the government levy industries that contribute to financial hardship?
As reported in the Post, there’s a $30 million funding gap in financial mentoring. This has led to services closing and mentors stepping in unpaid just to keep helping people in need 🪙💰🪙
One proposed solution? Small levies on industries that profit from financial hardship — like banks, casinos, and similar companies.
So we want to hear what you think:
Should the government ask these industries to contribute?
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59.4% Yes, supporting people is important!
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26.1% No, individuals should take responsibility
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14.5% ... It is complicated
A Neighbourly Riddle! Don’t Overthink It… Or Do?😜
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!
If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is this?
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